a thread opens
And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
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 the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
from Luke 2:22
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.
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
from I Corinthians 8:4
My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.
from Isaiah 44:24
Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk in it:
from Isaiah 48:13
To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endures for ever.
from Isaiah 42:5
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.
Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from I John 3:16
Since you know that you were not redeemed with perishable things, as silver and gold, from your futile ways received by tradition from your fathers;
from Matthew 20:28 · a strong link
Who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
from I Peter 1:18
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.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
from I John 2:27
And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
from Hebrews 8:10 · a strong link
But if from there you shall seek the LORD your God, you shall find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
from Jeremiah 24:7
If you shall listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.
from Deuteronomy 4:29 · a strong link
But if you turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out to the farthest part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
from Deuteronomy 30:10
Look, I will gather them out of all countries, where I have driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
from Nehemiah 1:9
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.
Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
from I Corinthians 12:28
And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
from Acts 20:28
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose its seals?
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more: though you are sought for, yet shall you never be found again, says the Lord GOD.
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 the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
from Isaiah 55:11
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, so that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
from Deuteronomy 32:2 · a strong link
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 keep the feast of unleavened bread: (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it you came out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
from Exodus 12:15 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 2:22 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