a thread opens
For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
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.
And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every offering of all, of every sort of your offerings, shall be the priest’s: you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough, so that he may cause the blessing to rest in your house.
from Romans 11:16
And this your contribution shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.
from Ezekiel 44:30
Therefore you shall say to them, When you have heaved its best from it, then it shall be counted to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.
from Numbers 18:27
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.
Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach to you, so that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.
from Leviticus 21:17
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures.
from Psalms 65:4 · a strong link
Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
from Psalms 36:8 · a strong link
And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.
from Jeremiah 31:12
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
from John 16:22 · a strong link
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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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
from Ephesians 5:27
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 Peter 1:19
For even to this were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that you should follow his steps:
from Acts 8:32 · a strong link
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.
from I Peter 2:21
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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
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral people, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.
You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s apparel to pledge:
from Malachi 3:5
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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
from Luke 1:79
Since therefore the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
from Isaiah 42:7
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And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brothers is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
from Romans 8:33 · a strong link
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, look, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
from Luke 22:31
And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
from Job 1:6 · a strong link
Set you a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
from Zechariah 3:1 · a strong link
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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.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And now, brothers, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
from Acts 20:24
Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for you serve the Lord Christ.
from Acts 20:32 · a strong link
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.
from Colossians 3:24
Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
from I Corinthians 7:22 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Romans 11:16 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