a thread opens
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
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.
Will you yet say before him that slays you, I am God? but you shall be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slays you.
from Isaiah 31:3
Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are a man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God:
from Ezekiel 28:9
Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
from Ezekiel 28:2
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
from I Peter 5:5 · a strong link
But the former governors that had been before me were a burden to the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
from Ephesians 5:21
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 the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
from I Corinthians 8:4
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 Isaiah 44:6 · a strong link
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
from Isaiah 54:5
Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
from Ephesians 5:25
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.
Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from I John 3:16
For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
from Matthew 20:28 · a strong link
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
from Matthew 26:28
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
That we from now on be no more children, tossed back and forth, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the craftiness of men, and crafty scheming, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
from II Peter 1:16
Be not carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with foods, which have not profited them that have been occupied in it.
from Ephesians 4:14 · a strong link
He that regards the day, regards it to the Lord; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives God thanks.
from Hebrews 13:9
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
from Romans 14:6
And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
from Matthew 14:19
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.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came to them.
from Hebrews 13:24
The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you much in the Lord, with the church in their house.
from Acts 18:2 · a strong link
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
from I Corinthians 16:19
And he that sat upon the throne said, Look, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
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
Being born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the word of God, which lives and remains for ever.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
from I Peter 1:23
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are opposed to each other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.
from I John 3:9
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
Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
from Isaiah 65:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 31:3 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