a thread opens
Woe to you, you blind guides, which say, Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
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.
You fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
from Matthew 23:16
You fools and blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
from Matthew 23:17
Seven days you shall make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
from Matthew 23:19 · a strong link
And you shall anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy.
from Exodus 29:37
And you shall offer every day a young bull for a sin offering for atonement: and you shall cleanse the altar, when you have made an atonement for it, and you shall anoint it, to sanctify it.
from Exodus 40:10
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.
Look, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Look, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their cast images are wind and confusion.
from Isaiah 41:24
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.
from Isaiah 41:29
How long will you speak these things? and how long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
from Jeremiah 5:13
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.
Who have for my life laid down their own necks: to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
from I John 3:16
But as God has distributed to every man, as the Lord has called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.
from Romans 16:4
For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
from I Corinthians 7:17 · a strong link
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.
For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which is at work also in you that believe.
from I John 2:27
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
from I Thessalonians 2:13
According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
from Acts 13:48
Listen, my beloved brothers, Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?
from Ephesians 1:4 · a strong link
So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
from James 2:5 · a strong link
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
from Luke 12:21
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.
Obey your leaders, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
So you, O son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
from Hebrews 13:17
I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never keep silent day nor night: you that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
from Ezekiel 33:7
Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
from Isaiah 62:6
And go, get you to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
from Ezekiel 33:2 · a strong link
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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.
They that are of a perverse heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.
from I Chronicles 29:17
א ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
from Proverbs 11:20
Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
from Psalms 119:1
The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
from Proverbs 13:6 · a strong link
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:
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 I Corinthians 5:7
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin to salvation.
from John 1:29
For in that he died, he died to sin once: but in that he lives, he lives to God.
from Hebrews 9:28 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:16 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