The Vigil

from Matthew 5:45

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 5:45

That you may be the children of your Father in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Ezra 3:11

And they sang together by division in praising and giving thanks to the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endures for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

from I Chronicles 16:34


a thread opens

I Corinthians 8:4

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.

Deuteronomy 4:39

Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

from I Corinthians 8:4

Isaiah 45:18

For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

from Deuteronomy 4:35 · a strong link

Psalms 115:16

The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth has he given to the children of men.

from Isaiah 45:18


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I John 3:16

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.

John 10:15

As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

from I John 3:16

Isaiah 53:4

Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, struck of God, and afflicted.

from John 10:15

Isaiah 53:5

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

from Isaiah 53:4 · a strong link


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I John 2:27

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.

I Peter 1:23

Being born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the word of God, which lives and remains for ever.

from I John 2:27

John 3:5

Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

from I Peter 1:23 · a strong link

Ephesians 5:26

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

from John 3:5 · a strong link

I Samuel 17:58

And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, you young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

from Ephesians 6:17

I Samuel 17:12

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

from I Samuel 17:58 · a strong link


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I Corinthians 12:28

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.

Ephesians 3:5

Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

from I Corinthians 12:28

Acts 10:28

And he said to them, You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to associate, or come to one of another nation; but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

from Ephesians 3:5

John 18:28

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover.

from Acts 10:28

Mark 15:1

And immediately in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

from John 18:28

Acts 3:13

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

from Mark 15:1


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I Chronicles 29:17

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.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.

from I Chronicles 29:17

Revelation of John 19:15

And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, so that with it he should strike the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

from Revelation of John 2:12


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I Corinthians 5:7

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:

Luke 24:46

And said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it befitted Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

from Luke 24:26

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 5:45 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