a thread opens
The people of your holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.
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.
Lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
from Isaiah 63:18
A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the pagans have come into your inheritance; your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
from Psalms 74:3
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 Psalms 79:1
And Jesus said to them, See you not all these things? truly I say to you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
from Micah 3:12
And after sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined.
from Matthew 24:2
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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
And forget the LORD your maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
from Isaiah 44:24
Who cover yourself with light as with a garment: who stretch out the heavens like a curtain:
from Isaiah 51:13
It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
from Psalms 104:2
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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
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
from Matthew 20:28
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
from Psalms 49:7
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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.
However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
from I John 2:27
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
from John 16:13 · a strong link
From now on I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.
from John 12:49
The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.
from John 15:15 · a strong link
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
from Psalms 25:14
At that time Jesus answered, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes.
from Colossians 3:3
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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.
Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
from I Corinthians 12:28
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
from Acts 20:28
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
from Acts 20:29 · a strong link
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that worked miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
from Matthew 7:15
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
from Revelation of John 19:20 · a strong link
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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
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 Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
For he shall deliver the needy when he cries; the poor also, and him that has no helper.
from Isaiah 11:4
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
from Psalms 72:12
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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 it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he said to the Jews, Look, your King!
from I Corinthians 5:7
Then Jesus came forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, Look, the man!
from John 19:14
And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
from John 19:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 63:18 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