a thread opens
While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
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.
But even if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming;
from Matthew 25:5
For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
from Matthew 24:48
What mean you that you beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord GOD of hosts.
from Isaiah 32:6
They break in pieces your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.
from Isaiah 3:15
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is the testimony, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
from Acts 20:21
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
from I John 5:11
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
from Romans 6:23 · a strong link
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life.
from John 6:40
Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to sincere love of the brothers, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:
from John 4:14
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
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from I John 2:12
Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
from Luke 24:47 · a strong link
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
from Matthew 28:19
But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if perhaps the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
from II Corinthians 13:14
What? do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?
from Romans 8:9 · 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.
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from Acts 17:31
I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
from Romans 2:16
From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.
from II Timothy 4:1
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,
By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
from Acts 4:30
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
from Acts 3:6
And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
from John 19:19 · a strong link
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.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
from Acts 7:51
Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you.
from Jeremiah 4:4
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a sudden end of all them that dwell in the land.
from Zephaniah 2:2
I will utterly consume all things from the land, says the LORD.
from Zephaniah 1:18
However the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell in it, for the fruit of their doings.
from Zephaniah 1:2
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
At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
from Acts 9:15
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
from II Timothy 4:16 · a strong link
And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.
from Acts 7:60
And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.
from Acts 20:36
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy to all the brothers.
from Acts 21:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 25:5 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