Fiona Tulloch - The Childrens Bible

Created by: Q2A Media
Editor: Fiona Tulloch
Cover design: Peter Ridley

Arcturus Publishing Limited
26/27 Bickels Yard
151153 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3HA

Published in association with

foulsham

W. Foulsham & Co. Ltd,
The Publishing House, Bennetts Close, Cippenham,
Slough, Berkshire SL1 5AP, England

eISBN: 978-1-78212-891-5

This edition printed in 2007
Copyright 2007 Arcturus Publishing Limited

All rights reserved

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Bible is the holy book of Christianity. It teaches us the importance of having faith in God and Jesus and how to live a good and decent life in the way that God wants us to. It also tells us how to avoid the temptations of the Devil. Bible stories can be enjoyed by everyone, whether or not they are Christians. Everyone can learn from the wisdom and teachings it contains.

The Bible is divided into two parts the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament tells us how God created the Earth and all the creatures that live on it. It gives us the history of the Jewish people up to a few centuries before the birth of Jesus. The New Testament tells us about the life and preachings of Jesus, about his death and resurrection, and about the early days of the Christian church. (You can read more about the New Testament .)

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and consists of 39 separate books. The first five books are associated with Moses, the great Israelite leader who led his people out of captivity in Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. The Old Testament story begins, however, long before the time of Moses with the first human beings, Adam and Eve. It continues through the lives of the ancestors of the Israelites such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

After the five books of Moses come the books of history, which continue the story of the Jewish people up to about the third century before Jesus birth. Here we meet famous Israelite kings such as Saul, David and Solomon, and heroes such as Gideon and Samson.

Following the history books, we have the Psalms and the Song of Solomon, which are books of poetry and song, and Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which are books of wisdom and advice.

Lastly, we have 17 books containing the words of the great prophets such as Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah, who spoke the words that God gave them to take to the people of Israel and Judah. God wanted to assure his people of his constant love for them and also to warn of what would happen to them if they did not change their bad ways. God also promised to send them the Messiah, which he did this was Jesus.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all the animals, domestic and wild, large and small.

In the beginning, the world was covered in water and everything was dark. The Spirit of God moved over the water. One day, God said, Let there be light! and the Earth was filled with light. God was pleased with this and called the light day and the darkness night. Evening passed, and then morning came this was the very first day. Then God said, Let there be a space above the oceans, to separate the heavens from the earth. God named this space sky. Again, there was evening and morning this was the second day.

On the third day, God said, Let dry ground appear from the waters. He named the dry ground land, and the waters He named seas. Pleased with what He saw, God commanded, Let the land produce plants and crops and fruit trees of every kind. The land filled with beautiful trees and plants.

The next day, God commanded, Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night, to mark the days, the seasons and the passing of the years. And it was done. God named the two larger lights the sun, to rule over the day, and the moon, to rule over the night, separating light from darkness. Evening passed and morning came, marking the end of the fourth day.

God said, Let the waters be filled with all kinds of living creatures, and let the air be filled with birds. Knowing that all He had made was good, God blessed the creatures and told them to go and make the skies and water their new homes. Evening passed and morning came, and that was the fifth day.

The next day, God said, Let the earth produce many kinds of animal life, tame and wild, large and small. And He was pleased with what He saw.

Now I shall make human beings in my image, said God. They will rule the earth and the other creatures. God created a man in His image He called him Adam. Blessing him, God said, Look after everything I have created. I have provided you with everything you could ever need. Evening passed and morning came, and this was the sixth day.

This was how the universe was completed. By the seventh day, God had finished His creation and needed to rest. He blessed the seventh day, because it was His special day of rest.

Did you know?

The day of rest is called the Sabbath. Many people do not work on this day to honour God.

Genesis 3:6 The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise.

God planted a beautiful garden, called Eden, for Adam to live in. It was a beautiful garden filled with animals, plants and flowers, including trees bearing delicious fruit for them to eat. God also planted two special trees the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

You may eat the fruit from every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God told Adam. For if you do, you will die.