a thread opens
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Look, how great a forest a little fire kindles!
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.
Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
from James 3:5
My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
from Jeremiah 18:18
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
from Psalms 57:4
He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places does he murder the innocent: his eyes are secretly set against the poor.
from Proverbs 30:14
You did strike through with his poles the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
from Psalms 10:8
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.
Look, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Look, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their cast images are wind and confusion.
from Isaiah 41:24
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.
from Isaiah 41:29
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! look, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
from Jeremiah 5:13
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.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I John 4:9 · a strong link
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
from John 3:16 · 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.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
from I John 2:27
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall happen, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.
from Hebrews 8:10
And they shall bring all your brothers for an offering to the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
from Hosea 1:10 · a strong link
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the young bull: and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD.
from Isaiah 66:20
And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations in the distance; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
from Isaiah 65:25
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
from Micah 4:3
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 when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
from Hebrews 13:7 · a strong link
The elders among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
from Acts 14:23
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if perhaps we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together.
from I Peter 5:1
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.
You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
from I Chronicles 29:17
For our gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
from I Thessalonians 2:10 · a strong link
To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they did minister the things, which are now reported to you by them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
from I Thessalonians 1:5
Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said to that certain saint which spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
from I Peter 1:12
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:
That you put off your old self, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
from I Corinthians 5:7
Therefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all slander,
from Ephesians 4:22 · a strong link
Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile.
from I Peter 2:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from James 3:5 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