a thread opens
Whether of them two did the will of his father? They say to him, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, That the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.
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.
And all the people that heard him, and the tax collectors, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
from Matthew 21:31 · a strong link
But wisdom is justified of all her children.
from Luke 7:29
Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart to it?
from Luke 7:35
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
from Proverbs 17:16
Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
from Proverbs 23:23
a thread opens
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.
Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
from Isaiah 44:6
John to the seven churches in Asia: Grace be to you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits before his throne;
from Revelation of John 1:11 · a strong link
To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
a thread opens
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.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
Truly, truly, I say to you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness.
Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
from John 3:11
a thread opens
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.
Being born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the word of God, which lives and remains for ever.
from I John 2:27
For this perishable must put on imperishability, and this mortal must put on immortality.
from I Peter 1:23
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be further clothed with our house from heaven:
from I Corinthians 15:53 · a strong link
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
from II Corinthians 5:2
Who gave himself for us, so that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.
from Romans 7:24
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit:
from Titus 2:14
a thread opens
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.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
from I Corinthians 12:28
And I say also to you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
from Ephesians 2:20 · a strong link
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be to you as a pagans man and a tax collector.
from Matthew 16:18
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you from now on do not walk as the other Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds,
from Matthew 18:17
Since you know that you were not redeemed with perishable things, as silver and gold, from your futile ways received by tradition from your fathers;
from Ephesians 4:17
a thread opens
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.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
from Psalms 119:130 · a strong link
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:
from II Corinthians 4:6
a thread opens
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:
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from I Corinthians 5:7
You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread with it, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
from Exodus 12:15 · a strong link
The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
from Deuteronomy 16:3
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 21:31 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