a thread opens
And if a man also competes as an athlete, yet is he not crowned, except he competes according to the rules.
The Vigil
Today’s scroll, one verse at a time — each linked to the last by the cross-references rather than by any model of you. The same vigil for everyone, and a different one tomorrow.
Do you not know that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, so that you may obtain.
from II Timothy 2:5
Therefore seeing we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
from I Corinthians 9:24 · a strong link
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
from Hebrews 12:1
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
from Luke 8:14
You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is hostility with God? whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
from Matthew 6:24 · a strong link
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
from I Corinthians 8:4
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
from Mark 12:29
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
from Galatians 3:20 · a strong link
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.
from I Timothy 2:5
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
According to my eager expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
from Philippians 2:17
For the eager longing of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.
from Philippians 1:20
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
For we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
And it happened about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
from II Peter 1:16
And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
from Luke 9:28
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
from Mark 14:33
Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? look, and see if there is any sorrow like to my sorrow, which is done to me, with which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
from Luke 22:44
But Jesus turning to them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
from Lamentations 1:12
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
from I Corinthians 12:28
Obey your leaders, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
from I Timothy 5:17 · a strong link
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
from Hebrews 13:17
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
from I Corinthians 4:1
Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of sincere faith:
from I Timothy 3:9
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believes not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brothers, what shall we do?
from I Corinthians 14:24
When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
from Acts 2:37
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Look, the Lamb of God!
from I Corinthians 5:7
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation that was not called by my name.
from John 1:36
We are yours: you never bore rule over them; they were not called by your name.
from Isaiah 65:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from II Timothy 2:5 along this chain. Today’s own vigil is laid separately.
Each verse follows the one before it along the chain a study Bible draws — a century old, public, and compiled by people arguing about Scripture rather than about how long you stay. Every card says which verse it came from and opens the chapter it belongs to. Today’s vigil is the same for every reader and is worked out from the date alone, so there is no account, no counter, and nothing stored in your browser or ours.
The text is the Lantern Modern Standard. The links are openbible.info’s cross-reference set (CC BY), the same apparatus behind the reader’s Echoes drawer. Read a whole book · Today’s table