a thread opens
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?
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 God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have provided?
from Matthew 16:26 · a strong link
As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
from Luke 12:20 · a strong link
But your eyes and your heart are not but for your greed, and to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
from Jeremiah 17:11
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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 21:21
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
from Leviticus 3:11
Circumcise therefore your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
from Ezekiel 44:7
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
from Deuteronomy 10:16
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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.
from John 10:29
And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
from John 6:37 · a strong link
Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
from John 6:39
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Matthew 18:14
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.
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
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, reveling with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
from II Peter 2:15
In which they think it strange that you run not with them to the same flood of debauchery, speaking evil of you:
from II Peter 2:13
Having your conduct honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
from I Peter 4:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
If you keep my commandments, you shall remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
from John 17:4
Furthermore then we beg you, brothers, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.
from John 15:10
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?
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great reward.
from Luke 18:7
For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
from Hebrews 10:35 · a strong link
Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
from Galatians 6:8
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it has no stalk: the bud shall yield no flour: if it should yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
from Job 4:8
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
from Hosea 8:7
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
from Galatians 6:7
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.
He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
from John 12:25
For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.
from Luke 9:23 · a strong link
Beloved, I beg you as strangers and exiles, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
from Romans 8:13 · a strong link
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burial place with you, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
from I Peter 2:11
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 16:26 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