a thread opens
But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
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.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the people be.
from Micah 5:2 · a strong link
And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
from Genesis 49:10
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for a banner of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
from Isaiah 11:12
Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
from Isaiah 11:10
For what has man of all his labor, and of the trouble of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun?
from Matthew 11:28 · a strong link
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.
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
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
from Deuteronomy 4:39 · a strong link
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
from Joshua 2:11 · a strong link
She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melts, and the knees strike together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
from Isaiah 13:7
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.
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
from Philippians 2:17 · a strong link
The thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
from II Corinthians 12:15
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.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
from I John 2:27 · a strong link
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 I John 2:20
You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know:
from Acts 10:38 · a strong link
Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
from Acts 2:22
But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
from John 14:10 · a strong link
But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me.
from John 10:38
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.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
from I Corinthians 12:28
And these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be arrogant for one against another.
from Romans 12:6
Now as for things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
from I Corinthians 4:6
However I have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
from I Corinthians 8:1
And it happened, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
from Revelation of John 2:20 · 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.
You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
from I Chronicles 29:17
In all things showing yourself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing integrity, dignity, sincerity,
from I Thessalonians 2:10
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 Titus 2:7
But have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
from II Corinthians 2:17 · a strong link
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:
The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb mute before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
from I Corinthians 5:7
But you, O LORD, know me: you have seen me, and tried my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
from Acts 8:32
Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
from Jeremiah 12:3 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Micah 5:2 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