a thread opens
You fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
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 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
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 you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
Again, you shall say to the children of Israel, Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
from Leviticus 18:21 · a strong link
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shall you put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
from Leviticus 20:2
And you shall stone him with stones, that he die; because he has sought to thrust you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
from Deuteronomy 21:21
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,
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
from Revelation of John 14:5 · a strong link
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conduct in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
from Psalms 32:2
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
from II Corinthians 1:12
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.
from I Corinthians 2:13 · 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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
And now, look, I go to my people: come therefore, and I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Acacia to Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.
from Numbers 24:14
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.
from Micah 6:5
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
from Romans 5:1
That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.
from Romans 4:5
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceedingly great reward.
from Romans 8:31 · a strong link
But the angel said to him, Do not fear, Zacharias: for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
from Genesis 15:1
And said, Cornelius, your prayer is heard, and your alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
from Luke 1:13
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.
from Acts 10:31
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
Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
And he answering said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
from Matthew 22:37 · a strong link
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
from Luke 10:27 · a strong link
For, brothers, you have been called to freedom; only do not use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but by love serve one another.
from I John 3:18
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:17 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