The Vigil

from Matthew 23:35

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 23:35

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.

from Matthew 23:35

Genesis 4:10

And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.

from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link

Psalms 9:12

When he makes investigation for blood, he remembers them: he forgets not the cry of the humble.

from Genesis 4:10


a thread opens

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.

Leviticus 21:17

Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.

from Leviticus 10:3

Psalms 65:4

Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach to you, so that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.

from Leviticus 21:17

Psalms 36:8

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

from Psalms 65:4 · a strong link

Isaiah 58:11

And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

from Psalms 36:8 · a strong link

John 16:13

However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

from Isaiah 58:11 · a strong link

I Corinthians 2:10

But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

from John 16:13 · a strong link


a thread opens

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,

Hebrews 13:20

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

from Jude 1:24

I Peter 2:25

For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

from Hebrews 13:20

Isaiah 53:6

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

from I Peter 2:25 · a strong link

I Peter 3:18

For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

from Isaiah 53:6 · a strong link

I John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

from I Peter 3:18 · a strong link


a thread opens

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.

Revelation of John 2:14

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

Numbers 31:16

Look, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

from Revelation of John 2:14 · a strong link

Numbers 25:1

And Israel remained in Acacia, and the people began to commit prostitution with the daughters of Moab.

from Numbers 31:16 · a strong link


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

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

Luke 19:38

Saying, Blessed be the King that comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

from Luke 2:14 · a strong link

Matthew 21:9

And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

from Luke 19:38


a thread opens

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 15:3

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.

from Revelation of John 6:10

Exodus 15:1

Then Moses sang and the children of Israel this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying, I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea.

from Revelation of John 15:3 · a strong link

Isaiah 51:10

Are you not it which has dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that has made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

from Exodus 15:1

Exodus 14:21

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

from Isaiah 51:10


a thread opens

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.

John 12:25

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

Luke 9:23

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

from John 12:25

Galatians 4:29

But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

from Galatians 5:11 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:35 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