The Vigil

from Matthew 9:36

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 9:36

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Zechariah 10:2

For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

from Matthew 9:36 · a strong link

Habakkuk 2:18

What profits the carved image that its maker has carved it; the cast image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts in it, to make mute idols?

from Zechariah 10:2


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.

Isaiah 42:1

Look, my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

from Isaiah 49:3

Luke 3:22

And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.

from Isaiah 42:1 · a strong link

Acts 10:38

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

from Luke 3:22 · a strong link

Matthew 12:28

But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

from Acts 10:38

Matthew 21:31

Whether of them two did the will of his father? They say to him, The first. Jesus says to them, Truly I say to you, That the publicans and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

from Matthew 12:28


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,

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

from Jude 1:24 · a strong link

Hebrews 7:25

Therefore he is able also to save them completely that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.

from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link

Romans 8:34

Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

from Hebrews 7:25 · a strong link

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

from Romans 8:34

Titus 2:11

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

from Romans 8:1 · a strong link


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.

I John 3:12

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

from Jude 1:11 · a strong link

Proverbs 29:27

An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.

from I John 3:12

John 15:18

If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

from I John 3:13 · a strong link


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

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

Revelation of John 5:13

And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.

from Luke 2:14

I Chronicles 29:11

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.

from Revelation of John 5:13


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?

Romans 8:33

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.

from Luke 18:7

Revelation of John 12:10

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brothers is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

from Romans 8:33 · a strong link

Ezra 5:2

Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.

from Zechariah 3:1

Ezra 6:14

And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

from Ezra 5:2

Ezra 5:13

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

from Ezra 6:14


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.

Matthew 10:37

He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

II Kings 24:14

And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

from II Kings 25:12 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Matthew 9:36 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