a thread opens
But if your eye is bad, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
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.
How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Look, certainly in vain he made it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
from Matthew 6:23
He disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
from Jeremiah 8:8
Take counsel together, and it shall come to nothing; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
from Job 5:12
There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
from Isaiah 8:10
There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
from Proverbs 21:30
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.
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
from I Corinthians 8:4
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
from Isaiah 44:24 · a strong link
Look, the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up its towers, they raised up its palaces; and he brought it to ruin.
from Isaiah 43:14
Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from there, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, in which you now dwell.
from Isaiah 23:13
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.
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 I John 3:16 · a strong link
Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from Ephesians 5:2
For which is greater, he that sits at food, or he that serves? is not he that sits at food? but I am among you as he that serves.
from Matthew 20:28 · a strong link
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 we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
And it happened about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
from II Peter 1:16
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself to prayer.
from Luke 9:28
Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his apparel, and cast lots.
from Psalms 109:4
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and insolent: but I obtained mercy, because I did it in ignorance in unbelief.
from Luke 23:34 · a strong link
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 1:13
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.
Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
from I Corinthians 12:28
So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, love you me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs.
from Acts 20:28
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from John 21:15
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
from II Corinthians 5:14
Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
from Luke 7:42
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.
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
For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conduct in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
from II Corinthians 2:17
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
from II Corinthians 1:12
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:
And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he said to the Jews, Look, your King!
from I Corinthians 5:7
There they laid Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the tomb was near at hand.
from John 19:14
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb, in which was never man yet laid.
from John 19:42
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 6:23 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