The Vigil

from Matthew 23:34

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.

a thread opens

Matthew 23:34

Therefore, look, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

Matthew 13:52

Then he said to them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed to the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.

from Matthew 23:34

I John 2:7

Brothers, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning.

from Matthew 13:52

Galatians 5:13

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 2:7


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Leviticus 10:3

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.

I Peter 2:9

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

Isaiah 9:2

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shone.

from I Peter 2:9

Isaiah 60:19

The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the LORD shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.

from Isaiah 9:2

Revelation of John 21:23

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the its light.

from Isaiah 60:19 · a strong link


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Jude 1:24

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,

Colossians 1:22

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

Romans 7:4

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

Colossians 2:14

Canceling the record of debt that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

from Romans 7:4

Isaiah 44:22

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you.

from Colossians 2:14

I Corinthians 6:20

For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

from Isaiah 44:22 · a strong link


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Jude 1:11

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.

Numbers 26:9

And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:

from Jude 1:11

Numbers 1:16

These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

from Numbers 26:9 · a strong link

Numbers 7:2

That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered:

from Numbers 1:16 · a strong link

Numbers 1:4

And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.

from Numbers 7:2


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Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

John 17:4

I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.

from Luke 2:14

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore seeing we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

from II Timothy 4:7


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Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Revelation of John 6:10

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

from Luke 18:7 · a strong link

Revelation of John 11:18

And the nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, so that they should be judged, and that you should give reward to your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear your name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth.

from Revelation of John 6:10

Revelation of John 20:12

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

from Revelation of John 11:18 · a strong link

Psalms 69:28

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

from Exodus 32:32 · a strong link


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Luke 14:26

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.

Philippians 3:8

Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Ephesians 4:13

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

from Philippians 3:8

John 17:21

That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.

from Ephesians 4:13

John 17:11

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are.

from John 17:21 · a strong link

John 13:1

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the end.

from John 17:11 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:34 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