a thread opens
And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD is God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
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.
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
from I Kings 18:21
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from there.
from Zephaniah 1:5
No servant 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 II Kings 17:33
a thread opens
Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that the LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Look, my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
from Isaiah 49:3
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up immediately out of the water: and, look, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
from Isaiah 42:1 · a strong link
And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
from Matthew 3:16 · a strong link
And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.
from Mark 1:10
He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
from Luke 3:22 · a strong link
a thread opens
Now to him that is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Jude 1:24
Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
from Hebrews 13:20 · a strong link
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
from Romans 15:33
In whom you also are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit.
from II Corinthians 13:14
To whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
from Ephesians 2:22
a thread opens
Woe to them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
from II Peter 2:15
Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, so that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.
from Deuteronomy 23:4
Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because the LORD your God loved you.
from Nehemiah 13:2
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Therefore in all things it befitted him to be made like to his brothers, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
from Colossians 1:20
But emptied himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
from Hebrews 2:17
a thread opens
And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.
from Psalms 88:1
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations around.
from I Chronicles 2:6
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed, a greater than Solomon is here.
from I Kings 4:31
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she had come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was in her heart.
from Luke 11:31 · a strong link
And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.
from II Chronicles 9:1
a thread opens
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Psalms 73:25 · a strong link
At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
from Philippians 3:8
That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
from John 14:20
Finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brothers, be compassionate, be courteous:
from John 17:21
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Kings 18:21 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