The Vigil

from Luke 1:16

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

Luke 1:16

And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

Isaiah 40:3

The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

from Luke 1:16

Isaiah 43:19

Look, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

from Isaiah 40:3 · a strong link

Isaiah 35:6

Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the mute sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

from Isaiah 43:19

Matthew 9:6

But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, (then he said to the paralytic,) Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.

from John 5:8 · a strong link


a thread opens

I Corinthians 8:4

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.

Deuteronomy 4:39

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

II Chronicles 20:6

And said, O LORD God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? and rule not you over all the kingdoms of the pagans? and in your hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand you?

from Deuteronomy 4:39

Matthew 7:11

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

from Matthew 6:9


a thread opens

I John 3:16

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.

Romans 5:8

But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

from I John 3:16 · a strong link

I Timothy 1:16

However for this cause I obtained mercy, so that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all patience, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to eternal life.

from Romans 5:8 · a strong link

I Timothy 1:13

Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and insolent: but I obtained mercy, because I did it in ignorance in unbelief.

from I Timothy 1:16 · a strong link


a thread opens

I John 2:27

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.

I Corinthians 2:13

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

I Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

from I Corinthians 2:13

Matthew 16:17

And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father in heaven.

from I Corinthians 15:50 · a strong link

I John 5:20

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

from Matthew 16:17


a thread opens

I Corinthians 12:28

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.

Isaiah 28:16

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Look, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes will not panic.

from Ephesians 2:20 · a strong link

Romans 9:33

As it is written, Look, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense: and whoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.

from Isaiah 28:16 · a strong link

Psalms 25:20

O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in you.

from Romans 9:33 · a strong link

Luke 23:46

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he breathed his last.

from Psalms 25:20


a thread opens

I Chronicles 29:17

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.

Jeremiah 17:10

I the LORD search the heart, I try the inmost thoughts, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link

Jeremiah 21:14

But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.

from Jeremiah 17:10

Jeremiah 52:13

And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, he burned with fire:

from Jeremiah 21:14

II Chronicles 36:19

And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its fine vessels.

from Jeremiah 52:13


a thread opens

I Corinthians 5:7

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:

Isaiah 53:7

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is mute, so he opens not his mouth.

from I Corinthians 5:7

I Peter 2:23

Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously:

from Isaiah 53:7 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 1:16 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