a thread opens
But the olive tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
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 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,
from Judges 9:9
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
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
a thread opens
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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 21:21
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a pleasing aroma to me, shall you observe to offer to me in their due season.
from Leviticus 3:11
And the LORD smelled a pleasing aroma; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again strike any more everything living, as I have done.
from Numbers 28:2
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
from Genesis 8:21
a thread opens
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,
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 am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
from Hebrews 13:20 · a strong link
And David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel that struck the people, and said, Look, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let your hand, please, be against me, and against my father’s house.
from John 10:11
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why have you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
from II Samuel 24:17 · a strong link
As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became food to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
from Psalms 74:1
a thread opens
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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
Nevertheless, to avoid sexual immorality, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.
from I Corinthians 7:2
Who can find a woman of noble character? for her price is far above rubies.
from Proverbs 19:14
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Therefore in all things it befitted him to be made like to his brothers, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
from Colossians 1:20
For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
from Hebrews 2:17
a thread opens
And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
And she was a widow of about eighty and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
from I Timothy 5:5 · a strong link
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
from Luke 2:37
For this cause I left you in Crete, so that you should set in order what is lacking, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:
from Acts 14:23 · a strong link
And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce had come opposite Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, opposite Salmone;
from Titus 1:5
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
from Acts 27:7
a thread opens
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.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
from I John 2:13
In which formerly you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:
from I John 4:4 · a strong link
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
from Ephesians 2:2
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Judges 9:9 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