The Bible From Start to Finish
By Freda Hawkes
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About this ebook
The Bible from Start to Finish is designed to help you begin to read and understand the bible. “Bible” comes from a Greek word “biblios” meaning “the books”. The bible is a series of 66 books, like a library. The many books together tell one major story. God, the creator, made human beings to have a relationship with him. Humans rebelled against God, but he made a plan to save the world – to send us Jesus Christ. This is good news for us today.
The books of the bible cover a period of recorded history from before 2000 BC to about 95 AD. The story of Jesus divides our history into BC and AD. In the same way the bible is divided into the Old Testament (before Jesus lived on earth) and the New Testament. The bible is set in what we now call the Middle East. The Old Testament was mostly written in classical Hebrew, related to the Jewish language now spoken in Israel, with some sections in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek, the common language of the Roman Empire. The names of people and places, the geography and the historical context are all strange to us.
It is not easy to start reading the bible for the first time, as you can soon get lost in unfamiliar details, but it is important to work through the bible to see the main story developing. To use these studies, you need to read the bible, either a printed copy or online. For 400 years the bible has been available in English. The English translation now often used is the New International Version (NIV). The questions in the studies are based on the NIV. These studies pick out important parts of the bible, from the first book, Genesis, to the last book, Revelation. Each study has notes helping you understand the context and the unusual words. You can study individually, or as a small group. Each study could take you about an hour. There are 20 studies from start to finish, and you might prefer to do one study a week. The introduction to each study includes helpful background information and a summary of the story so far. If you study in a group and new people join in, they should be able to follow what you are doing. By the end you will have a good idea of what the bible is all about. Then go back and read more of the parts that interest you.
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Book preview
The Bible From Start to Finish - Freda Hawkes
The Bible from Start to Finish
Published by Freda Hawkes at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Freda Hawkes
ISBN: 9781311487148
* * * * *
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.
*****
Many thanks to my husband Dennis for drawing the maps and preparing this document for publication as an eBook. Many thanks also to our friends who did these studies with us from January to June 2012.
*****
Introduction
The Bible: Some Facts
The Bible from Start to Finish is designed to help you begin to read and understand the bible. The bible is the world’s best-seller; more copies have been sold than any other book in history. It is the guidebook for Christians, and has shaped the culture, law and morality of many societies. Bible
comes from a Greek word biblios
meaning the books
. The bible is a series of 66 books, like a library. The many books together tell one major story. God, the creator, made human beings to have a relationship with him. Humans rebelled against God, but he made a plan to save the world – to send us Jesus Christ. This is good news for us today.
The books of the bible cover a period of recorded history from before 2000 BC to about 95 AD. The story of Jesus divides our history into BC and AD. In the same way the bible is divided into the Old Testament (before Jesus lived on earth) and the New Testament. The bible is set in what we now call the Middle East. The Old Testament was mostly written in classical Hebrew, related to the Jewish language now spoken in Israel, with some sections in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek, the common language of the Roman Empire. The names of people and places, the geography and the historical context are all strange to us.
It is not easy to start reading the bible for the first time, as you can soon get lost in unfamiliar details, but it is important to work through the bible to see the main story developing. God, the creator, communicated with humans, especially selecting one man, Abraham, and one nation descended from him, Israel. God rescued the nation from slavery in Egypt and gave the people leaders, a law to live by and a land to live in. However, from the time of their creation humans rebelled against God, and chose alternative ‘gods’ to worship. Throughout there are hints of God’s plan to save the world through a person who was promised – a plan that culminated in Jesus Christ.
To use these studies, you need to read the bible, either a printed copy or online, for example at www.biblegateway.com where you can also get an audio version. For 400 years the bible has been available in English, translated from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek by teams of scholars. The English translation now often used in the UK is the New International Version (NIV). The questions in the studies are based on the NIV.
Reading through the Bible: the Arrangement of the Books
As the birth of Jesus divides our history into BC and AD, so it divides the bible into the Old Testament and New Testament. The contents page of a bible (or the bible book list in www.biblegateway.com) lists the names of the 66 books. The 39 books of the Old Testament are arranged in 3 sections, each section containing a different type of literature - history, poetry/wisdom and prophecy. The 27 books of the New Testament are also arranged in 3 sections of different types of literature - history, letters and prophecy
Old Testament (39 books)
1. History books of the Jewish nation, arranged in approximate chronological order: Genesis (creation, prehistory and history around 2000 BC) to Esther (approximately 450 BC). Some of the books in this section are named after a person who is an important figure in the book (Joshua, Ruth, Samuel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther). Other books have English names which are a clue to their contents (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (the second law, or summary of the law), Judges, Kings and Chronicles.
2. Poetry and Wisdom Literature: Job to Song of Songs. Many Psalms were written by the Jewish king David (around 1000 BC).
3. Prophecy: the titles of the books are all names of prophets. The section is subdivided into the Major Prophets (longer books) from Isaiah (around 700 BC) to Daniel (around 550 BC) and the Minor Prophets (shorter books) from Hosea (about 750 BC) to Malachi (about 450 BC). Some of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel is history, some of each of the Major Prophets writings is biography. All the books of the prophets contain encouragements and warnings from God to the Jewish nation and prophecies about the future, including the coming of Jesus.
New Testament (27 books)
1. History: the gospels (meaning good news) are four biographies of Jesus, named after the men who wrote them (Matthew to John). The Acts of the Apostles (Acts), Luke’s second book, is a history of the early church up to about 65 AD.
2. Letters by church leaders to churches and individuals (Romans to Jude). The section is subdivided into letters written by Paul (Romans to Philemon), arranged approximately in order of decreasing length, and letters written by other leaders (Hebrews to Jude). The names of the books from Romans to Thessalonians are cities or regions in the Roman Empire; these are public letters Paul wrote to be read out in the churches in these places. The names of the books from Timothy to Philemon are individuals who Paul knew and wrote to. Hebrews was written by an unnamed author especially for Jewish Christians. James, Peter, John and Jude are church leaders who wrote these letters.
3. Prophecy: Revelation. There is evidence this book was written by John who also wrote the gospel of John. Revelation contains letters from Jesus to 7 churches, visions of heaven and prophecies and visions of God’s future judgement.
How to Use These Studies
These studies pick out important parts of the bible, from the first book, Genesis, to the last book, Revelation. Each Chapter contains one study and has notes helping you understand the context and the unusual words. You can study individually, or as a small group. Each study could take you about an hour. There