The Vigil

from Matthew 4:24

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 4:24

And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought to him all sick people that were taken with various diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with demons, and those which were lunatick, and those that were paralyzed; and he healed them.

Acts 15:23

And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brothers send greeting to the brothers which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

from Matthew 4:24

Acts 23:26

Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix sends greeting.

from Acts 15:23 · a strong link

Acts 26:25

But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.

from Acts 23:26


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.

Leviticus 21:21

No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.

from Leviticus 10:3

Leviticus 21:6

They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.

from Leviticus 21:21

Leviticus 18:21

And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link

Deuteronomy 18:10

There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or a fortune-teller, or a spellcaster, or a sorceress,

from Leviticus 18:21

I Samuel 28:3

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had mediums, and the spiritists, out of the land.

from Deuteronomy 18:10

I Samuel 25:1

And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

from I Samuel 28:3 · a strong link


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,

Colossians 1:22

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:

from Jude 1:24 · a strong link

II Corinthians 11:2

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have betrothed you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

from Colossians 1:22

John 3:29

He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

from II Corinthians 11:2

Matthew 9:15

And Jesus said to them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

from John 3:29 · a strong link

Acts 14:23

And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

from Matthew 9:15


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.

II Peter 2:15

Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

from Jude 1:11 · a strong link

Deuteronomy 23:4

Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

from II Peter 2:15

Nehemiah 13:2

Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, so that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.

from Deuteronomy 23:4

Deuteronomy 23:5

Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because the LORD your God loved you.

from Nehemiah 13:2


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

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

Luke 1:79

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

from Luke 2:14 · a strong link

Psalms 85:10

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

from Luke 1:79

Psalms 89:14

Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face.

from Psalms 85:10 · a strong link


a thread opens

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?

Jeremiah 20:11

But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

from Luke 18:7

Psalms 40:14

Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link

Psalms 71:13

Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.

from Psalms 40:14

Psalms 71:24

My tongue also shall talk of your righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame, that seek my hurt.

from Psalms 71:13

Psalms 145:21

My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

from Psalms 35:28


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.

Revelation of John 12:11

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

II Corinthians 2:14

Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.

from I Corinthians 15:57 · a strong link

Colossians 1:6

Which has come to you, as it is in all the world; and brings forth fruit, as it does also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

from II Corinthians 2:14

Psalms 98:3

He has remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

from Colossians 1:6

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 4:24 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