a thread opens
To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.
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.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of young bulls, or of lambs, or of he goats.
from Jeremiah 6:20 · a strong link
He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an offering, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
from Isaiah 1:11 · a strong link
A people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick;
from Isaiah 66:3
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
from Isaiah 65:3 · a strong link
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
from Isaiah 1:29 · 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.
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
Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk in it:
from Isaiah 44:24 · a strong link
Ah Lord GOD! look, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:
from Isaiah 42:5
And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things in it:
from Jeremiah 32:17 · a strong link
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.
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
That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
from John 13:34
Moreover, you son of man, take you one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
from John 17:21
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.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
from I John 2:27 · a strong link
You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
from I John 2:20
He loves righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
from Psalms 45:7 · a strong link
The king’s strength also loves judgment; you do establish equity, you execute judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
from Psalms 33:5
Look, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
from Psalms 99:4
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, look, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
from Jeremiah 23:5 · a strong link
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.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
from I Corinthians 12:28
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established;
from Romans 12:6
But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you;
from Romans 1:11
After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
from Romans 15:23
Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you, (but was let until now,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
from Acts 19:21
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.
And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
from I Chronicles 28:9
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, seeing the evil and the good.
from Hebrews 4:13 · a strong link
For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from my eyes.
from Proverbs 15:3 · 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:
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from I Corinthians 5:7
You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread with it, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
from Exodus 12:15 · a strong link
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
from Deuteronomy 16:3
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Jeremiah 6:20 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