The Vigil

from Matthew 3:12

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.

a thread opens

Matthew 3:12

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Isaiah 17:13

The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

from Psalms 1:4 · a strong link

Isaiah 41:15

Look, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff.

from Isaiah 17:13


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Exodus 19:22

And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

from Leviticus 10:3

Exodus 24:5

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

Exodus 18:12

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

Deuteronomy 12:7

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

Philippians 3:3

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

from Deuteronomy 27:7


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

Ephesians 5:27

That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

from Jude 1:24 · a strong link

Hebrews 9:14

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

from Ephesians 5:27

Ephesians 5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant offering.

from Hebrews 9:14

II Corinthians 8:9

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.

from Ephesians 5:2


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

Isaiah 3:9

The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.

from Jude 1:11

Genesis 13:13

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link

Genesis 18:20

And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

from Genesis 13:13

James 5:4

Look, the hire of the laborers who have harvested your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

from Genesis 18:20


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 19:38

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

Mark 11:9

And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord:

from Luke 19:38

John 12:13

Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that comes in the name of the Lord.

from Mark 11:9


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Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Psalms 88:1

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

Psalms 4:1

To the director of music on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

from Psalms 86:3

Habakkuk 3:19

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like the feet of a deer, and he will make me to walk upon my high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

from Psalms 4:1

John 15:4

Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it remain in the vine; no more can you, except you remain in me.

from Philippians 4:13 · a strong link


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

Acts 20:24

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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Acts 20:32

And now, brothers, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

from Acts 20:24

Colossians 1:12

Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

from Acts 20:32 · a strong link

Ephesians 1:11

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will:

from Colossians 1:12 · a strong link

Isaiah 46:10

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

from Ephesians 1:11

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 3:12 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