Bible study

The 66 books of the Bible, one by one

Who wrote each book, when and for whom, its historical setting, why it exists, its best-known passages and a study of every chapter with a summary, key verses and questions with answers.

The Bible gathers 66 books written over roughly fifteen hundred years: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Each page introduces one book with its author, date, first readers and the world it was written in, then walks through it with an outline that links to the study of every chapter.

The studies cite Scripture by reference, using ESV book names and spelling, so you can read the full text in your own Bible. They are built for Sunday school, small groups, youth group and personal Bible study.

Old Testament

From Genesis to Malachi: creation, the patriarchs, the law, the history of Israel, the poetry and the prophets.

Historical narrative (Torah) · 50 chaptersGenesisGenesis is the Bible's book of beginnings: the creation of the world, the fall of humanity, the flood and the tower of Babel. It then follows Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, the family through whom God promised to bless every nation on earth.
Historical narrative and law (Torah) · 40 chaptersExodusExodus tells how God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt through Moses, the plagues, the Passover and the crossing of the sea. At Mount Sinai he gave them his covenant and law, and he came to dwell among them in the tabernacle.
Law (Torah) · 27 chaptersLeviticusLeviticus teaches how a holy God can live among a sinful people. Through sacrifices, priests, purity laws, the Day of Atonement and a call to holiness in daily life, it shows Israel how to draw near to God and reflect his character.
Historical narrative and law (Torah) · 36 chaptersNumbersNumbers tells how Israel left Mount Sinai for the promised land but refused to enter because of unbelief, and spent forty years in the wilderness. It ends with a new generation counted, organized and waiting on the plains of Moab.
Law (Torah) and covenant sermons · 34 chaptersDeuteronomyDeuteronomy records Moses' farewell sermons to Israel on the plains of Moab, just before they entered Canaan. He retells their history, repeats and explains God's law and calls the new generation to love the Lord with all their heart and choose life.
Historical narrative · 24 chaptersJoshuaJoshua tells how Israel, led by Moses' successor, crossed the Jordan, conquered Canaan and divided the land among the twelve tribes. It shows God keeping his promise to Abraham and ends with Joshua's call to choose to serve the Lord alone.
Historical narrative · 21 chaptersJudgesJudges tells the story of Israel between the death of Joshua and the rise of the monarchy, when the tribes kept abandoning the Lord for the gods of Canaan. Each time oppression came, God raised up deliverers such as Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson, yet the nation sank ever deeper into moral chaos.
Historical narrative · 4 chaptersRuthRuth is the story of a Moabite widow who leaves her homeland out of loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi and finds a redeemer in Boaz of Bethlehem. Set in the dark days of the judges, it shows God quietly turning loss into blessing and bringing a foreigner into the family line of King David.
Historical narrative · 31 chapters1 SamuelFirst Samuel tells how Israel moved from the judges to the kings: the prophet Samuel, the rise and fall of King Saul, and the anointing of young David. It shows that the Lord raises up the humble and looks at the heart, not at outward appearance.
Historical narrative · 24 chapters2 SamuelSecond Samuel tells the story of David's forty-year reign: his rise to the throne, the capture of Jerusalem and God's covenant promising him an everlasting dynasty. It then shows how his sin with Bathsheba brought violence and rebellion into his own family.
Historical narrative · 22 chapters1 KingsFirst Kings follows Israel from the glory of Solomon, who built the temple in Jerusalem, to the division of the kingdom and the long slide into idolatry. Its second half is dominated by the prophet Elijah, who confronts King Ahab and the worship of Baal.
Historical narrative · 25 chapters2 KingsSecond Kings continues the history of the divided kingdom from Elisha's ministry to the fall of Samaria to Assyria in 722 BC and of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC. It shows that God patiently warned his people through the prophets before judgment came.
Historical narrative · 29 chapters1 ChroniclesFirst Chronicles retells Israel's story for the generation after the exile. Nine chapters of genealogies run from Adam to the returned exiles, and the rest of the book focuses on David: his kingship, the ark brought to Jerusalem, God's covenant with him and his preparations for the temple.
Historical narrative · 36 chapters2 ChroniclesSecond Chronicles tells the history of Judah from Solomon's temple to the Babylonian exile. It measures each king of David's line by whether he sought the Lord, and it ends not with ruin but with Cyrus inviting God's people to go up and rebuild.
Historical narrative · 10 chaptersEzraEzra tells how the Jews returned from exile in Babylon under the decree of Cyrus and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem despite years of opposition. Decades later Ezra the scribe arrives to teach God's law and calls the community to repentance.
Historical narrative (memoir) · 13 chaptersNehemiahNehemiah tells how a Jewish cupbearer to the Persian king left the palace of Susa to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem in fifty-two days. With Ezra he then led the people to hear God's law, confess their sins and renew the covenant.
Historical narrative · 10 chaptersEstherEsther tells how a young Jewish woman became queen of Persia and, with her cousin Mordecai, saved her people from a decree of extermination plotted by Haman. God is never named, yet every turn of the story reveals his hidden care.
Wisdom literature · 42 chaptersJobJob is the story of a blameless man who loses his wealth, his children and his health, and of his long debate with three friends about why he suffers. When God finally speaks from the whirlwind, Job receives not an explanation but an encounter with his Creator.
Poetry (songs and prayers of worship) · 150 chaptersPsalmsThe Psalms are the prayer book and hymnbook of the Bible: 150 songs of praise, lament, thanksgiving, trust and wisdom gathered in five books. They teach God's people to bring every emotion before the Lord and point to the anointed King who will reign forever.
Wisdom literature · 31 chaptersProverbsProverbs is Israel's book of practical wisdom, a collection of instructions and short sayings that teach how to live well under God. Built on the principle that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, it speaks about words, work, money, friendship, family and justice.
Wisdom literature · 12 chaptersEcclesiastesEcclesiastes is the reflection of the Preacher, who searched everything under the sun and found it all a fleeting breath. Facing death, injustice and the limits of wisdom, he calls readers to receive life's simple joys as gifts from God and to fear God and keep his commandments.
Poetry (love poetry) · 8 chaptersSong of SolomonThe Song of Solomon is a collection of love poems in which a young woman and her beloved express their longing, delight and commitment. It celebrates romantic and marital love as a good gift of God and declares that love is as strong as death.
Prophecy · 66 chaptersIsaiahIsaiah is the great prophet of the holiness and salvation of God. He confronts Judah's sin in the days of Assyria and then comforts God's people with promises of a coming King, a suffering Servant and new heavens and a new earth.
Prophecy · 52 chaptersJeremiahJeremiah records forty years of warnings to Judah before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, and the costly obedience of the prophet who gave them. Amid judgment it holds out hope: seventy years of exile, a return home and a new covenant written on the heart.
Poetry (lament) · 5 chaptersLamentationsLamentations is a collection of five poems of grief over the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. At its center, surrounded by ruins, the poet remembers that the Lord's steadfast love never ceases and his mercies are new every morning (3:22-23).
Prophecy with apocalyptic visions · 48 chaptersEzekielEzekiel is the message of a priest-prophet among the exiles in Babylon, who saw the glory of God leave the temple before Jerusalem fell. After the fall he announced new life: a new heart, dry bones raised and a renewed temple where the Lord dwells.
Narrative and apocalyptic prophecy · 12 chaptersDanielDaniel tells how a young Jewish exile and his three friends stayed faithful to God in the court of Babylon, from the king's table to the fiery furnace and the lions' den. Its visions reveal that God rules the kingdoms of the world and will give an everlasting kingdom to the Son of Man.
Prophecy · 14 chaptersHoseaHosea is the prophet whose marriage became a message. Told to marry Gomer, who proved unfaithful, and later to take her back, he showed Israel how its idolatry wounded God and how God's love would not let his people go.
Prophecy · 3 chaptersJoelJoel turns a national disaster, a locust plague that stripped Judah bare, into a call to return to God with all the heart. He announces the day of the Lord, promises the Spirit poured out on all people and foresees God judging the nations and dwelling in Zion.
Prophecy · 9 chaptersAmosAmos, a shepherd from Judah, is sent north to confront the prosperous kingdom of Israel. He condemns its injustice and its empty worship, announces exile, and ends with God's promise to rebuild the fallen booth of David.
Prophecy · 1 chapterObadiahObadiah is the shortest book of the Old Testament: 21 verses announcing the fall of proud Edom, which gloated and plundered when Jerusalem was destroyed. It ends with Mount Zion delivered and the promise that the kingdom will be the Lord's.
Prophecy (prophetic narrative) · 4 chaptersJonahJonah is the story of a prophet who runs from God's call to preach to Nineveh, is swallowed by a great fish and then sees the whole city repent. It ends with Jonah angry at God's mercy and with God's question about his compassion for the nations.
Prophecy · 7 chaptersMicahMicah, a contemporary of Isaiah, denounces the greed and corruption of Samaria and Jerusalem and announces judgment. He also proclaims a coming age of peace, a ruler born in Bethlehem and a God who delights to forgive.
Prophecy · 3 chaptersNahumNahum announces the fall of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire that had crushed Israel and humiliated Judah. It proclaims that the Lord is slow to anger but just, a refuge for those who trust him and an enemy to the proud oppressor.
Prophecy · 3 chaptersHabakkukHabakkuk records a prophet's honest dialogue with God about injustice: why does God tolerate evil in Judah, and how can he use the even more wicked Babylonians to punish it? It ends with a prayer of trust and joy in God even when everything fails.
Prophecy · 3 chaptersZephaniahZephaniah announces the great day of the Lord, a day of judgment that will sweep over Judah, Jerusalem and the surrounding nations. Yet the book ends in song: God will purify a humble remnant, gather his scattered people and rejoice over them with singing.
Prophecy · 2 chaptersHaggaiHaggai is a short, precisely dated book of four messages that stirred the returned exiles to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. It confronts misplaced priorities, encourages discouraged builders with God's presence and promises a future glory and a chosen servant from David's line.
Prophecy (with apocalyptic visions) · 14 chaptersZechariahZechariah encouraged the returned exiles to finish the temple through eight night visions, a call to true justice and promises that God would return to Zion. Its last six chapters look ahead to a humble king, a rejected shepherd, a pierced one and the day when the Lord will be king over all the earth.
Prophecy · 4 chaptersMalachiMalachi, the last book of the Old Testament in Christian Bibles, records a series of disputes between God and a weary people who doubt his love. It confronts careless priests, broken marriages and withheld tithes, and promises a messenger, the Lord's coming to his temple and the return of Elijah.

New Testament

From Matthew to Revelation: the life of Jesus, the birth of the church, the letters of the apostles and the final hope.

Gospel · 28 chaptersMatthewMatthew presents Jesus as the Messiah, the son of David and son of Abraham, who fulfills the Law and the Prophets. Built around five great discourses, it shows the kingdom of heaven arriving in Jesus and ends with the risen Lord sending his disciples to all nations.
Gospel · 16 chaptersMarkMark is the shortest and fastest-moving Gospel, a vivid account that tells more of what Jesus did than of what he said. It presents Jesus as the Son of God who came to serve and to give up his life to ransom many, and it calls disciples to follow him on the way of the cross.
Gospel · 24 chaptersLukeLuke is the first volume of a two-part work completed by Acts, an orderly account of Jesus' life written after careful research. It presents Jesus as the Savior who came to seek out and rescue the lost, bringing good news to the poor, outsiders, women and sinners and opening salvation to all nations.
Gospel · 21 chaptersJohnJohn is the most reflective of the four Gospels, built around seven signs and long conversations that reveal who Jesus is. It presents Jesus as the eternal Word made flesh, the Son sent by the Father, and it was written so that its readers would believe in him and find life through him.
Historical narrative · 28 chaptersActsActs tells how the risen Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, spread the good news from Jerusalem to Rome through his witnesses. Peter leads the first half and Paul the second, as a small Jewish movement becomes a church of Jews and Gentiles across the empire.
Letter · 16 chaptersRomansRomans is Paul's fullest explanation of the gospel: all people are guilty before God, and God declares sinners righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. It goes on to describe new life in the Spirit, God's faithfulness to Israel and a life of love that unites Jews and Gentiles.
Letter · 16 chapters1 CorinthiansIn 1 Corinthians Paul answers reports and questions from a gifted but divided church. He calls the believers back to the message of Christ crucified and applies it to factions, sexual morality, marriage, idols, worship, spiritual gifts and the resurrection of the body.
Letter · 13 chapters2 CorinthiansIn his most personal letter, Paul opens his heart to a church that had hurt him and defends his ministry as a servant of the new covenant who carries God's treasure in a jar of clay. He urges generosity for the poor in Jerusalem and confronts false apostles, boasting in the weakness where Christ's power is made perfect.
Letter · 6 chaptersGalatiansGalatians is Paul's urgent defense of the gospel of grace: people are justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the law. He defends his apostleship, appeals to Abraham and the promise, and calls believers to stand firm in freedom and walk by the Spirit.
Letter · 6 chaptersEphesiansEphesians celebrates the spiritual blessings God has given his people in Christ and reveals his plan to unite all things in him, beginning with one church made of Jews and Gentiles. It then calls believers to walk worthy of that calling, in unity, holiness, love, family life and spiritual warfare.
Letter · 4 chaptersPhilippiansPhilippians is Paul's warm letter of joy and thanks to a church he loved, written while he was in chains. He holds up the humility of Christ as the pattern for the church, warns against confidence in human credentials and teaches contentment and peace in every circumstance.
Letter · 4 chaptersColossiansColossians proclaims the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ, the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of God dwells. Paul warns against human philosophy and religious rules and shows that believers, complete in Christ, are to set their minds on things above and live a new life.
Letter · 5 chapters1 ThessaloniansIn 1 Thessalonians Paul thanks God for a young church that stood firm under persecution and defends the integrity of his ministry among them. He encourages them to live in holiness and love and comforts them with the hope of Christ's return and the resurrection of believers who have died.
Letter · 3 chapters2 ThessaloniansIn this short letter Paul encourages persecuted believers with the promise that Jesus will return in justice and corrects the rumor that the day of the Lord had already arrived. He also tells the church to deal firmly but lovingly with members who had stopped working and were living off others.
Letter (Pastoral Epistle) · 6 chapters1 Timothy1 Timothy is Paul's charge to his young delegate in Ephesus: stop the false teachers, lead the church in prayer, appoint overseers and deacons of proven character, care for widows and elders, and flee the love of money. At its heart is the gospel that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Letter (Pastoral Epistle) · 4 chapters2 Timothy2 Timothy is Paul's last letter, written from a Roman prison as he awaited death. He urges Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel, to share in suffering, to guard and pass on the truth, to hold to the Scriptures and to preach the word faithfully, and he asks him to come quickly.
Letter (Pastoral Epistle) · 3 chaptersTitusTitus is Paul's short letter to his co-worker on Crete about putting young churches in order: appointing elders of good character, silencing false teachers and teaching every group to live in a way that adorns the gospel. Its heart is the grace of God that saves us and trains us to live godly lives.
Letter · 1 chapterPhilemonPhilemon is Paul's shortest letter: a personal appeal to a believer to welcome back his slave Onesimus, who had become a Christian through Paul, no longer as a mere slave but as a beloved brother. It shows the gospel at work in a delicate relationship between two men divided by social status and wrongdoing.
Sermon in letter form · 13 chaptersHebrewsHebrews is a sermon sent as a letter to weary believers tempted to turn back. It shows that Jesus, the Son of God, is greater than the angels, Moses and the priests of the old covenant, and that his once-for-all sacrifice calls his people to hold fast with faith and endurance.
Letter (wisdom exhortation) · 5 chaptersJamesJames is a short, practical letter about faith that shows itself in life. With vivid images and direct commands, it teaches believers to face trials with joy, ask God for wisdom, control their tongues, treat the poor fairly and prove that their faith is alive by their works.
Letter · 5 chapters1 PeterFirst Peter encourages believers who suffer for their faith. It reminds them that they have been born again to a living hope, that they are God's chosen people though exiles in this world, and that they should follow Christ's example by doing good and standing firm in God's grace.
Letter (farewell testament) · 3 chapters2 PeterWriting as he faces death, Peter urges believers to grow in the knowledge of Christ and in godly character. He warns against false teachers who twist grace into license and deny the Lord's return, and assures his readers that the day of the Lord will surely come.
Letter (pastoral sermon) · 5 chapters1 JohnJohn writes to believers unsettled by a church split, so that they may know they have eternal life. He offers three marks of genuine faith: believing that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh, obeying God's commands and loving one another, because God is light and God is love.
Letter · 1 chapter2 JohnSecond John is a short letter from the elder to a church he calls the elect lady. It calls believers to keep walking in truth and love and warns them not to welcome traveling teachers who deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
Letter · 1 chapter3 JohnThird John is a personal note from the elder to his friend Gaius. It praises Gaius for his hospitality to traveling missionaries, rebukes the ambitious Diotrephes for refusing them and commends Demetrius, calling believers to imitate what is good.
Letter (general epistle) · 1 chapterJudeJude is a short, urgent letter that calls believers to contend for the faith delivered once for all to the saints. It exposes intruders who turned God's grace into an excuse for immorality and closes with one of the best-loved doxologies in Scripture.
Apocalyptic prophecy · 22 chaptersRevelationRevelation records the visions given to John on Patmos: the risen Christ, his messages to seven churches, and the judgments and victory that lead to a new creation. It calls believers to faithful endurance, because God reigns, the Lamb has conquered and Jesus is coming soon.