a thread opens
But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues you shall be beaten: and you shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against 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.
And Jesus answering them began to say, Watch out lest any man deceive you:
from Mark 13:9
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that are in the midst of you, deceive you, neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
from Mark 13:5
Therefore listen not to the words of the prophets that speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.
from Jeremiah 29:8
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
from Jeremiah 27:14
Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their heart.
from Jeremiah 23:21 · a strong link
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.
Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
from I Corinthians 8:4
And said, O LORD God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? and rule not you over all the kingdoms of the pagans? and in your hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand you?
from Deuteronomy 4:39
This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will, and sets up over it the basest of men.
from II Chronicles 20:6
O you king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor:
from Daniel 4:17
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.
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
from Philippians 2:17 · a strong link
For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
from II Timothy 4:6 · a strong link
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.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
from I John 2:27 · a strong link
You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
from I John 2:20
For you have made him most blessed for ever: you have made him exceedingly glad with your countenance.
from Psalms 45:7 · a strong link
You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
from Psalms 21:6
And there shall be no night there; and they need no lamp, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
from Psalms 16:11
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
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.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
from I Corinthians 12:28
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Look, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes will not panic.
from Ephesians 2:20 · a strong link
The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner.
from Isaiah 28:16 · a strong link
Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth its headstone with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace to it.
from Psalms 118:22 · a strong link
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in its midst toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
from Zechariah 4:7
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
Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
from John 1:47
You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
from Romans 9:4
Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
from Deuteronomy 14:1 · 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:
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
from I Corinthians 5:7
The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb mute before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
from John 1:29 · a strong link
But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy its tree with the fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
from Acts 8:32
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Mark 13:9 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