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Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unstained from the world.
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.
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
from James 1:27 · a strong link
He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
from Psalms 68:5
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 Psalms 72:4
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
from Isaiah 11:4 · a strong link
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin in my members.
from Isaiah 61:1 · 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.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
from I Corinthians 8:4 · a strong link
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to withstand his indignation.
from Deuteronomy 6:4
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
from Jeremiah 10:10
For our God is a consuming fire.
from Hebrews 10:31
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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.
A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
But as for brotherly love you need not that I write to you: for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
from John 13:34
Be devoted one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;
from I Thessalonians 4:9 · a strong link
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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.
For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which is at work also in you that believe.
from I John 2:27
And my temptation in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
from I Thessalonians 2:13 · a strong link
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
from Galatians 4:14
Then spoke Haggai the LORD’s messenger in the LORD’s message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the LORD.
from Malachi 2:7
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
from Haggai 1:13
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
from Psalms 46:11
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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.
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
from I Corinthians 12:28
The farmer that labors must be first to receive a share of the crops.
from I Timothy 5:17
For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
from II Timothy 2:6
And you shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved.
from Hebrews 10:36
I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
from Matthew 10:22 · 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.
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
You know my downsitting and my uprising, you understand my thought in the distance.
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, seeing the evil and the good.
from Psalms 139:2
For the eyes of the LORD run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein you have done foolishly: therefore from now on you shall have wars.
from Proverbs 15:3 · a strong link
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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:
But God judges those outside. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
from I Corinthians 5:7
Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she has committed folly in Israel, to play the prostitute in her father’s house: so shall you put evil away from among you.
from I Corinthians 5:13
Then shall you do to him, as he had thought to have done to his brother: so shall you put the evil away from among you.
from Deuteronomy 22:21
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from James 1:27 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