a thread opens
But the angel said to him, Do not fear, Zacharias: for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
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.
He makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD.
from Luke 1:13
Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not toil with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the LORD.
from Psalms 113:9 · a strong link
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: look, your King comes to you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey.
from Isaiah 54:1
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Zechariah 9:9 · a strong link
And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
from Isaiah 9:6 · 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.
Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
from I Corinthians 8:4
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
from Deuteronomy 4:39 · a strong link
And it happened, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.
from Joshua 2:11 · a strong link
And she said to the men, I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
from Joshua 5:1
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.
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant offering.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.
from Ephesians 5:2
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
from John 15:12
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.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
from I John 2:27
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
from I Corinthians 2:13
You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
from Colossians 3:16
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
from Psalms 32:7
The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe.
from Psalms 27:5
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
from Proverbs 18:10 · a strong link
a thread opens
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.
Obey your leaders, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
And we beg you, brothers, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
from Hebrews 13:17
That you submit yourselves to such, and to every one that helps with us, and labors.
from I Thessalonians 5:12
Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
from I Corinthians 16:16
Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
from Romans 16:3
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.
For we have great joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.
from I Chronicles 29:17
The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
from Philemon 1:7
Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord: refresh my heart in the Lord.
from II Timothy 1:16
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting? Are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
from Philemon 1:20
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:
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
from I Corinthians 5:7
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from Exodus 13:6
You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.
from Exodus 12:15
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 1:13 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