a thread opens
But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in.
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.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to whited tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
from Matthew 23:13 · a strong link
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
from Matthew 23:27 · a strong link
And whoever touches one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
from Luke 11:44
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.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Isaiah 49:3
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 I Peter 2:9
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bands apart.
from Luke 1:79
O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of your maidservant: you have loosed my chains.
from Psalms 107:14
I am your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know your testimonies.
from Psalms 116:16 · a strong link
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 able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
from Romans 4:21
And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
from Luke 1:37 · a strong link
But Jesus saw them, and said to them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
from Luke 18:27 · 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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
from Hebrews 11:4
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not delight in your solemn assemblies.
from Proverbs 15:8
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
from Isaiah 9:6
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
from Hebrews 7:2
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
But I would have you without anxiety. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
from I Timothy 5:5
Do not be anxious about anything; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
from I Corinthians 7:32
Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
from Philippians 4:6 · a strong link
Neither obscenity, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place: but rather giving of thanks.
from Ephesians 5:20 · a strong link
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
from Ephesians 5:4
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.
He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from Matthew 10:37
The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Look, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
from II Corinthians 5:14
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
from John 1:29
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:13 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