a thread opens
You fools and blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
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.
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
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 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Leviticus 10:3
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
from Exodus 14:4
The LORD has made all things for himself: yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.
from Romans 9:17
You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.
from Proverbs 16:4
Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
The LORD will be terrible to them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the pagans.
from Jeremiah 10:11
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,
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
Therefore, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, so that we should bring forth fruit to God.
from Colossians 1:22
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
from Romans 7:4
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
from Galatians 5:18 · a strong link
Look, what kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us, so that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
from Romans 8:14 · 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
Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you:
from Revelation of John 2:14 · a strong link
And now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
from Joshua 24:9
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 Judges 11:25
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Luke 2:14
For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
from Psalms 69:34
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
from Isaiah 55:12
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
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
from Psalms 27:1 · a strong link
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
from Isaiah 2:5
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
from I John 1:7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
from I Peter 1:19
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 his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
from John 12:25 · a strong link
Do not therefore be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but share in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God;
from Mark 8:35
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if perhaps we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together.
from II Timothy 1:8
In which God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
from Romans 8:17
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:19 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