One story, from creation to the coming of Jesus
The Old Testament is not a pile of separate stories. It is one story, told over thousands of years, about one God who made the world, did not give up on us when we fell, and kept His promise to send a Rescuer. Here is that story in twelve short chapters. Each one ends with where Jesus can be seen ahead, and the passages to read for yourself.
Genesis 1–2 · about 4170 BC*
Before anything else existed, God was. He spoke, and the heavens and the earth came to be. Light, land, sea, plants and animals all came from His word, and He called it good.
On the sixth day God made the first man, Adam, from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. Then He made the woman, Eve, from Adam’s side. Both were made in His own image. God placed them in a garden, walked with them, and gave them work to do and one command to keep. Everything was as it should be.
Read it: Genesis 1:1–31 BLB Genesis 2:7–25 BLB John 1:1–3 BLB
Genesis 3–5 · soon after creation*
Eve listened to the serpent, Adam ate with her, and both turned from God. Sin entered the world. Shame, hiding, pain and death followed. The first son born, Cain, killed his brother Abel.
Yet before God sent them out of the garden, He made a promise: an offspring of the woman would one day crush the serpent’s head. God also clothed them Himself. The rest of the Bible is the story of that promise being kept.
Read it: Genesis 3:1–24 BLB Genesis 4:1–16 BLB Romans 5:12–19 BLB
Genesis 6–11 · flood about 2520 BC*
Evil spread until the earth was full of violence. God judged the world with a flood, but Noah found grace in His eyes. God saved Noah and his family in the ark and then promised never again to destroy the earth by flood.
Later, people joined together at Babel to make a name for themselves instead of honoring God. He confused their language and scattered them over the earth. The nations were divided, and the world waited for a way back to God.
Read it: Genesis 6:5–22 BLB Genesis 9:8–17 BLB Genesis 11:1–9 BLB
about 2091 BC
God called Abram to leave his home and go to a land God would show him. He promised Abram a land, a great family, and a blessing that would reach all the families of the earth.
Abram believed the Lord, and God counted it to him as righteousness. God renamed him Abraham, gave him and Sarah a son, Isaac, in their old age, and tested Abraham’s faith on Mount Moriah, where God provided the sacrifice.
Read it: Genesis 12:1–3 BLB Genesis 15:1–6 BLB Genesis 22:1–14 BLB
about 2066–1805 BC
The promise passed from Abraham to Isaac, then to Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. Jacob’s twelve sons became the fathers of the twelve tribes.
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, but God raised him up in Egypt to save many lives during a great famine. Jacob’s family moved to Egypt. As Joseph told his brothers, what they meant for evil, God meant for good.
Read it: Genesis 28:10–17 BLB Genesis 32:22–30 BLB Genesis 50:15–21 BLB
about 1526–1446 BC
In Egypt, Israel grew into a great people, and a new Pharaoh made them slaves. God heard their cry. He called Moses from a burning bush and sent him to say, “Let My people go.”
Through ten plagues God showed His power. On the night of the Passover, the blood of a lamb on the doorposts kept the firstborn safe. God brought Israel through the Red Sea, and at Mount Sinai He gave them His Law and His presence in the tabernacle. He rescued them first, then taught them how to live as His people.
Read it: Exodus 3:1–15 BLB Exodus 12:1–13 BLB Exodus 14:21–31 BLB Exodus 20:1–17 BLB
about 1446–1406 BC
Israel complained and doubted, and at the edge of the Promised Land they refused to go in. That generation wandered forty years in the wilderness.
Even so, God fed them with manna, gave them water from the rock, and led them by cloud and fire. Before he died, Moses called the new generation to love the Lord with all their heart.
Read it: Numbers 14:1–24 BLB Numbers 21:4–9 BLB Deuteronomy 6:4–9 BLB
about 1406–1050 BC
Under Joshua, Israel crossed the Jordan and took the land God had promised. Rahab, a Canaanite woman of Jericho, believed and was saved with her household.
After Joshua died, Israel fell into a cycle: they turned from God, were oppressed by enemies, cried out, and God raised up a judge to deliver them, such as Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. In that dark time, the faithfulness of Ruth and Boaz pointed ahead to the line of David.
Read it: Joshua 1:1–9 BLB Joshua 2:8–14 BLB Judges 2:11–19 BLB Ruth 4:13–17 BLB
about 1050–930 BC
Samuel, the last judge and a prophet, anointed Saul as Israel’s first king. Saul disobeyed God, and God chose David, a shepherd boy, a man after His own heart.
God promised David that his throne would be established forever. David’s son Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, and God’s glory filled it. But Solomon’s heart turned toward other gods.
Read it: 1 Samuel 16:1–13 BLB 2 Samuel 7:12–16 BLB 1 Kings 8:10–13 BLB Psalm 23 BLB
about 930–586 BC
After Solomon, the kingdom split in two: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Most kings led the people into idolatry. God sent prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea and Amos to call His people back.
The northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC. Judah lasted longer, with a few faithful kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, but it too refused to turn back.
Read it: 1 Kings 18:20–39 BLB Isaiah 6:1–8 BLB Isaiah 53:1–12 BLB 2 Kings 17:6–18 BLB
605–538 BC
Babylon carried Daniel and others away in 605 BC, and in 586 BC destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. God’s people lived in exile, far from the land.
Yet God did not abandon them. Daniel stayed faithful in a foreign court. Through Jeremiah and Ezekiel God promised a new covenant, a new heart, and His Spirit within His people.
Read it: Jeremiah 29:10–14 BLB Jeremiah 31:31–34 BLB Ezekiel 36:24–28 BLB Daniel 6:10–23 BLB
538 BC to the birth of Jesus
After seventy years, Persia’s King Cyrus let the Jews go home. They rebuilt the temple and, under Ezra and Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem. God also protected His people through Esther.
Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, promised that a messenger would prepare the way of the Lord. Then came about four hundred years with no new prophet. The people waited, until the fullness of time had come and God sent forth His Son.
Read it: Ezra 1:1–4 BLB Nehemiah 8:1–8 BLB Malachi 3:1 BLB Galatians 4:4–5 BLB
From the first promise in the garden to the last word of Malachi, the Old Testament points forward to Jesus. On the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He showed His disciples the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. Luke 24:25–27 BLB
The story goes on in the New Testament Reference.
Scripture quotations and pop-ups are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
* Dates are approximate. Dates before Abraham are counted straight back through the family lines in Genesis 5 and 11 (the Hebrew text), starting from Abram’s call about 2091 BC. Treat them as a rough guide: many Bible scholars believe those lists may skip generations, and the Greek Old Testament gives larger numbers.