a thread opens
Whoever boasts himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
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.
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
from Proverbs 25:14
I tell you that he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?
from Proverbs 20:6 · a strong link
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
from Luke 18:8
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
from Matthew 24:9 · a strong link
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
from I Thessalonians 2:14
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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 God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk in it:
from Isaiah 44:24 · a strong link
Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things;
from Isaiah 42:5
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.
from Acts 17:25
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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.
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 John 3:16
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
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped his fisher’s coat about him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
from John 21:15
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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 this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
from I John 2:27
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feeds among the lilies.
from Hebrews 8:10
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feeds among the lilies.
from Song of Solomon 2:16 · a strong link
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
from Song of Solomon 6:3 · a strong link
So shall the king greatly desire your beauty: for he is your Lord; and worship you him.
from Song of Solomon 7:10 · a strong link
For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
from Psalms 45:11 · a strong link
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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.
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
from I Corinthians 12:28
Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
from I Timothy 5:17 · a strong link
And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brothers with many words, and confirmed them.
from Romans 12:8
Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
from Acts 15:32
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
from Acts 13:1
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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
But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
from I Samuel 16:7
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
from II Samuel 14:25
But when Jesus heard that, he said to them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
from Isaiah 1:6
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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 with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
from I Corinthians 5:7
And I saw, and, look, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
from I Peter 1:19
For who has despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run back and forth through the whole earth.
from Revelation of John 5:6 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Proverbs 25:14 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