The Vigil

from John 5:39

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.

a thread opens

John 5:39

Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Deuteronomy 32:47

For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over Jordan to possess it.

from John 5:39

Ezekiel 20:13

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

from Leviticus 18:5


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that the LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

Isaiah 44:23

Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

from Isaiah 49:3 · a strong link

Psalms 69:34

Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.

from Isaiah 44:23 · a strong link

Isaiah 49:13

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

from Psalms 69:34 · a strong link

Isaiah 51:3

For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

from Isaiah 49:13

Isaiah 52:9

Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

from Isaiah 51:3 · a strong link


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

Now to him that is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Hebrews 13:20

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

from Jude 1:24

I Peter 2:25

For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

from Hebrews 13:20

Zechariah 13:7

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the LORD of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand upon the little ones.

from I Peter 2:25

Matthew 26:31

Then says Jesus to them, All you shall fall away because of me this night: for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

from Zechariah 13:7 · a strong link


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

Woe to them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Isaiah 3:9

The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.

from Jude 1:11

Genesis 13:13

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link

Genesis 18:20

And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

from Genesis 13:13

Genesis 19:13

For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.

from Genesis 18:20


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

John 17:4

I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.

from Luke 2:14

John 15:10

If you keep my commandments, you shall remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.

from John 17:4

I John 2:5

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly is the love of God perfected: by this we know that we are in him.

from John 15:10


a thread opens

Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Matthew 5:12

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so they persecuted the prophets before you.

from Hebrews 10:35

Jeremiah 2:30

In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

from Matthew 5:12

Jeremiah 26:20

And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

from Jeremiah 2:30

I Samuel 7:2

And it happened, while the ark remained in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

from Jeremiah 26:20

Jeremiah 31:9

They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, in which they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

from I Samuel 7:2


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Deuteronomy 33:9

Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.

from Luke 14:26

II Corinthians 5:16

Therefore from now on we regard no one after the flesh: yes, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now from now on know we him no more.

from Deuteronomy 33:9

Colossians 1:5

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

from Galatians 2:5

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from John 5:39 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