a thread opens
Whereas you know not what shall be on the next day. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
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.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
from James 4:14
And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
from Job 7:6
He has destroyed me on every side, and I have gone: and my hope has he removed like a tree.
from Job 17:15
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
from Job 19:10 · a strong link
He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the birds from his branches:
from Job 24:20 · 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
And this is life eternal, so that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
from Deuteronomy 6:4
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
from John 17:3 · a strong link
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
from I John 5:20
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.
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 3:16 · a strong link
Namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
from John 3:16 · a strong link
Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
from II Corinthians 5:19
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 we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
And it happened about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
from II Peter 1:16
And it happened in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
from Luke 9:28
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
from Luke 6:12
Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
from Hebrews 5:7
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
from Hebrews 12:28
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.
Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
from I Corinthians 12:28
But the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.
from Ephesians 3:5
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
from John 14:26
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
from Ephesians 1:17
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
from Acts 6:10
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.
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
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 Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.
from I Thessalonians 2:13
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
from Matthew 10:20 · a strong link
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 next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
from I Corinthians 5:7
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
from John 1:29
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, so that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
from I John 4:10
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from James 4:14 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