a thread opens
I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children.
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.
He came to his own, and his own received him not.
from Psalms 69:8
But he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
from John 1:11
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers:
from Matthew 15:24 · 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
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
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up immediately out of the water: and, look, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
from Isaiah 42:1 · a strong link
Now when all the people were baptized, it happened, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
from Matthew 3:16 · a strong link
Then comes Jesus from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized of him.
from Luke 3:21
But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there: however, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
from Matthew 3:13
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 in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
from Revelation of John 14:5 · a strong link
Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, so that I may be glorified.
from Zephaniah 3:13
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.
from Isaiah 60:21
For, look, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
from II Peter 3:13 · 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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
Are you not then making distinctions among yourselves, and have become judges with evil reasoning?
from Romans 14:13
Judge not, so that you will not be judged.
from James 2:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Saying, Blessed be the King that comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
from Luke 19:38
His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
from Psalms 72:17 · a strong link
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?
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great prostitute, which did corrupt the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
from Isaiah 49:13
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.
He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
from John 12:25
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
from Luke 9:23 · a strong link
Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
from Titus 2:12
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
from Matthew 16:24
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 69:8 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