a thread opens
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
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.
A man has joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
from Proverbs 25:11 · a strong link
Let no unwholesome talk proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of building up, so that it may minister grace to the hearers.
from Proverbs 15:23
The mouth of the just brings forth wisdom: but the perverse tongue shall be cut out.
from Ephesians 4:29 · a strong link
a thread opens
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.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
from Isaiah 49:3 · a strong link
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Isaiah 44:23 · a strong link
For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
from Psalms 69:34
Go forth of Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say, The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.
from Isaiah 55:12 · a strong link
Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
from Isaiah 48:20 · a strong link
a thread opens
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,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil: he shall preserve your soul.
from II Timothy 4:18 · a strong link
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
from Psalms 121:7 · a strong link
But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it to good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
from Romans 8:28 · a strong link
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn your statutes.
from Genesis 50:20 · a strong link
a thread opens
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.
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
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet.
from Isaiah 9:6 · a strong link
The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool?
from I Corinthians 15:25
a thread opens
And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great reward.
from Luke 18:7
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so they persecuted the prophets before you.
from Hebrews 10:35
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
from Matthew 5:12
Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
from Acts 5:41
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
from Hebrews 12:2
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, struck of God, and afflicted.
from Isaiah 53:3
a thread opens
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.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
from Psalms 73:25
Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all obscenity of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
from Matthew 5:8
But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and establish you.
from II Corinthians 7:1
Who is a God like you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retains not his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy.
from I Peter 5:10
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Proverbs 25:11 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