a thread opens
But all their works they do to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
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 you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as bands between your eyes.
from Matthew 23:5 · a strong link
Bind them upon your fingers, write them upon the tablet of your heart.
from Deuteronomy 6:8
Since you are manifestly declared to be the letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets of human hearts.
from Proverbs 7:3
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.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
You offer polluted bread upon my altar; and you say, How have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
from Leviticus 3:11
But you have profaned it, in that you say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and its fruit, even his food, is contemptible.
from Malachi 1:7 · a strong link
Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
from Malachi 1:12
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,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
from II Timothy 4:18
I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
from I Chronicles 4:10 · a strong link
We love him, because he first loved us.
from Psalms 116:1
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 4:19
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
Therefore thus says the LORD, Look, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.
Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
from Jeremiah 6:21
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
from Jeremiah 13:16
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
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
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
This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
from Matthew 21:9 · a strong link
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?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
from Psalms 88:1
Not pilfering, but showing complete faithfulness; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
from Titus 3:4 · a strong link
Let your light so shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.
from Titus 2:10
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
from Matthew 5:16 · a strong link
For with you is the fountain of life: in your light shall we see light.
from I John 1:5 · a strong link
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
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from John 12:25
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cling to the Lord.
from Acts 20:24
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
from Acts 11:23
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
from Acts 14:22
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 23:5 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