a thread opens
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
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.
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 3:4
Look, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: look, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
from Isaiah 40:3 · a strong link
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.
from Malachi 3:1 · a strong link
I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people who is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt.
from Isaiah 63:9
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their slave drivers; for I know their sorrows;
from Acts 7:34
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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.
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
from I Corinthians 8:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
from Mark 12:29 · a strong link
And this is life eternal, so that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
from Deuteronomy 6:4
He shall see of the toil of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
from John 17:3
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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.
Who have for my life laid down their own necks: to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
from I John 3:16
Therefore thus says the LORD; Look, against this family do I devise an evil, from which you shall not remove your necks; neither shall you go haughtily: for this time is evil.
from Romans 16:4
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he has made my strength to fall, the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
from Micah 2:3
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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.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him:
from I John 2:27
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
from Colossians 2:6
And whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as to the Lord, and not to men;
from Colossians 3:17 · a strong link
For so is the will of God, that with doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
from Colossians 3:23 · a strong link
Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the opponent may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
from I Peter 2:15 · a strong link
And if any man obey not our word by this letter, note that man, and do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.
from Titus 2:8
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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.
Obey your leaders, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
That you submit yourselves to such, and to every one that helps with us, and labors.
from Hebrews 13:17
And we beg you, brothers, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
from I Corinthians 16:16 · a strong link
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
from I Thessalonians 5:12
(For he that worked effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
from I Corinthians 15:10 · a strong link
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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.
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
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
from Jeremiah 17:10 · a strong link
And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no.
from Psalms 139:23 · a strong link
Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end;
from Deuteronomy 8:2
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 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 I Corinthians 5:7
Six days you shall eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God: you shall do no work in it.
from Exodus 12:15
Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and you shall do no servile work in it.
from Deuteronomy 16:8
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Luke 3:4 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