Genesis
This contains the story of creation when God created the sky, seas and land. It also contains the story of Adam and Eve, of Abraham (whom God promises a nation to), of his son Isaac, of Jacob whose work teaches us about a life of service for God, and of Joseph with his many coloured coat.

Exodus
This explains the story of the Israelites when they were slaves of the Egyptians. It tells of God rescuing them through the leader Moses and through some mighty miracles including the parting of the Red Sea. The Passover celebration is an annual reminder of this escape from slavery.

Leviticus
The Levites were priests who instructed the people in the correct ways to worship. In this book we can find out what God considered the correct way to worship, which feasts were designated religious and also the civil rules for handling food and disease.

Numbers
This book describes how the Israelites were prevented from entering the Promised Land because many did not believe in God. When the people criticised him, they were severely punished which led to a rebellion against Moses.

Deuteron
This book explains how, by understanding God’s promises and acts in history, individuals can learn more about his character. It suggests that people have to choose to follow his teachings otherwise God will bring harm to them. People must also teach their children in God’s ways.

Joshua
This book describes how God helps people when they obey him, how he helps them to fight battles more successfully than military power, money, muscle or cleverness. It tells of how Joshua used God strength to successfully defeat the city of Jericho.

Judges
This tells us about how there are many ‘earthly rewards’ for people who don’t believe completely in their faith. These could be wealth, power, influence and fame. God tells us however, that this goes against his teachings and will lead to disaster.

Ruth
This book tells us of the story of Ruth, who shows an extremely strong moral character. She leaves her homeland and relations to stay with her mother-in-law to look after her. They meet an equally generous man, Boaz, who helps them. This book is to show Christians how to make difficult decisions.

Samuel I
This tells us how the Israelites prospered as long as they regarded God as their true King. God had not wanted to be thought of as a King and he chose other people to be judges, priests, and prophets and kings. This worked well as long as the people he chose were obedient to him. These included Samuel and David.

Samuel II
This tells of how successful a king David was. However it also tells of how David did have some sins, and did not try to sort them out. Eventually his sins ruined himself, his family and the nation. The book tells Christians to sort out their mistakes and errors before they become too big and mess up their lives.

Kings I
This tells us about Solomon’s temple and how beautiful it was. However, that did not make everybody who worshipped there, necessarily believe everything they were told. Eventually, people came to worship more, the beauty and expense of the building and contents, rather than God himself. These material things were described as ‘false gods’.

Kings II
This book tells the story of Elisha and how he tried to restore the respect for God and his message. However, only 20% of Israel and Judah’s kings followed god, the others imported other religions and priests and the good kings had to spend a lot of time undoing the problems that the bad ones created. Eventually, in 586BC, the Assyrians destroyed the country that God had given the Israelites.
Chronicles I
This book is the first part of the complete story of the Israelites and their heroes, who have been mentioned in all the previous books of the bible. It gives a ‘who’s who’ of all the main characters and also places special emphasis on the Royal family of David.

Chronicles II
This is the second part of the story of the Israelites. The writer has tried to make the story into a lesson on how to worship God, for the reader. He does this by reminding the people of their past.

Ezra
God shows his mercy in this book by returning the land of Israel to the Israelites. Zerubbabel led the people in rebuilding the temple, and Ezra helped by preaching the scriptures to them, allowing them to understand what they must do to keep their country

Nehemiah
This tells us how, although the temple was rebuilt, the city walls of Jerusalem, which kept out the enemies, were still in ruins. Ezra and Nehemiah prayed to God to help them rebuild them and with Gods guidance the work was done.

Job
This tells us of the story of Job. God tested his faith, by causing him to lose his possessions, his health and his children. His friends all thought this had happened because he had been bad, but Gods lesson was to allow him to understand, that even when there was nothing left for him on Earth, he still had God.

Psalms
These are a collection of prayers praising God, appreciating him, thanking him, asking for forgiveness, and expressing God’s greatness. They are divided up into 5 smaller books, not organised by topic, but mainly by the authors.

Proverbs
This book gives advice on developing personal relationships with friends, family members and co-workers. It describes that, what is said, shows the real attitude towards others and that speech is a test of how wise an individual has become.
Ecclesiastes
This details the story of Solomon looking back over his life. He realises and how much of it was not spent following Gods orders and advice, and describes how empty it is to pursue the pleasures of this life rather than being Gods friend for ever.

Song of Solomon
This is a wedding song honouring marriage. It describes how love between a married couple is very special.

Isaiah
This book generally describes the message of what sin is. This includes corruption as well as breaking the 10 commandments. It also describes forgiveness, comfort and hope to people who have recognised their sins. The message of hope describes the coming of a Messiah, his exalted position and his suffering.

Jeremiah
This tells the story of Jeremiah who was a priest and prophet, and how he confronts many Israelites with their sins, telling them that God will punish them. The book describes how many of his prophesies come true and again mentions the destruction of the nation in 586 BC.

Lamentations
This book acts as a warning to the reader that to disobey God is to invite disaster and destruction. It tells of how Jerusalem is destroyed and all the citizens killed, tortured or taken captive to work as slaves.

Ezekiel
This tells of how many of the other nations who were around at the time; decide that the Israeli God must be very weak and unimportant to have allowed Jerusalem to be conquered. Ezekiel tells them that this was a punishment, and that the same fate could happen to them if they continued to laugh at God.

Daniel
When Ezekiel was helping the captive Israelites, Daniel was a wise man for King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel refused to worship pictures of the king, or to eat his food saying that he would only worship God. His punishment was to be thrown into a pit with hungry lions. With Gods help, the lions did not eat him, and the king realised that God was more powerful than himself.

Hosea
This story is about Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer. God had wanted Hosea to marry Gomer and to continue loving her, even when she lost interest in Hosea. God was trying to show Hosea that he still loved the people of Israel even though they had lost interest in him too.

Joel
This is a short book and tells Christians to stop living wicked lives. It reminds them of the plague of locusts that God sent to Egypt, and that Gods punishment to Christians will be far greater.

Amos
Another short book about Amos, who realised the error of his ways and asked God’s forgiveness. He went on to tell everyone how sinful they were and really annoyed the priests and kings. The book tells of just how much courage he needed to do this.

Obadiah
The book of Obadiah tells of an ancient feud between the people of Edom and the Israelites. Edom had always felt superior to the people of Israel but became overconfident, and were subsequently destroyed.

Jonah
God asked Jonah to perform a task, which Jonah did not want to do, so he ran away to sea instead. God then created a storm in which the boat that Jonah was sailing on began to sink. Jonah jumped into the sea to save the rest of the crew, and was eventually saved having apologised to God.

Micah
In Micah’s book, he preaches to Christians like a lawyer, telling them what they have done or not done that is upsetting God. He tells them that the day of judgement is coming and offers to help anyone who asks for forgiveness.

Nahum
This tells the story of how God punished the Assyrians and their city of Nineveh. God had felt that the Assyrians were too arrogant and therefore had to be destroyed. Nahum writes that anyone who is arrogant and resists Gods authority will be punished.

Habakkuk
Habakkuk was a prophet in Judah (the southern half of the promised land) but he questioned God as to why God used the Babylonians to punish the people of Judah. God’s reply was that he would destroy the Babylonians as well, once they had conquered Judah.

Zephaniah
King Josiah of Judah was attempting to correct the mistakes and sins that the previous kings of Judah had made. He did very well and was helped in his task by Zephaniah.

Haggai
After the people of Judah who had been captured by the Babylonians returned to Judah, the first thing that they did was to start rebuilding the temple. However the work slowed and came to a halt when other things distracted them. Haggai was one of the people that got them back on task until the temple was completed.

Zechariah
As in the previous book, this one tells of the rebuilding of the temple in Judah after the return of the prisoners from Babylon. Zechariah encouraged them to finish building it too, however he also prophesised a messiah that would come and rule the kingdom in the future.

Malachi
This is another version of the story of the rebuilding of the temple in Judah after the prisoners returned from Babylon. Malachi particularly criticised the priests for their lack of leadership and guidance in the rebuilding.

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