a thread opens
Nicodemus answered him, How can these things be?
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.
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do to them, and not forsake them.
from John 3:9
And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
from Isaiah 42:16 · a strong link
And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He has done all things well: he makes both the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak.
from Isaiah 29:18
And God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
from Mark 7:37
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I tell you, No: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
from Acts 20:21
And saying, Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
from Luke 13:3
And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
from Matthew 3:2 · a strong link
Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
from Matthew 10:7
And it happened afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
from Acts 28:31
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from Acts 13:38 · a strong link
Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look, we turn to the Gentiles.
from Luke 24:47
Therefore say I to you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits.
from Acts 13:46
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
from Matthew 21:43
And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief: for truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
from I Corinthians 13:2 · a strong link
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
from Matthew 17:20 · 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.
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 Acts 17:31
Which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
from Matthew 25:31
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
from Acts 1:11
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
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
from Acts 3:13
Thus says the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
from John 19:15
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 therefore your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
from Acts 7:51 · a strong link
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
from Deuteronomy 10:16
How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
from Jeremiah 4:14
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
from Proverbs 1:22
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
from Proverbs 1:29
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
Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
To which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
from Ephesians 3:7
And every man that strives for the mastery is self-controlled in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown; but we an imperishable.
from Colossians 1:29
Fear none of those things which you shall suffer: look, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, so that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful to death, and I will give you a crown of life.
from I Corinthians 9:25 · a strong link
And you shall be betrayed both by parents, and brothers, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from John 3:9 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