The Vigil

from Mark 4:31

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.

a thread opens

Mark 4:31

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds in the earth:

Genesis 22:17

That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand upon the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

from Mark 4:31

Genesis 26:4

And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

from Genesis 22:17

Exodus 32:13

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

from Genesis 26:4


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Leviticus 21:17

Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.

from Leviticus 10:3

Numbers 16:5

And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he has chosen will he cause to come near to him.

from Leviticus 21:17

Ezekiel 44:15

But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD:

from Numbers 16:5

Leviticus 17:5

So that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them to the LORD, to the door of the tent of meeting, to the priest, and offer them for peace offerings to the LORD.

from Ezekiel 44:15

Genesis 31:54

Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brothers to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and stayed all night in the mount.

from Leviticus 17:5

Exodus 18:12

And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

from Genesis 31:54


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

I Peter 4:13

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

I Peter 1:5

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

Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

from I Peter 1:5

I Peter 1:2

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you, and peace, be multiplied.

from Philippians 1:6 · a strong link

II Peter 1:2

Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

from I Peter 1:2


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

II Peter 2:15

Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

from Jude 1:11 · a strong link

Numbers 31:16

Look, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

from II Peter 2:15

Deuteronomy 4:3

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you.

from Numbers 31:16


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 1:79

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

from Luke 2:14 · a strong link

Psalms 85:10

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

from Luke 1:79

Psalms 72:3

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.

from Psalms 85:10 · a strong link


a thread opens

Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Jeremiah 20:11

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

Daniel 12:2

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to eternal life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link

Acts 24:15

And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

from Daniel 12:2

Isaiah 26:19

Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

from I Thessalonians 4:14

Psalms 71:20

You, which have shown me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

from Isaiah 26:19


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

Philippians 3:8

Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Matthew 16:26

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

from Philippians 3:7

Matthew 5:29

And if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell.

from Matthew 16:26 · a strong link

Colossians 3:5

Put to death therefore your members upon the earth; sexual immorality, uncleanness, passion, evil greedy desire, and greed, which is idolatry:

from Matthew 5:29 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Mark 4:31 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