a thread opens
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
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.
And the Lord said to him, Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
from Matthew 23:25 · a strong link
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
from Luke 11:39
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
from Genesis 6:5
Look, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
from Jeremiah 17:9 · a strong link
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
from Psalms 51:5 · a strong link
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.
Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
from I Corinthians 8:4
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, who is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
from Isaiah 44:6 · a strong link
For they are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
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.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
from John 3:16 · a strong link
Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me:
from John 1:14 · 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.
But the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.
from I John 2:27 · a strong link
And there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the comfort of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
from John 14:26
(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
from Luke 2:25
And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
from Luke 23:51
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he has visited and redeemed his people,
from Luke 2:38
And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet has risen up among us; and, That God has visited his people.
from Luke 1:68 · a strong link
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.
Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
from I Corinthians 12:28
Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you.
from Acts 20:28
Watch yourselves, that we do not lose what we have worked for, but that we receive a full reward.
from I Timothy 4:16
Now he that plants and he that waters are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
from II John 1:8 · a strong link
He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
from I Corinthians 3:8
a thread opens
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.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the abyss shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
And he said to them, Go, and tell that fox, Look, I cast out demons, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
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:
But God judges those outside. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you put the evil away from the midst of you.
from I Corinthians 5:13 · a strong link
Then shall you do to him, as he had thought to have done to his brother: so shall you put the evil away from among you.
from Deuteronomy 13:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:25 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