a thread opens
And one of the elders answered, saying to me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and where did they come from?
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.
After this I saw, and, look, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
from Revelation of John 7:13 · a strong link
And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
from Genesis 13:16
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
from Genesis 15:5 · a strong link
And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, To your seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him.
from Exodus 32:13 · 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.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
from I Corinthians 8:4 · a strong link
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to carved images.
from Deuteronomy 6:4
That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.
from Isaiah 42:8
And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
from Exodus 4:5
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.
Who have for my life laid down their own necks: to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
from I John 3:16
Therefore thus says the LORD; Look, against this family do I devise an evil, from which you shall not remove your necks; neither shall you go haughtily: for this time is evil.
from Romans 16:4
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; Look, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return you now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
from Micah 2:3
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.
For the truth’s sake, which dwells in us, and shall be with us for ever.
from I John 2:27
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
from II John 1:2
If they sin against you, (for there is no man that sins not,) and you be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives to the land of the enemy, far or near;
from I John 1:8
The LORD shall bring you, and your king which you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there shall you serve other gods, wood and stone.
from I Kings 8:46
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.
from Deuteronomy 28:36
Have respect to the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
from II Chronicles 36:17
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.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came to them.
from Hebrews 13:24
And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great famine throughout all the world: which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.
from Acts 18:2 · a strong link
And as we stayed there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
from Acts 11:28 · a strong link
And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and greeted the brothers, and remained with them one day.
from Acts 21:10
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.
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conduct in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
from I Chronicles 29:17
Who is a wise man and endowed with understanding among you? let him show by his good conduct his works with meekness of wisdom.
from II Corinthians 1:12
Therefore put away all moral filth and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
from James 3:13
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
from James 1:21
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:
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Look, the Lamb of God!
from I Corinthians 5:7
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation that was not called by my name.
from John 1:36
That at that time you were without Christ, being excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
from Isaiah 65:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Revelation of John 7:13 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