a thread opens
And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.
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.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
from Matthew 10:38 · a strong link
Then Jesus seeing him loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
from Matthew 16:24 · a strong link
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
from Mark 10:21
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
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
from Isaiah 52:13
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
from Isaiah 53:10
And I will make her who limped a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from now on, even for ever.
from Luke 1:33 · a strong link
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
from Micah 4:7 · a strong link
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,
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Jude 1:24
Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
from Hebrews 13:20
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your seed after you.
from Isaiah 55:3
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.
from Genesis 17:7
For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for this reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
from Hebrews 11:16 · a strong link
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
An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
from I John 3:12
Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hate you.
from Proverbs 29:27
If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
from I John 3:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
from Colossians 1:20 · a strong link
As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.
from I John 4:9 · a strong link
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?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
from Psalms 88:1
Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit fails: hide not your face from me, lest I be like to them that go down into the pit.
from Psalms 27:9
A Psalm of David. To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you are silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
from Psalms 143:7 · a strong link
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
from Psalms 28:1
Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
from Proverbs 1:12
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O God; for you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O Lord GOD; but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?
from I Chronicles 17:17
And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that he will make you a house.
from II Samuel 7:19
And it happened, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest all around from all his enemies;
from II Samuel 7:11 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 10:38 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