a thread opens
And now it is true that I am your near kinsman: however there is a kinsman nearer than I.
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.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat down there: and the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, Come over here, friend! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
from Ruth 3:12 · a strong link
And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.
from Ruth 4:1
Then said Boaz, What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
from Deuteronomy 25:7
If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without to a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
from Ruth 4:5 · a strong link
Saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed to his brother.
from Deuteronomy 25:5 · 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.
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
from I Corinthians 8:4
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
from Ephesians 4:6
And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.
from Ephesians 3:17 · a strong link
Look, what kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us, so that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
from I John 4:16
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.
Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from I John 3:16
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded to many.
from Matthew 20:28
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
from Romans 5:15
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 this cause we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which is at work also in you that believe.
from I John 2:27
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls.
from I Thessalonians 2:13
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
from Acts 2:41
For whom he did foreknow, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
from Acts 13:48 · a strong link
Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.
from Romans 8:29 · a strong link
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
from Jeremiah 1:5 · a strong link
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
Remember your leaders, who have spoken to you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conduct.
from Hebrews 13:24 · a strong link
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
from Hebrews 13:7
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
from Luke 8:11
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that waters shall be watered also himself.
from I Corinthians 3:6
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.
They that are of a perverse heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.
from I Chronicles 29:17
א ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
from Proverbs 11:20
I beg you, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
from Psalms 119:1
Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
from II Kings 20:3
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:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
from I Corinthians 5:7
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
from I Peter 1:19
And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
from I Peter 2:22
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ruth 3:12 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