a thread opens
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
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.
Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
from Isaiah 8:20
Moreover the LORD said to me, Take a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash–baz.
from Isaiah 30:8 · a strong link
And he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
from Isaiah 8:1
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 the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
from Leviticus 3:11
And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat upon them, and burn them upon the altar.
from Leviticus 3:5
And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the LORD; the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat upon the entrails,
from Exodus 29:13
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,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
For the LORD loves judgment, and forsakes not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
from II Timothy 4:18
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
from Psalms 37:28 · a strong link
God shall likewise destroy you for ever, he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
from Proverbs 2:22
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
from Psalms 52:5 · 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
And said, O full of all deceit and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
from II Peter 2:15
The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the weeds are the children of the wicked one;
from Acts 13:10 · a strong link
You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and remained not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
from Matthew 13:38 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be its glad.
from Psalms 96:11
The LORD reigns; let the people tremble: he sits between the cherubim; let the earth be moved.
from Psalms 97:1
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?
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
Beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.
Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
from Romans 12:19
Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his apparel, and cast lots.
from Romans 12:14
And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
from Luke 23:34
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, struck of God, and afflicted.
from Mark 15:24
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.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God.
from I John 5:5 · a strong link
Whoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father in heaven.
from I John 4:15
Also I say to you, Whoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
from Matthew 10:32
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 8:20 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