The Vigil

from Matthew 12:4

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

Matthew 12:4

How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

Acts 26:7

To which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

from Leviticus 24:5

Acts 23:6

But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

from Philippians 3:11

Philippians 3:5

Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as for the law, a Pharisee;

from Acts 23:6


a thread opens

I Corinthians 8:4

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.

Isaiah 44:8

Fear not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yes, there is no God; I know not any.

from Deuteronomy 6:4

Isaiah 43:10

You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

from Isaiah 44:8 · a strong link

Isaiah 41:4

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

from Isaiah 43:10 · a strong link


a thread opens

I John 3:16

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.

I John 2:6

He who says that he remains in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

from I John 3:16

I John 3:6

Whoever remains in him sins not: whoever sins has not seen him, neither known him.

from I John 2:6

I John 2:4

He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

from I John 3:6 · a strong link


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I John 2:27

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.

John 15:4

Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it remain in the vine; no more can you, except you remain in me.

from I John 2:27

Ezekiel 15:2

Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch among the trees of the forest?

from John 15:4 · a strong link

Isaiah 5:1

Now will I sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

from Ezekiel 15:2

Jeremiah 2:21

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to me?

from Isaiah 5:1

Deuteronomy 32:32

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

from Jeremiah 2:21

Deuteronomy 29:18

Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood;

from Deuteronomy 32:32 · a strong link


a thread opens

I Corinthians 12:28

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.

Acts 4:11

This is the stone which was set at nothing of you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

from Ephesians 2:20

Exodus 11:8

And all these your servants shall come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, Get you out, and all the people that follow you: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.

from Proverbs 28:1

Exodus 12:31

And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.

from Exodus 11:8


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I Chronicles 29:17

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 Chronicles 28:9

And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.

from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link

Jeremiah 31:34

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

from I Chronicles 28:9 · a strong link

John 6:45

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to me.

from Jeremiah 31:34

John 6:65

And he said, Therefore said I to you, that no man can come to me, except it were given to him of my Father.

from John 6:45 · a strong link


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I Corinthians 5:7

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:

Isaiah 53:7

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is mute, so he opens not his mouth.

from I Corinthians 5:7

John 19:9

And went again into the judgment hall, and said to Jesus, Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer.

from Isaiah 53:7 · a strong link

John 18:33

Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the King of the Jews?

from John 19:9

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 12:4 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