a thread opens
Why have we fasted, say they, and you see not? why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Look, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors.
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 he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
from Isaiah 58:3
And he said to them, You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
from Luke 18:9 · a strong link
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD ponders the hearts.
from Luke 16:15
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
from Proverbs 21:2
And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have something against any: that your Father also in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
from Luke 18:11 · 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.
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
Doubtless you are our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: you, O LORD, are our father, our redeemer; your name is from everlasting.
from Isaiah 44:24
Do not fear, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, says the LORD, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
from Isaiah 63:16
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 41:14
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.
He who says that he remains in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
from I John 3:16
Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
from I John 2:6 · a strong link
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 Corinthians 11:1 · 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.
Being born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the word of God, which lives and remains for ever.
from I John 2:27
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
from I Peter 1:23 · a strong link
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
from John 3:5
If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
from Romans 8:2 · a strong link
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
from John 8:36 · a strong link
That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
from Luke 4:18
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.
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 Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
And Moses returned to the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
from Hebrews 13:17
And it happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin.
from Exodus 32:31
Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
from Exodus 32:30
And how I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have shown you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,
from I Samuel 12:23 · a strong link
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.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
And they ran and fetched him from there: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and handsome: and there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.
from I Samuel 10:23 · a strong link
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
from I Samuel 9:2
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:
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
from I Corinthians 5:7
Therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name:
Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
from Philippians 2:9
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 58:3 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