a thread opens
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when you have found him, bring me word again, so that I may come and worship him also.
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 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
from Matthew 2:8
Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
from I Kings 19:2
Where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me.
from II Kings 6:31
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
And the uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
from Ezekiel 44:7
And it happened by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
from Genesis 17:14
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 to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
from Jude 1:24
Having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself:
from Romans 16:25 · a strong link
Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
from Ephesians 1:9 · a strong link
He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
from Colossians 1:26
But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
from Matthew 13:11 · 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.
The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.
from Jude 1:11
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
from Genesis 18:20
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
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
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
from Luke 1:79
And Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
from Isaiah 42:7
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?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is my adversary? let him come near to me.
from Romans 8:33 · a strong link
Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
from Isaiah 50:8
Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
from Isaiah 41:1 · a strong link
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
from Isaiah 1:18 · a strong link
Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
from Acts 18:4
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 I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like you all your days.
from I Chronicles 17:17
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
from I Kings 3:13
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
from Psalms 84:11
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 2:8 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