a thread opens
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
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.
But you have departed out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.
from Zephaniah 3:4
My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear with which he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
from Malachi 2:8
Therefore say, Look, I give to him my covenant of peace:
from Malachi 2:5
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
from Psalms 39:9 · a strong link
And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
from Job 2:10 · a strong link
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
from Job 1:21
Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
from Isaiah 45:7
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look to the land, look, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in its heavens.
from Jeremiah 13:16
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,
But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
from Jude 1:24
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if perhaps we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together.
from I Peter 4:13 · a strong link
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
from Romans 8:17 · a strong link
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus:
from Titus 3:7
Who gave himself for us, so that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.
from Romans 3:24
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.
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it to the stranger in your gates, so that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Exodus 34:26
a thread opens
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 their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me.
from Luke 1:79
And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
from Acts 26:18
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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, patience, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
from II Peter 3:9 · a strong link
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
from Psalms 86:15
Or despise you the riches of his goodness and forbearance and patience; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
from Ephesians 1:7
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich to all that call upon him.
from Romans 2:4
The LORD is near to all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
from Romans 10:12
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.
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 he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
from Acts 20:24
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
To which I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
from Acts 9:15
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 2:7
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Zephaniah 3:4 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