a thread opens
Be therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not.
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.
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
from Luke 12:40
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
from Romans 13:11 · a strong link
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.
from I Corinthians 15:34
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 he said, Tomorrow. And he said, Be it according to your word: that you may know that there is none like to the LORD our God.
from Exodus 7:5
O LORD, there is none like you, neither is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
from Exodus 8:10 · a strong link
Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
from I Chronicles 17:20
Listen to me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
from Isaiah 44:6 · a strong link
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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
from Ephesians 5:27
Who gave himself for us, so that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.
from Hebrews 9:14 · a strong link
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
from Titus 2:14
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have first place.
from Revelation of John 1:5 · a strong link
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.
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The firstfruit also of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.
from Numbers 18:12
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Deuteronomy 18:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
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 Luke 2:14
And I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
from Isaiah 9:6
So now it was not you that sent me here, but God: and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
from Isaiah 22:21
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
Look, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.
from Psalms 88:1
Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
from Isaiah 12:2 · a strong link
And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
from Isaiah 45:22
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 10:28 · a strong link
Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
from John 6:39 · a strong link
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
To me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, so that I should preach among the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ;
from Philippians 3:8
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
from Ephesians 3:8
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Ephesians 1:7
He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 12:40 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