a thread opens
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
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 you became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:
from I Thessalonians 2:14
But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took to them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
from I Thessalonians 1:6
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came there also, and stirred up the people.
from Acts 17:5
And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
from Acts 17:13
But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
from Acts 21:27
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.
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
from I Corinthians 8:4
He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
from Isaiah 44:24
Ah Lord GOD! look, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:
from Jeremiah 51:15
Listen to me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
from Jeremiah 32:17 · a strong link
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.
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant offering.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
And the LORD smelled a pleasing aroma; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again strike any more everything living, as I have done.
from Ephesians 5:2
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
from Genesis 8:21 · a strong link
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 this cause we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which is at work also in you that believe.
from I John 2:27
And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
from I Thessalonians 2:13
In this is love perfected for us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
from I John 3:3
And now, little children, remain in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
from I John 4:17 · a strong link
But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
from I John 2:28
But we must give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
from Isaiah 45:17 · a strong link
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
Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
from I Timothy 5:17 · a strong link
But you shall open your hand wide to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wants.
from Romans 12:8
Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not you away.
from Deuteronomy 15:8
The wicked borrows, and pays not again: but the righteous shows mercy, and gives.
from Matthew 5:42
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.
I the LORD search the heart, I try the inmost thoughts, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.
from Jeremiah 17:10
And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, he burned with fire:
from Jeremiah 21:14
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
from Jeremiah 52:13
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:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is mute, so he opens not his mouth.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
from Isaiah 53:7
But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered him, I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you be the Christ, the Son of God.
from Matthew 27:12 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Thessalonians 2:14 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