a thread opens
For he is the minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil.
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.
Beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.
from Romans 13:4
Do not say, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save you.
from Romans 12:19 · a strong link
To me belongs vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
from Proverbs 20:22 · a strong link
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay on it:
from Deuteronomy 32:35
Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
from Isaiah 30:12
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
Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
from Deuteronomy 6:4 · a strong link
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
from Isaiah 44:6 · a strong link
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying to me, Do not fear; I am the first and the last:
from Revelation of John 22:13 · a strong link
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.
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant offering.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
from Ephesians 5:2 · a strong link
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
from Galatians 2:20 · a strong link
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 we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
from II Peter 1:16 · a strong link
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I John 4:14
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
from John 3:16 · a strong link
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Romans 5:10
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
from Colossians 1:20
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.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Now for a long season Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
from Ephesians 4:11
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: look, your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
from II Chronicles 15:3
And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them cast images, even two calves, and made an Asherah pole, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
from I Kings 12:28 · a strong link
And Ahab made an Asherah pole; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.
from II Kings 17:16
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.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Look, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
from I Chronicles 29:17
Not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
from John 1:47
God is not a man, so that he should lie; neither the son of man, so that he should repent: has he said, and shall he not do it? or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
from Romans 9:6
In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the world began;
from Numbers 23:19 · a strong link
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:
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And the uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
from Exodus 12:15 · a strong link
And it happened by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
from Genesis 17:14
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Romans 13:4 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