a thread opens
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
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.
And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the LORD: for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
from Matthew 6:24
For you shall worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
from Joshua 24:19
(For the LORD your God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and destroy you from off the face of the earth.
from Exodus 34:14
And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you.
from Deuteronomy 6:15
And your heaven over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.
from Deuteronomy 11:17
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
He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
from Isaiah 44:24
And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things in it:
from Jeremiah 51:15
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God together, and said, Lord, you are God, who have made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
from Acts 14:15
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.
But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
from Romans 5:8 · a strong link
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
from Romans 5:6
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.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him:
from I John 2:27
Furthermore then we beg you, brothers, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.
from Colossians 2:6 · a strong link
Now we beg you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him,
from I Thessalonians 4:1
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
from II Thessalonians 2:1
But I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning them which are asleep, so that you may not grieve, even as others which have no hope.
from I Thessalonians 4:14
Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: look, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
from I Thessalonians 4:13
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.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came to them.
from Hebrews 13:24
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him to them, and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly.
from Acts 18:2 · a strong link
And for me, that words may be given to me, so that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
from Acts 18:26
And now, Lord, look on their threatenings: and grant to your servants, that with all boldness they may speak your word,
from Ephesians 6:19 · 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
And they ran and fetched him from there: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and handsome: and there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.
from I Samuel 10:23 · a strong link
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
from I Samuel 9:2
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:
But God judges those outside. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be to you as a pagans man and a tax collector.
from I Corinthians 5:13
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you from now on do not walk as the other Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds,
from Matthew 18:17
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 6:24 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