a thread opens
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
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 the chief priests moved the people, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.
from Matthew 27:20
But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted to you;
from Mark 15:11
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.
from Acts 3:14
Look, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the world, Say to the daughter of Zion, Look, your salvation comes; look, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
from Zechariah 9:9
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
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 Acts 20:21
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
from Acts 20:24 · a strong link
Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
from Galatians 1:1
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
from Galatians 1:17
But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
from II Corinthians 11:32
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
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, so that he might make his mighty power to be known.
from I John 2:12
Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and worked for my name’s sake, so that it should not be polluted in the sight of the pagans, in whose sight I brought them forth.
from Psalms 106:8
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do you it for your name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.
from Ezekiel 20:22
For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
from Jeremiah 14:7
And the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.
from Isaiah 59:12
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.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
from II Peter 3:7 · a strong link
Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
from II Peter 3:12
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
And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Pretorium; and they call together the whole band.
from Matthew 20:19
And went again into the judgment hall, and said to Jesus, Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer.
from Mark 15:16
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.
To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiff-necked people: lest I consume you in the way.
from Acts 7:51
And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
from Exodus 33:3 · a strong link
In the day that I lifted up my hand to them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
from Exodus 3:8 · a strong link
And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
from Ezekiel 20:6
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
from Daniel 8:9
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
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 Acts 9:15
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 2:7
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
from Romans 9:1
Who has also sealed us, and given the deposit of the Spirit in our hearts.
from Romans 8:16 · a strong link
And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption.
from II Corinthians 1:22 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 27:20 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