The first book of Kings recounts the lives of the kings of Israel and Judea over a period of 400 years after the death of King David. His son, Solomon, features heavily in these chapters, first to show God's generous blessings to a faithful king and, later, as an example of the consequences of turning away from God. This book also details the split of the northern and southern tribes of Israel, and the subsequent appointment of the prophet Elijah...

Isaiah is the first of the prophetic books of the Bible and was written by the man of the same name during the time of the kings in Israel. Like many of the prophets during this period, Isaiah attempted to warn the Israelites of the consequences of turning away from God. This book is filled with the promise of judgment towards sin and disobedience, but also the assurance of reward for faithfulness. Additionally, Isaiah contains beautiful, descriptive...

Not ony is Genesis the first book in the Bible, it is also the first of the five books of the Torah, a set of instructional and historical volumes which recount the early history of mankind and provide the list of rules under which the Hebrews lived in accordance to their covenant with God. Many of the best known biblical stories can be found in Genesis, including the story of creation, the fall of man through Adam and Eve and the Great Flood's cleansing...

The New Testament is well-known for recording the miraculous life and death of Jesus, but it also contains the spread of Christianity by His disciples after the Resurrection. The majority of the New Testament is epistles written by the Apostle Paul and other notable Biblical figures to the new Church, urging them to remain strong in their faith and to not be lead astray by false prophets who sought to mingle Christianity with other beliefs. Finally,...

The book of Haggai was written after the return of the Jews from their exile in Babylon. Surrounded by enemies and struggling to repair their lives and city, the Jewish people despair and realize their need for God's help. Haggai instructs them to rebuild their temple to restore favor with God and warns them of the consequences of attempting to succeed without His blessings.

The book of Judges depicts one of the most violent and immoral times for the Israelite people who underwent a continuous cycle of disobedience and sin followed by repentance. These chapters show the unrelenting love of God and His patient attempts at rehabilitation through the mighty judges who rose up to lead them. Some of the most famous Biblical characters are found within this book, including Samson, Gideon and Deborah. Once again, Judges serves...

This book follows the Israelite people on their journey to the Promised Land and depicts their continual disobedience and rebellion towards God, despite the many signs and miracles performed through Moses. To punish them for their waywardness, God instructs the Israelites to wander the desert for forty years, and it is in this time period that Numbers was written. As its name suggests, Numbers also contains a great deal of statistical information...

Only one chapter long, the book of Jude is an epistle written by the half-brother of Jesus, who became a Christian only after His crucifixion. This book uses examples from the Old Testament to show the importance of obeying God and following His teachings. Jude condemns the false teachers and urges the Christians to unite and strengthen each other's faith in order to withstand their deception.

The gospel of Luke was not written by one of Jesus' disciples, but rather a physician by the same name. Due to his profession, Luke has a distinctly human aspect to his writing, which contains greater details of the people whom Jesus interacted with, particularly the sinners. Jesus' entire life is depicted in these passages, and portrays the Messiah not as an untouchable figure of greatness, but as the more attainable and relatable Son of Man.

The genre of Psalms is Songs and Poetry of all kinds. It is written by multiple authors, David wrote 73, Asaph wrote 12, the sons of Korah wrote 9, Solomon wrote 3, Ethan, and Moses each wrote one (Ps. 90), and 51 of the Psalms are anonymous. They were written over the span of approximately 900 years (Beginning at the time of Moses 1440 B.C. and through the captivity in 586 B.C.). The Psalms include praises of joy, laments, blessings, and thanksgivings....