The Vigil

from Matthew 22:17

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 22:17

Tell us therefore, What do you think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?

Matthew 17:25

He said, Yes. And when he had come into the house, Jesus spoke first to him, saying, What do you think, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?

from Matthew 22:17

Matthew 22:21

They say to him, Caesar’s. Then he said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.

from Matthew 17:25

Malachi 1:6

A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, that despise my name. And you say, How have we despised your name?

from Matthew 22:21

Hosea 12:8

And Ephraim said, Yet I have become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

from Malachi 1:6


a thread opens

Acts 20:21

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:30

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent:

from Acts 20:21

Psalms 50:21

These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.

from Acts 17:30

Psalms 50:3

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous around him.

from Psalms 50:21

Numbers 16:35

And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

from Psalms 50:3

Numbers 26:10

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.

from Numbers 16:35


a thread opens

Acts 13:38

Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

from Acts 13:38

Acts 10:48

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to stay certain days.

from Acts 2:38 · a strong link

John 1:29

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

from II Corinthians 5:14


a thread opens

Acts 17:31

Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.

Psalms 98:9

Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

from Acts 17:31

Psalms 96:10

Say among the pagans that the LORD reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

from Psalms 98:9

Psalms 93:1

The LORD reigns, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, with which he has girded himself: the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.

from Psalms 96:10 · a strong link


a thread opens

Acts 4:27

For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

Matthew 27:2

And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

from Acts 4:27 · a strong link

I Timothy 6:13

I give you charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;

from Matthew 27:2

John 18:36

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from here.

from I Timothy 6:13

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

from John 18:36


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Acts 7:51

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.

Jeremiah 6:10

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? look, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen: look, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

from Acts 7:51

Isaiah 51:9

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

from Isaiah 53:1

Psalms 44:1

To the director of music for the sons of Korah, Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work you did in their days, in the times of old.

from Isaiah 51:9

Psalms 42:1

To the director of music, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God.

from Psalms 44:1


a thread opens

Acts 22:21

And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.

Acts 9:15

But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

from Acts 22:21 · a strong link

Ephesians 3:7

Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.

from Acts 9:15 · a strong link

II Corinthians 3:6

Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

from Ephesians 3:7

I Corinthians 11:25

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

from II Corinthians 3:6

Hebrews 9:15

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

from I Corinthians 11:25

Hebrews 3:1

Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

from Hebrews 9:15

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 22:17 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