a thread opens
And she was a widow of about eighty and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
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.
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 2:37
And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
from I Timothy 5:5
Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
from Luke 18:1 · a strong link
LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear:
from Jeremiah 29:12 · a strong link
Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.
from Psalms 10:17
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.
Look, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Look, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their cast images are wind and confusion.
from Isaiah 41:24
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.
from Isaiah 41:29
How long will you speak these things? and how long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
from Jeremiah 5:13
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.
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit:
from I John 3:16
Since therefore Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
from I Peter 3:18 · a strong link
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
from I Peter 4:1
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 cause we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which is at work also in you that believe.
from I John 2:27
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
from I Thessalonians 2:13
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
from I Thessalonians 1:2
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
from Philippians 1:3
And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great famine throughout all the world: which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.
from Romans 1:8
And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came to them.
from Acts 11:28
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.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
from I Corinthians 12:28
As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
from Romans 12:6 · a strong link
For who makes you to differ from another? and what have you that you did not receive? now if you did receive it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?
from I Peter 4:10
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation, neither shadow due to change.
from I Corinthians 4:7
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
from James 1:17 · a strong link
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.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Look, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
from I Chronicles 29:17
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
from John 1:47
Therefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all slander,
from Psalms 32:2
For we ourselves also were formerly foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
from I Peter 2:1
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:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
from I Corinthians 5:7
You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God any young bull, or sheep, in which is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.
from Exodus 12:5
You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD your God for any vow: for even both these are abomination to the LORD your God.
from Deuteronomy 17:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 2:37 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