Zechariah was a prophet to the Israelites who returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylon 70 years earlier. The Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, and they allowed a group of Israelites to return home.

Haggai was a prophet to the people of Judah around 70 years after they were conquered and sent into exile by the Babylonians.

Zephaniah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, who lived in the final decades before it was overthrown by Babylon. Verse one says that Zephaniah lived during the reign of King Josiah, one of the few faithful, God-fearing kings of Judah. Second Kings 22:2 says, “He did what was rig…

Habakkuk was a prophet in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, right before its destruction by the Babylonians. The world in which Habakkuk lived was full of injustice and idolatry, and the book of Habakkuk is a compilation of the prophet’s laments to God.

Nahum was a prophet while the Northern Kingdom of Israel was exiled in Assyria, and this book is a collection of his writings announcing Assyria’s downfall, specifically its capital city, Nineveh.

Micah was a prophet living in the Southern Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. The book of Micah is a collection of Micah’s writings, which contained messages of judgment and restoration for both Judah and Israel.

The book of Jonah tells one of the most familiar, yet unique stories in all of Scripture. It’s a story of a rebellious prophet who despises God for loving his enemies.

With just one chapter with 21 verses, Obadiah is the smallest book in the Old Testament. There is no background information given in Scripture on Obadiah, but it’s clear that Obadiah was a prophet, and the message God gave him was directed at the Edomites shortly after the Babylonian Empire …

The Book of Amos is a collection of the sermons, poems and visions of Amos of Tekoa, a shepherd and farmer who lived on the border of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel about 150 years after the kingdom split in two, during the reign of Jeroboam, a greedy, idolatrous and unjust kin…

The Book of Joel was written by the prophet Joel, who likely lived sometime after the return from exile, though the book does not explicitly give a time period.

Hosea was a prophet who lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim or Jacob, during the reign of Jeroboam II, arguably one of the most idolatrous and oppressive kings in Israel’s history (see 2 Kings 14).

The book of Daniel begins right after Babylon captured Jerusalem and took the first wave of Israelites into exile. Among them were four men from the royal family of David: Daniel, who would be renamed Belteshazzar by the Babylonians, and his three friends, commonly known by their Babylonian …

Ezekiel was an Israelite priest living in Jerusalem during the first Babylonian attack on the city. Ezekiel was among the first Israelites exiled from Jerusalem, and this book was written after God revealed Himself to Ezekiel while he was in exile. Ezekiel’s message is, like the other prophe…

Lamentations was written anonymously, though many scholars believe it was written by the prophet Jeremiah. It is a collection of five lament or funeral poems offered on behalf of Jerusalem after its destruction by Babylon in 587 B.C. (2 Kings 24-25).

Jeremiah was a Jewish priest who lived in the Southern kingdom of Judah just before and during its exile to Babylon. The book of Jeremiah is a collection of the prophet’s sermons, poems and other writings, as well as Jeremiah’s scribe’s writings about him.

Isaiah is the first prophetic book of the Old Testament. At 66 chapters, it is also the longest.

Song of Songs is a collection of love poems, meant to be read as a flowing whole story and simply enjoyed.

Ecclesiastes is one of the Bible’s books of wisdom literature, and it explores the meaning of life through the word of the “Teacher.”

The book of Proverbs is the first book of Biblical wisdom and includes hundreds of short sayings designed to teach every person how to live and act wisely. Each verse touches on a common area of life and shows us what kind of world we live in and what it looks like to live well before God an…

The book of Psalms is a collection of more than 150 ancient Hebrew poems, songs and prayers that come from all different periods of Israel’s history. Many of the Psalms were written by King David. Others were written by Solomon, some of Israel’s priests and other worshipers. There’s even a P…

The book of Job is set in a faraway land called Uz. The author of Job is anonymous, and the time in which the book was written is unknown. The ambiguity of the book’s setting is intentional. Rather than focusing on the historical details of the story, the author invites the reader to focus o…

A classic story of good versus evil, the Book of Esther is a unique account in the Bible. It gives us a glimpse of the Jews who remained outside their homeland after the exile, particularly the Jews living in the Persian Empire.

The book of Nehemiah follows the same story as the Bible’s previous book, Ezra. It takes place more than 50 years after the Babylonian Empire conquers Jerusalem and exiles some of Israel’s people to Babylon.

Ezra comes after First and Second Chronicles in the Bible, though it was likely written about 200 years earlier, and tells the story of a large group of Israelites returning from exile in Babylon.

Like First Chronicles, Second Chronicles is a lot of repeat content from earlier books of the Bible. Second Chronicles retells many of the stories of the kings who ruled Israel after David from First and Second Kings. Though we learn in First Kings that Israel divided into two kingdoms—South…

The book of First Chronicles follows Second Kings in today’s Bible, but in the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles is the last book.

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The book of Judges follows Joshua and tells the tragic tale of Israel’s moral corruption, bad leadership, idol worship and abandonment of the God who, despite their failure, continues to rescue them.

Joshua is the sixth book of the Bible, written by Joshua, the man who takes over leadership of Israel after Moses dies at the end of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy is the final book of the Pentateuch and the fifth book of the Bible. The name Deuteronomy comes from a Greek word that means “second law,” because in Deuteronomy, Moses repeats the laws given by God to the people of Israel. The book picks up where the previous book, Numbers, left…

Numbers is the fourth book of the Bible, written by Moses around 1400 B.C. Numbers, named for censuses taken at the beginning and end of the book, continues the story of Moses and the Israelites who have been freed from slavery in Egypt and are on their way to the Promised Land.

In the book of Leviticus, God shows the people of Israel that despite their sin, they can still enjoy God’s presence and display His holiness to the world. In order to heal the damage from Israel’s rebellion against His instructions, God established a way for people’s sins to be covered thro…

Exodus is a continuation of God’s story, which began in Genesis. Exodus, also presumably written by Moses, takes place about 400 years after Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, brought his family to Egypt where the family grew and filled the land. Unfortunately, a new Pharaoh comes to power who fears…

The word “genesis” means origin or beginning. Written sometime between 1600 and 1300 B.C., most likely by Moses, Genesis is a compilation of stories that tell one larger story—much like the Bible as a whole.