Bible at a Glance

Start Here

At a Glance

Author / setting: Traditionally Moses. Genesis moves from the beginnings of the world (chs. 1–11) to the patriarchal family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (chs. 12–50).

Purpose: To show the sovereign Creator, humanity’s fall into sin, God’s judgment and grace, and the covenant promises through which He advances His redemptive purpose.

Major people: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Esau, Joseph.

Major places: Eden, Ararat region, Babel, Ur, Haran, Canaan, Hebron, Beersheba, Bethel, Egypt.

Start Here

At a Glance

Author / setting: Primarily Moses. Israel is delivered from Egypt, brought to Sinai, joined to the LORD by covenant, and given the tabernacle.

Purpose: To show God keeping His promises, revealing His name and character, redeeming His people, covenanting with them, and dwelling in their midst.

Major people: Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Pharaoh, Jethro, Joshua, Bezalel, Oholiab.

Major places: Egypt, Nile, Red Sea, wilderness, Mount Sinai.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Israel remains at Mount Sinai. The LORD instructs Moses concerning worship, holiness, sacrifice, purity, priesthood, and covenant life.

Purpose: To teach how a holy God can dwell among a sinful people through atonement, cleansing, priesthood, and consecrated living.

Major people: Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s sons, priests, congregation of Israel.

Major themes: Holiness; sacrifice; clean/unclean; priesthood; blood; atonement; love of neighbor; sacred times.

Start Here

At a Glance

Author / setting: Moses is the primary source and author. The book traces roughly forty years from Sinai to the plains of Moab.

Purpose: To warn against unbelief and rebellion while showing that God remains faithful to His covenant promises.

Major people: Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Caleb, Korah, Balaam, Balak.

Major places: Sinai, wilderness of Paran, Kadesh, plains of Moab, Jordan region.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Israel is on the plains of Moab east of the Jordan. Moses addresses the new generation before his death and their entrance into Canaan.

Purpose: To call Israel to covenant faithfulness grounded in love for the one true God, remembering His acts and obeying His Word.

Major people: Moses, Joshua, Caleb, the new generation of Israel.

Major themes: Love the LORD; remember; obey; covenant; blessing and curse; heart loyalty; future restoration.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: After Moses’ death, Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan into Canaan.

Purpose: To show the LORD as covenant-keeper and righteous Judge, fulfilling His promise of land while demanding faithful obedience.

Major people: Joshua, Rahab, Caleb, Achan, Eleazar.

Major places: Jordan River, Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, Shiloh, Shechem.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Between Joshua’s death and the rise of Samuel and Saul.

Purpose: To expose the consequences of covenant unfaithfulness and the inadequacy of merely temporary deliverers.

Major people: Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson.

Key refrain: Israel repeatedly does what is right in its own eyes; the book points toward the need for righteous kingship.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: During the days of the judges.

Purpose: To show God’s sovereign kindness through ordinary faithfulness and to preserve the family line leading to David.

Major people: Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, Orpah.

Major places: Moab, Bethlehem, fields of Boaz.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Israel moves from the era of judges into monarchy.

Purpose: To trace the transition of leadership from Eli to Samuel to Saul to David and emphasize obedience to God’s Word.

Major people: Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, David, Goliath, Abigail.

Major places: Shiloh, Ramah, Gilgal, Gibeah, Bethlehem, Philistine territory.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: David becomes king first over Judah and then all Israel, establishing Jerusalem as his capital.

Purpose: To recount David’s reign and establish the covenant promise that his dynasty will culminate in an eternal kingdom.

Major people: David, Nathan, Bathsheba, Uriah, Joab, Absalom, Amnon, Tamar, Mephibosheth.

Major places: Hebron, Jerusalem, Jordan region.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: From Solomon’s accession through the division of the kingdom and the reign of Ahab.

Purpose: To explain Israel’s fortunes in terms of covenant faithfulness, especially true worship versus idolatry.

Major people: David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Jeroboam, Elijah, Ahab, Jezebel.

Major places: Jerusalem, Samaria, Mount Carmel, divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: From the final days of Elijah through the fall of Samaria and Jerusalem.

Purpose: To show why both kingdoms fell: persistent covenant rebellion and idolatry despite prophetic warning.

Major people: Elijah, Elisha, Jehu, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Josiah, various kings of Israel and Judah.

Major places: Samaria, Jerusalem, Assyria, Babylon.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Written from a post-exile perspective, looking back over Israel’s story with special attention to David, temple worship, and the covenant line.

Purpose: To renew hope by showing God’s faithfulness to His covenant with David and the continuing importance of worship and the temple.

Major people: Adam through Israel’s tribes, Saul, David, Levites, priests, temple musicians.

Major themes: Davidic covenant; temple; worship; priesthood; continuity of God’s people.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: From Solomon through the fall of Jerusalem, retold for a post-exile community.

Purpose: To interpret Judah’s history around Davidic kingship, temple worship, repentance, judgment, and hope.

Major people: Solomon, Rehoboam, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah, prophets and priests.

Major places: Jerusalem, temple, Judah, Babylon.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Persian period after Babylonian exile; returns under Zerubbabel and later Ezra.

Purpose: To show God’s grace in returning a remnant, rebuilding the temple, and reforming the community around covenant faithfulness.

Major people: Cyrus, Zerubbabel, Jeshua/Joshua the high priest, Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra.

Major places: Babylon, Jerusalem, temple.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Persian period; Nehemiah serves Artaxerxes and returns to Jerusalem as governor.

Purpose: To record the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls and the spiritual reforms accompanying the restored community.

Major people: Nehemiah, Ezra, Artaxerxes, Sanballat, Tobiah.

Major themes: Prayer; leadership; opposition; Scripture; covenant renewal; reform.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Susa in the Persian Empire among Jews who remained outside the land after the exile.

Purpose: To show that God’s hiddenness is not His absence and that His providence preserves His covenant people.

Major people: Esther, Mordecai, Ahasuerus/Xerxes, Haman, Vashti.

Major themes: Providence; courage; reversal; preservation; responsibility.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Job is presented as a righteous man from Uz; the story’s setting resembles the patriarchal world.

Purpose: To ask whether God can be trusted when suffering cannot be explained by simple formulas.

Major people: Job, his wife, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu.

Major themes: Suffering; sovereignty; wisdom; lament; integrity; human limitation; trust.

Start Here

At a Glance

Authors: Many authors across Israel’s history; David is connected to about half the Psalms, with Asaph, sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, and others also represented.

Purpose: To form God’s people in worship, prayer, trust, lament, confession, praise, wisdom, and hope in the LORD and His promised King.

Structure: Five books: Psalms 1–41; 42–72; 73–89; 90–106; 107–150.

Major themes: Torah; Messiah; kingship; lament; refuge; worship; covenant; creation; wisdom; praise.

Start Here

At a Glance

Primary voices: Solomon is the principal source; Agur and King Lemuel also appear.

Purpose: To train God’s people in skillful, God-fearing wisdom for ordinary life.

Major themes: Fear of the LORD; wisdom and folly; speech; work; money; marriage; parenting; justice; humility; self-control.

Start Here

At a Glance

Speaker: The Teacher / Preacher reflects on wisdom, work, pleasure, time, injustice, death, and meaning.

Purpose: To strip away false securities and teach a God-centered way to receive life as gift.

Major themes: Vanity; mortality; time; work; pleasure; wisdom; injustice; contentment; fear of God.

Start Here

At a Glance

Form: A collection of lyrical exchanges between lovers, with supporting voices.

Purpose: To celebrate the goodness and power of faithful marital love in its proper God-given setting.

Major themes: Love; desire; fidelity; marriage; beauty; exclusivity; patience; delight.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Isaiah ministered in Judah during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

Purpose: To expose covenant rebellion, proclaim God’s holiness and judgment, and announce salvation through the coming King and Servant.

Major themes: Holiness; judgment; remnant; trust; Immanuel; Servant; kingdom; new creation; nations.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Jeremiah ministered during Judah’s final decades before and through Jerusalem’s fall.

Purpose: To call Judah to repentance, explain coming judgment, and preserve hope in God’s covenant faithfulness.

Major themes: Covenant unfaithfulness; repentance; judgment; exile; false prophets; restoration; new covenant.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: After Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC.

Purpose: To give faithful language for grief, confession, dependence, and hope after catastrophic judgment.

Major themes: Lament; sin; judgment; suffering; prayer; mercy; faithfulness; hope; restoration.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Ezekiel was a priest-prophet among the Judean exiles in Babylon.

Purpose: To explain Jerusalem’s judgment, vindicate God’s holiness, and announce restoration beyond exile.

Major themes: Glory of God; holiness; judgment; responsibility; new heart; Shepherd; dry bones; restored presence.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Jewish exiles living under Babylonian and Persian rule.

Purpose: To strengthen God’s people to remain faithful while earthly kingdoms rise and fall under His sovereign authority.

Major themes: Sovereignty; exile; faithfulness; prayer; kingdoms; persecution; Son of Man; resurrection; final kingdom.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Hosea ministered primarily to the northern kingdom of Israel.

Purpose: To expose covenant unfaithfulness through Hosea’s marriage imagery and announce both judgment and restoring love.

Major themes: Covenant love; adultery; idolatry; judgment; mercy; repentance; restoration.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: A devastating locust plague becomes a lens for the greater day of the LORD.

Purpose: To call God’s people to heartfelt repentance and announce restoration and Spirit outpouring.

Major themes: Day of the LORD; repentance; mercy; restoration; Spirit; judgment; Zion.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Amos was from Judah but was sent to prophesy to the prosperous northern kingdom.

Purpose: To expose injustice, hypocrisy, and false security while announcing certain judgment and final restoration.

Major themes: Justice; righteousness; worship; judgment; day of the LORD; remnant; Davidic restoration.

Start Here

At a Glance

Focus: Judgment on Edom for pride and violence against Judah.

Purpose: To assure God’s people that arrogant nations will answer to the LORD and His kingdom will prevail.

Major themes: Pride; brotherly violence; day of the LORD; justice; Zion; kingdom.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Jonah is sent to Nineveh, capital of Assyria, Israel’s enemy.

Purpose: To reveal God’s freedom to show mercy and confront religious self-righteousness.

Major themes: Mission; rebellion; providence; repentance; mercy; compassion; nations.

Start Here

At a Glance

Prophet: Micah ministered in Judah during the eighth century BC.

Purpose: To confront injustice and idolatry while promising restoration through God’s Shepherd-King.

Major themes: Justice; judgment; remnant; Bethlehem; Shepherd; covenant mercy; restoration.

Start Here

At a Glance

Focus: Nineveh and the Assyrian empire face God’s judgment.

Purpose: To comfort Judah by declaring that cruel imperial power will not escape the LORD’s justice.

Major themes: Justice; wrath; refuge; sovereignty; downfall of evil empires.

Start Here

At a Glance

Form: A dialogue between the prophet and God followed by a prayer-song.

Purpose: To teach God’s people to live by faith when His ways are difficult to understand.

Major themes: Injustice; sovereignty; faith; waiting; judgment; joy in God.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Judah before the Babylonian exile, likely during Josiah’s reign.

Purpose: To warn of the day of the LORD and call people to seek the LORD while holding out restoration for the humble remnant.

Major themes: Day of the LORD; judgment; humility; remnant; nations; restoration; divine joy.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Returned exiles in Jerusalem during the reign of Darius I.

Purpose: To awaken God’s people from misplaced priorities and renew the rebuilding of the temple.

Major themes: Priorities; obedience; temple; presence; holiness; future glory; Davidic hope.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Post-exile Jerusalem during temple rebuilding.

Purpose: To call the returned community to covenant faithfulness and strengthen hope in God’s future King and kingdom.

Major themes: Restoration; temple; cleansing; Messiah; King; Shepherd; pierced one; day of the LORD.

Start Here

At a Glance

Setting: Post-exile Judah after temple worship had resumed but spiritual apathy had deepened.

Purpose: To confront corrupt worship and covenant unfaithfulness and renew hope in the coming day of the LORD.

Major themes: Covenant love; worship; priesthood; marriage faithfulness; justice; messenger; day of the LORD.

Start Here

Matthew at a Glance

Matthew presents Jesus as the promised Messiah and King who fulfills Scripture, announces the kingdom of heaven, teaches His disciples, gives His life, rises from the dead, and commissions His followers.

Start Here

Mark at a Glance

Mark moves rapidly through Jesus’ ministry, emphasizing His authority, His identity as the Son of God and Messiah, the cost of discipleship, and the necessity of the cross.

Start Here

Luke at a Glance

Luke gives an orderly account of Jesus’ life and ministry, showing Him as the promised Savior who seeks the lost and brings God’s salvation to Israel and the nations.

Start Here

John at a Glance

John openly states his purpose: that readers may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing have life in His name.

Start Here

Acts at a Glance

Acts records the continuing work of the risen Jesus through the Holy Spirit and His witnesses as the gospel moves from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and toward the ends of the earth.

Start Here

Romans at a Glance

Romans gives Paul’s fullest sustained explanation of the gospel: humanity’s need, justification by faith, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, God’s faithfulness, and the transformed life of worship and love.

Start Here

1 Corinthians at a Glance

Paul confronts division, sexual sin, lawsuits, marriage questions, worship disorders, spiritual gifts, and confusion about resurrection, repeatedly bringing the church back to the cross and lordship of Christ.

Start Here

2 Corinthians at a Glance

Paul defends the character of gospel ministry, showing that God displays Christ’s power through weakness, suffering, integrity, reconciliation, generosity, and dependence on grace.

Start Here

Galatians at a Glance

Galatians fiercely protects the gospel of justification by faith apart from works of the law and calls believers to live in Spirit-produced freedom that expresses itself through love.

Start Here

Ephesians at a Glance

Ephesians celebrates God’s saving purpose in Christ and then calls the church to live worthy of that calling in unity, holiness, love, Spirit-filled relationships, and spiritual strength.

Start Here

Philippians at a Glance

Philippians calls believers to live worthy of the gospel with joy, unity, humility, perseverance, prayer, and contentment, centered on knowing and becoming like Christ.

Start Here

Colossians at a Glance

Colossians exalts Jesus as supreme over creation and the church and calls believers to reject substitutes, set their minds on things above, put off the old life, and put on Christlike character.

Start Here

1 Thessalonians at a Glance

Paul encourages a young church to continue in faith, love, holiness, mutual care, and hope as they wait for the return of Jesus.

Start Here

2 Thessalonians at a Glance

Paul reassures persecuted believers about Christ’s return, corrects confusion about the day of the Lord, and calls them to stand firm and live responsibly.

Start Here

1 Timothy at a Glance

Paul instructs Timothy on guarding sound doctrine and ordering church life through prayer, qualified leadership, care for people, godly conduct, and faithful stewardship.

Start Here

2 Timothy at a Glance

In Paul’s final letter, he charges Timothy to guard the gospel, endure suffering, handle Scripture faithfully, resist false teaching, preach the Word, and finish his ministry well.

Start Here

Titus at a Glance

Titus links sound doctrine with visible godliness. Grace saves and trains believers, qualified leaders guard the church, and good works adorn the gospel.

Start Here

Philemon at a Glance

Paul appeals to Philemon to receive Onesimus not merely as a servant but as a beloved brother, showing how the gospel transforms status, obligation, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Start Here

Hebrews at a Glance

Hebrews calls wavering believers to hold fast because Jesus is God’s final revelation, the superior High Priest, mediator of the new covenant, and once-for-all sacrifice.

Start Here

James at a Glance

James insists that genuine faith becomes visible in steadfastness, obedience, controlled speech, impartial love, humility, patience, and prayer.

Start Here

1 Peter at a Glance

Peter writes to believers living as exiles, grounding their hope in Christ’s resurrection and calling them to holiness, faithful witness, humble endurance, and trust in God amid suffering.

Start Here

2 Peter at a Glance

Peter urges believers to grow in Christlike character, trust the prophetic Word, resist destructive false teachers, and live holy lives while awaiting the day of the Lord.

Start Here

1 John at a Glance

1 John gives believers tests and assurances of genuine fellowship with God: right belief about Jesus, obedience, love for fellow believers, rejection of sin, and confidence in eternal life.

Start Here

2 John at a Glance

2 John joins Christian love to truth and obedience, warning believers not to assist teachers who deny the true doctrine of Christ.

Start Here

3 John at a Glance

3 John commends Gaius for faithful hospitality to gospel workers, rebukes Diotrephes’ self-exalting leadership, and urges imitation of what is good.

Start Here

Jude at a Glance

Jude calls believers to contend for the once-for-all delivered faith, recognize corrupt teachers, build themselves up in faith, show discerning mercy, and trust God to keep them.

Start Here

Revelation at a Glance

Revelation unveils Jesus Christ as risen Lord, Lamb, Judge, and coming King, calling the churches to faithful endurance while assuring them of God’s final victory and the new creation.