Zondervan - The Books of the Bible (NIV)

THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

The Books of the Bible, NIV

The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV

Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

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The Drama of the Bible Notes 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

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eISBN: 9780310410881

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012943663

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Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

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A GUIDE TO THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

(pause and pray before you read the Scriptures)

Table of Contents

IN THE FRONT

IN THE MIDDLE

AT THE BACK

The story of

GODS CREATION OF THE WORLD,

its fall from his intention,

AND THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM

AND HIS DESCENDANTS

THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL

to be Gods instrument

FOR BRINGING BLESSING TO ALL PEOPLES ON EARTH,

The First Testament (commonly known as the Old Testament) is a collection of books that make up the first three-quarters of the Bible. It begins a story thats completed in the last quarter of the Bible, in the books of the New Testament. This story first tells how God created a world of beauty and harmony and made peoplecreative, relational beings like himselfto care for this world and develop its potential. Next, it tells how people disastrously turned away from God and describes the devastating consequences for the whole creation. Since then God has been working to bring people back to himself and to restore the world.

An essential aspect of Gods plan was to enter into a special relationship with a man named Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel, so that through them he could extend his blessings to people of every nation. The First Testament records that the Israelites looked to three sources of authoritative teaching to guide them in their relationship with God: the teaching of the law by the priest, counsel from the wise and the word from the prophets (see p. ) This edition presents the books of the First Testament in an order much closer to this Hebrew tradition than the one readers of English Bibles may be familiar with, which comes from a later Greek translation:

: The first division, the Covenant History, includes both the books the Hebrews call the law (GenesisDeuteronomy) and the books they call the former prophets (JoshuaKings), since all of these books together make up a continuous narrative. It tells the story of Gods dealings with humanity from the beginning of the world up to the time when the people of Israel were conquered and sent into exile.

: The second division presents the books the Hebrews call the latter prophets. These are traditionally divided into two groups according to their size. The long books are considered the major prophets and the short ones the minor prophets. But here, for greater understanding, theyre presented as a single group in what we believe is their historical order. Our hope is that this order will make it easier to place the messages in relation to Israels covenant history.

: The third division contains the writings. These rich and diverse books are grouped according to what kind of literature they are: song lyrics, wisdom, history or apocalypse.

Weve chosen to call this whole collection of books the First Testament. Old can carry the connotation that these books no longer speak to us today. Our designation of the Bibles two main parts as First and New follows the example of the book of Hebrews in its description of Gods two covenants with his people (see pp. ).

The First Testament is made up of dozens of books of many different kinds. They cover centuries of history and include everything from law codes and architectural descriptions to songs and vision reports. Nevertheless, as the pages of the First Testament unfold, readers can see God continually at work to heal humanity and reclaim his world by fulfilling the promise he makes to Abraham early in Genesis: all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.