a thread opens
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain;
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.
Therefore, brothers, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
from I Timothy 3:8
Take wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
from Acts 6:3
And the LORD said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tent of meeting, so that they may stand there with you.
from Deuteronomy 1:13
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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 21:21
And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
Neither shall you profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you,
from Leviticus 18:21
And you shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
from Leviticus 22:32
You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he shall be holy to you: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.
from Leviticus 20:8
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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have betrothed you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
from Ephesians 5:27 · a strong link
For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
from II Corinthians 11:2
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go.
from Isaiah 54:5
And you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
from Isaiah 48:17 · a strong link
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
They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
from II Peter 2:15
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals.
from Proverbs 28:4
And it happened, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
from I Kings 18:18
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
from Luke 2:14
And I saw, and, look, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
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.
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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end;
from Philippians 3:8
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
from Hebrews 3:14 · a strong link
Rejoice always.
from Hebrews 3:6
As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
from I Thessalonians 5:16 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Timothy 3:8 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