a thread opens
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
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.
That at that time you were without Christ, being excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
from Isaiah 61:5
Not in passionate lust, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
from Ephesians 2:12
However then, when you knew not God, you did service to them which by nature are no gods.
from I Thessalonians 4:5 · a strong link
For they themselves show of us what kind of coming we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
from Galatians 4:8
You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these mute idols, even as you were led.
from I Thessalonians 1:9
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 the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
from Isaiah 44:6 · a strong link
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
from Isaiah 33:22
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
from Isaiah 11:4 · 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.
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
from I John 3:16
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
from Titus 2:13
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
from Titus 3:4
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
Of his own will he fathered us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
from I Peter 1:23
Israel was holiness to the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, says the LORD.
from James 1:18
For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all the nations upon the earth.
from Jeremiah 2:3
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Deuteronomy 14:2 · a strong link
Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
from I Peter 2:9 · 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.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Remember your leaders, who have spoken to you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conduct.
from Hebrews 13:24 · 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 Hebrews 13:7
And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit.
from I Thessalonians 1:6 · a strong link
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
from Acts 13:52
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.
And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
from I Chronicles 28:9
For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son:
from Hebrews 4:13
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from John 5:22
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:
The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb mute before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
from I Corinthians 5:7
But you, O LORD, know me: you have seen me, and tried my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
from Acts 8:32
You have proved my heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
from Jeremiah 12:3
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 61:5 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