a thread opens
Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?
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.
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said to them, What reason you in your hearts?
from Mark 2:9
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 Luke 5:22
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searches the inmost thoughts and hearts: and I will give to every one of you according to your works.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
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 said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Look, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
from Isaiah 49:3
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.
from Isaiah 52:13 · a strong link
Jesus says to him, You have said: nevertheless I say to you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
from Matthew 28:18
Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
from Matthew 26:64
Who has gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
from Hebrews 12:2
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,
But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
from Jude 1:24
Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
from I Peter 4:13
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are.
from I Peter 1:5
Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? for you alone are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before you; for your judgments are made manifest.
from John 17:11
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great prostitute, which did corrupt the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.
from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
from Matthew 23:35 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
from Luke 2:14
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
from Acts 10:36
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.
from Acts 2:36
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
By terrible things in righteousness will you answer us, O God of our salvation; who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are in the distance upon the sea:
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
He is your praise, and he is your God, that has done for you these great and terrible things, which your eyes have seen.
from Psalms 65:5
They forgot God their savior, which had done great things in Egypt;
from Deuteronomy 10:21
They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel:
from Psalms 106:21
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
from Psalms 106:13
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.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
from Acts 20:24 · a strong link
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 Acts 20:21 · a strong link
And when she was baptized, and her household, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and remain there. And she constrained us.
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Mark 2:9 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