a thread opens
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
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.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
from Matthew 3:3
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
from Mark 1:3
The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
from Luke 3:4
Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
from Isaiah 40:3 · a strong link
And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
from Isaiah 62:10
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
from I Corinthians 8:4
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him?
from I Timothy 2:5
LORD, what is man, that you take knowledge of him! or the son of man, that you make account of him!
from Hebrews 2:6 · a strong link
What is man, that you are mindful of him? and the son of man, that you visit him?
from Psalms 144:3 · a strong link
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit:
from I John 3:16
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
from I Peter 3:18
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
from II Corinthians 13:4
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
For the truth’s sake, which dwells in us, and shall be with us for ever.
from I John 2:27
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
from II John 1:2
If they sin against you, (for there is no man that sins not,) and you be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives to the land of the enemy, far or near;
from I John 1:8
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
from I Kings 8:46
When you shall beget children, and children’s children, and you shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD your God, to provoke him to anger:
from II Kings 17:6
Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make you a carved image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
from Deuteronomy 4:25
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
from I Corinthians 12:28
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Look, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes will not panic.
from Ephesians 2:20 · a strong link
Jesus said 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 Isaiah 28:16 · a strong link
As it is written, Look, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense: and whoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
from Matthew 21:42 · a strong link
O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in you.
from Romans 9:33 · a strong link
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
He delights not in the strength of the horse: he takes not pleasure in the legs of a man.
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
from Psalms 147:10
The LORD shall bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you shall not understand;
from II Samuel 1:23
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
from I Corinthians 5:7
Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
from I Corinthians 15:3
And whatever case shall come to you of your brothers that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brothers: this do, and you shall not trespass.
from Ezekiel 3:17
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 3:3 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