a thread opens
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
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.
For I have become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget your statutes.
from Job 30:30
The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten your law.
from Psalms 119:83
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant; for I do not forget your commandments.
from Psalms 119:61
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
from Psalms 119:176
And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
from John 10:16 · 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
My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.
from Isaiah 44:24
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
from Isaiah 48:13
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
from Exodus 20:11
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.
But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
from Romans 5:8 · a strong link
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God.
from John 15:13
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 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 I John 2:27 · a strong link
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, he says, you have heard of me.
from John 14:26
But when the Helper has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:
from Acts 1:4
This Jesus has God raised up, of which we all are witnesses.
from John 15:26
And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; of which we are witnesses.
from Acts 2:32
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life.
from Acts 3:15
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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
Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
from I Timothy 5:17 · a strong link
Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.
from Romans 12:8 · a strong link
I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
from II Corinthians 9:7 · a strong link
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give.
from Acts 20:35 · a strong link
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.
I the LORD search the heart, I try the inmost thoughts, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD tries the hearts.
from Jeremiah 17:10
As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
from Proverbs 17:3 · a strong link
Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.
from Proverbs 27:21
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
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
from John 1:29
Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
from Revelation of John 13:8 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 30:30 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