a thread opens
Look, your house is left to you desolate.
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 they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
from Matthew 23:38
For I would not, brothers, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in.
from Luke 21:24 · a strong link
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
from Romans 11:25
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
from Zechariah 14:9
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.
from Acts 20:21
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
from Acts 11:18
And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
from Acts 21:20 · a strong link
Beware lest any man take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, after the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ.
from Galatians 1:14
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that plunder the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
from Colossians 2:8
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins.
from I John 2:12 · a strong link
Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life.
from Acts 10:43
And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believe you this?
from John 5:24 · a strong link
Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
from John 11:26
Then Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do: for whatever he does, these also does the Son likewise.
from John 14:10 · a strong link
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
from Acts 17:31
And I saw heaven opened, and look, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
from Psalms 96:13 · a strong link
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: look, your King comes to you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey.
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered to him the whole band of soldiers.
from Matthew 20:19
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
from Matthew 27:27
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
from Acts 7:51
But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
from Acts 7:9
And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.
from Genesis 39:21
He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.
from Exodus 11:3
And forgive your people that have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, so that they may have compassion on them:
from Psalms 106:46
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
To which I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
from Acts 13:2 · a strong link
To which I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
from II Timothy 1:11 · a strong link
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 2:7
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
from Romans 9:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:38 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