a thread opens
After a long time the lord of those servants comes, and reckons with them.
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.
While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
from Matthew 25:19
But even if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming;
from Matthew 25:5
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
from Matthew 24:48
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.
And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
from Leviticus 10:3
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
from Exodus 19:22
And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
from Exodus 24:5
And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
from Exodus 18:12
And you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger among you.
from Deuteronomy 12:7
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.
from Deuteronomy 26:11
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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
from II Corinthians 4:14
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
from Romans 8:11
That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light to the people, and to the Gentiles.
from I Corinthians 15:20 · a strong link
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
from Acts 26:23
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.
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it to the stranger in your gates, so that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Exodus 34:26
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
The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner.
from Luke 19:38
Jesus says to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the cornerstone: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
from Psalms 118:22 · 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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
However for this cause I obtained mercy, so that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all patience, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to eternal life.
from II Peter 3:9
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
from I Timothy 1:16
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
from Ephesians 2:7 · a strong link
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
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beg you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you are called,
from Titus 2:10
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 father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
from Matthew 22:37 · a strong link
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.
from Deuteronomy 10:12
Thus says the LORD, Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.
from Matthew 11:29 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 25:19 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