a thread opens
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, so that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls;)
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.
(As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which are not as though they were.
from Romans 9:11
Look, these shall come from afar: and, look, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
from Romans 4:17
Do not fear: for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west;
from Isaiah 49:12 · 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
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Isaiah 49:3
Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
from I Peter 2:9 · a strong link
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father in heaven.
from II Timothy 2:12 · a strong link
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
from Matthew 10:33
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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
from II Corinthians 4:14
Therefore, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, so that we should bring forth fruit to God.
from Colossians 1:22
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end eternal life.
from Romans 7:4
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is after godliness;
from Romans 6:22
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
And shall say, Build up, build up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.
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.
from Isaiah 57:14
Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
from Romans 14:13
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
from Luke 2:14
And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look on it.
For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?
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?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations around.
from Psalms 88:1
Look, I have done according to your words: look, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.
from I Kings 4:31
So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
from I Kings 3:12
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand on the sea shore.
from I Kings 10:23
Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
from I Kings 4:29
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 every one that has forsaken houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.
from John 12:25
If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
from Matthew 19:29
According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
from John 15:19
But we must give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
from Ephesians 1:4
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Romans 9:11 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