a thread opens
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he comes shall find watching: truly I say to you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to food, and will come forth and serve them.
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 rises from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
from Luke 12:37
For which is greater, he that sits at food, or he that serves? is not he that sits at food? but I am among you as he that serves.
from John 13:4
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say to him immediately, when he has come from the field, Go and sit down to food?
from Luke 22:27
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.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link
And I will stretch out my hand, and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in its midst: and after that he will let you go.
from Exodus 7:5
Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
from Exodus 3:20
And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endures for ever:
from Exodus 6:6
And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.
from Psalms 136:11
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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
As you have given him power over all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
from John 10:29
And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
from John 17:2 · a strong link
No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
from John 6:39 · a strong link
Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his rooms: we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you.
from John 6:44
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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
from Hebrews 11:4
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not delight in your solemn assemblies.
from Proverbs 15:8
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
from Luke 1:79
The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
from Psalms 107:10
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?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
from Psalms 88:1
Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
from Psalms 51:14
Surely you will slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, you bloody men.
from Psalms 26:9
Depart from me, you evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.
from Psalms 139:19
And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.
from Psalms 119:115
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
from Philippians 3:8 · a strong link
I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.
from Jeremiah 9:23 · a strong link
And he said, Listen you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD to you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
from Ecclesiastes 9:11
A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O LORD, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer, that goes not out of feigned lips.
from II Chronicles 20:15
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 12:37 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