a thread opens
Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?
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.
Look, God exalts by his power: who teaches like him?
from Job 35:11
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no power but of God: the authorities are ordained of God.
from Job 36:22
Submit yourselves to every human institution for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
from Romans 13:1 · a strong link
My son, fear you the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:
from I Peter 2:13
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 20:21 · a strong link
But Peter said to him, Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
from Acts 2:38
Then Daniel answered before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
from Acts 8:20 · a strong link
But he said, As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.
from Daniel 5:17 · a strong link
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
from II Kings 5:16
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, so that he might make his mighty power to be known.
from I John 2:12
And in very deed for this cause have I raised you up, to show in you my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
from Psalms 106:8 · a strong link
And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
from Exodus 9:16
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Exodus 14:17
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and they that dwell in it shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
from II Peter 3:7
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
from Isaiah 51:6
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
from Matthew 27:2
After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
from Luke 13:1
And it happened in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
from Acts 5:37
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
from Acts 7:51
Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you.
from Jeremiah 4:4
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
from Zephaniah 2:2
Moreover the multitude of your strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yes, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
from Psalms 1:4
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman; and they shall not escape.
from Isaiah 29:5
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
from Acts 9:15
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the pagans, says the LORD of hosts.
from Romans 1:5
Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
from Malachi 1:11
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
from Matthew 28:19
And when she was baptized, and her household, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and remain there. And she constrained us.
from Galatians 3:27
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 35:11 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