The Books of the Old Testament,
with the events in the books and some of the people in each book.

On to next page (maps)                    Return to Old Testament contents    See below for more details:

Footnotes

1 Names of the Twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel). Their descendants were called the tribes of Israel. The first ten in this list are also names of the areas in Israel after they returned from Egypt.

Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Levi, Joseph.

The descendants of Levi were priests, and could live throughout the area. The other two tribes were named for the sons of Joseph: Ephraem and Manasseh.

2 Ten Commandments. There are two ways to number the Ten Commandments.  Both ways start with the command to have no other gods (Exodus 20:3) as the first commandment. The Eastern Orthodox churches and the Reformed churches (that emerged from the work of Calvin) use the phrase about not having graven images (Exodus 20:4) as the second commandment, and go on to the one about not taking God's name in vain (Exodus 20:7) as the third. The Lutherans and Catholics go directly to the one about not taking God's name in vain as number two, and then reach a total of ten by dividing the commandment about coveting (Exodus 20:17) into two commandments, numbered nine and ten. More about different churches.

3 There are two ways to number the Psalms. To find out which your Bible uses, look up Psalm 23. If the topic is about the Lord being our shepherd, then your Bible uses system A. If it is about the earth belonging to the Lord, your Bible uses system B, and therefore your Psalm about the Lord as our shephered will be found as Psalm 22.

Systems A and B are the same for Psalms 1 through 8 and for the last three Psalms, 148, 149, and 150. For all the rest of the Psalms, system B is one number lower than system B. That is because system B combines Psalm 9 and 10 from system A into one Psalm, and calls it Psalm 9.

The numbering system on this website uses system A. System A is used in Hebrew Bibles and Protestant Bibles, while system B is generally used in Roman Catholic Bibles.

4 Details about the prophets who wrote Bible books.

The books written by the prophets do not appear in the Bible in the same order that the prophets lived, but rather five longer longer books (called Major prophets because their books are long) appear first, followed by twelve shorter books ( the minor prophets.) The short descriptions given below are in the order that the prophets lived, from earlier to more recent.  These descriptions are adapted from an undated edition of the Contemporary English Version of the American Bible Society. The first chart below divides those who lived in the northern kingdom (Israel) from those who lived in the southern kingdom (Judah):

Northern Kingdom writer:	Southern Kingdom writer:	time:	features:
Obadiah		around 850 BC	He warned of judgment against a nearby country called Edom. They were descendants of Jacob's twin, Esau.
	Joel	around 830 BC	After a locust plague in Judah, Joel urged the people to repent of their sinfulness, and promised a glorious future.
Jonah		around 770 BC	Jonah tried to refuse God's command to preach to the people of Nineveh, but when he did preach to them, they repented.
Hosea		around 760 BC	Hosea criticized the Israelites for turning to idols instead of worshipping God faithfully, but sad that God would not give up on them.
	Amos	around 750 BC	Amos warned the rich leaders of Judah to consider the poor rather than their own selfish desires.
	Micah	around 720 BC	God will judge people for their sins, but will also forgive and give a great future. God requires justice and mercy, and a humble following of God. The prophecy that the future savior would be born in Bethlehem is found in this book.

The prophets in the next chart all lived in the southern kingdom, since the northern kingdom had been destroyed in 722 BC.

Writer:	time:	features:
Isaiah	between 750's and 670's. Isaiah told king Hezekiah not to fear when the Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem.	Many prophecies that Christians have recognized as applying to Jesus, including chapter 53 which was used to refer to Christ's death and resurrection. Prophecies of comfort at a glorious future time.  Warnings against the nations surrounding Israel.
Zephaniah	around 640's	He warned that the coming day of the Lord will bring judgment on many, but a remnant will survive to bless the world.
Nahum	around 620's	He warned that God will destroy the people of Nineveh (the capital of the Assyrian empire) because of their cruelty in war. (They were destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC)
Habakkuk	around 610's	He wonders about suffering and injustice, and God provides answers.
Jeremiah	During the 500's; he was present when Judah was conquered and Jerusalem destroyed by the Babylonians.

After the southern kingdom was destroyed in 586 BC, many of the Jews were taken to live in Babylon.
The two listed here wrote books about the things they experienced while in Babylon:

Writer	approximate time	features
Ezekiel	mid-500's	Many visions; Promises that God will give a new heart and give us the Holy Spirit
Daniel	mid-500's	Many visions, including one about a "Son of Man," which is what Jesus later called himself. Two famous stories: Daniel in the Lion's Den, and three men who were unharmed even though they were thrown into a fire because they refused to deny God.

The final chart includes the prophets who wrote after the Jews were allowed to return from Babylon to Israel:

Writer	approximate time	features
Haggai	Soon after the return, around the 520's	He reminded the people to give God their highest priority by rebuilding the temple.
Zachariah	Soon after the return, around the 520's	He urged the people to keep rebuilding the temple, and recorded visions of a glorious future.
Malachi	Around the 450's, the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah, and after Esther was queen of Persia.	He tried to stir the people out of their complacency about their religious life by preaching about the coming "day of the Lord." These prophecies began to be fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, and others will be fulfilled at the end of the world (judgment day).

After Malachi was written, the Jews noticed that God was no longer giving them inspired writings.
The books written up to that date then were together called the "Hebrew Scriptures," because they were
written in Hebrew. Four hundred years later, Jesus arrived, and those who believed in Jesus accepted
the value and God-inspired nature of the Hebrew Scriptures, calling it the "Old Testament."  Around AD 90 or 100,
Jewish scholars made a formal list of those books that had always been regarded as their Hebrew Bible, and
the Christians have accepted this list "as is."

5 Details about Kings and Prophets during the Period of Two Kingdoms (about 930 BC to 586 BC), as recorded in the Old Testament books called Kings (1 & 2) and Chronicles (1 & 2). The kings are listed below, with the prophets who lived about the same time; prophets in Italics are those who wrote Old Testament books.

 

Northern Prophets	Northern Kings	Southern Kings	Southern Prophets
Ahijah Elijah Obadiah Elisha Jonah Hosea	Jeroboam Nadab Baasha Elah Zimri Tibni Omri Ahab Ahaziah Joram Jehu Jehoahaz Jehoash Jeroboam Zechariah Shallum Menahem Pekahiah Pekah Hoshea ended by Assyria in 722 BC Assyria itself was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612.	Rehoboam Abijah = Abijam Asa Jehoshophat Jehoram Ahaziah Athaliah Joash Amaziah Uzziah = Azariah Jothan Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jehoahaz Jehoiakim Jehoiakin Jehoiachin Zedekiah Ended by Babylon in 586 BC	Shemaiah Joel Amos Isaiah (thru Manassah) Zephaniah, Nahum Habakkuk Jeremiah (thru                Zedekiah)

On to next page (maps)

6. The meanings of the names of the Bible books.

GENESIS. From a Greek word that means "beginnings." (Our word genetics comes from the same Greek word).

EXODUS. From two Greek words: "ex," which means "out," and "odos," which means "path." This book tells about the "path out" of Egypt, as Moses leads the people of Israel away from their period of slavery in Egypt, into the desert, on the way toward their promised land, which they will call Israel.

LEVITICUS. This book is named after the Levites (the descendants of Levi, one of Jacob's 12 sons), because the book provides instructions for what the priests are supposed to do.

NUMBERS is an English word, given to this book because it tells how many people there were in each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

DEUTERONOMY is from two Greek words: "deutero," which means "two," and "nomos," which means "law." Forty years after Moses gave God's law to the people of Israel, he gave it for a second time to the children of those who had heard it the first time.

The five books listed above belong together. They are called "The Five Books of Moses," because for thousands of years it has been accepted that Moses was the author except for the last few lines which tell us about Moses; death. In Hebrew, these five books are called the "Torah," which means "teaching."  In Greek, these five books are called the Pentateuch: "penta" means "five," and "teuch" means "scroll."

PEOPLE. Many of the Bible books are named after people:
    JOSHUA became the leader of the people of Israel after Moses died.
    RUTH was a woman from a nearby country named Moab who married a Jewish man. King David was their great-grandchild, so Jesus also came from their family.
    SAMUEL was one of the first major prophets. God led him to select the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.
    EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER are explained in the first chart, above.
    JOB was a man who kept his faith in God despite suffering.
The books by the prophets are named after their authors.

JUDGES is the English word chosen by English translators for the temporary military leaders who led the Israelites before they had kings.

KINGS of course is about the kings.

CHRONICLES is an English word that means a "record of historical events." These two volumes retell the entire story of the Jewish kingdoms, starting from the death of king Saul, through the destruction of the kingdoms by Assyria and then by Babylonia.

PSALMS is from a Greek word that means "to play on a harp." The 150 poems in this book have been sung for thousands of years.

PROVERBS means wise sayings.

ECCLESIASTES is from the Greek word that means a person who speaks at an "ecclesia," which is "a gathering of people." Ecclesia is translated as church, so "ecclesiastes" can be translated into English as "preacher;" that's also the meaning of the Hebrew title. The preaching in the book has to do with the lack of fulfillment in a life without God.

SONG OF SOLOMON in some Bibles is called SONG OF SONGS; both of these are based on its first verse, "The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's."

Back to Old Testament menu