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Bible - Book of Lamentations
Five ancient Hebrew poems that mourn Jerusalem's fall to Babylon with unflinching honesty, and still find a hope that is new every morning.
Bible - Book of Joshua
After the wilderness, Israel crosses the Jordan under a new leader, takes and divides the promised land, and is asked to choose whom it will serve.
Bible - Book of Leviticus
The priestly heart of the Torah: how a people is to live beside a holy God, through sacrifice, purity, the Day of Atonement and the command to love your neighbour as yourself.
Bible - Book of Jude
Twenty-five urgent verses calling believers to contend for the faith against intruders who turn grace into license, ending in one of the Bible's great blessings.
Bible - Book of Judges
Between Joshua and the kings, Israel falls again and again into unfaithfulness and is rescued by flawed champions such as Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson.
Bible - Book of Jonah
A prophet runs from God, is swallowed by a great fish, preaches to Nineveh and is furious when the city is spared: a short, sharp story about mercy.
Bible - Book of Hosea
A prophet's broken marriage becomes the picture of God and Israel: betrayal, judgment on the northern kingdom, and a love that takes the unfaithful back.
Bible - Book of Hebrews
An anonymous sermon of great eloquence: Jesus as God's final word and eternal high priest, a new covenant, the roll of faith and a call to endure.
Bible - Book of James
The New Testament's book of practical wisdom: faith that does nothing is dead, the tongue is a fire, the poor are to be honored, and the rich are put on notice.
Bible - Historical Books
Twelve books, Joshua to Esther, follow Israel from the conquest of Canaan through judges, kings and exile to the return to Jerusalem.
Bible - Book of Joel
A short, blazing prophecy in which a locust plague becomes a warning of the day of the LORD, a call to repent with the whole heart, and a promise that wasted years can be restored and God's spirit poured out on everyone.
Bible - Book of Jeremiah
A reluctant prophet warns a doomed kingdom for forty years, argues bitterly with God, and still holds out the promise of a new covenant.
Bible - Book of Job
A blameless man loses everything, refuses his friends' easy explanations, demands an answer from God, and receives one out of a whirlwind that he did not expect.
Bible - Book of Galatians
Paul's most heated letter: a defense of his gospel against those who would require Gentile converts to be circumcised, and a charter of freedom lived out through love.
Bible - Book of Ezekiel
A priest exiled in Babylon sees God's glory on a chariot of wheels and living creatures, watches it leave the doomed Temple, and foresees dry bones living and the glory's return.
Bible - Book of Exodus
Israel's founding story: slavery in Egypt, Moses and the burning bush, the plagues and the sea, and then the covenant, the commandments and the tabernacle at Sinai.
Bible - Book of Habakkuk
A prophet argues with God about injustice and the coming Babylonian invasion, is told that the just shall live by faith, and ends by rejoicing with nothing left to count on.
Bible - Book of Ephesians
A letter with a cosmic canvas: all things gathered in Christ, salvation by grace, Jew and Gentile made one people, and the armour of God for daily life.
Bible - Book of Esther
An orphaned Jewish girl becomes queen of Persia and risks her life to stop a decree to destroy her people, in the only biblical story besides the Song of Songs that never names God.
Bible - Book of Acts
The sequel to Luke's Gospel follows the first Christians from a room in Jerusalem to the capital of the empire, through Pentecost, persecution, Peter's visions and Paul's journeys.
Bible - Book of 3 John
The Bible's shortest book: a personal note from "the elder" praising one man's hospitality, calling out another's hunger for control, and vouching for a third.
Bible - Book of Deuteronomy
Moses' farewell speeches on the edge of the promised land: the story so far, the law restated, a covenant to choose, and the death of Israel's greatest prophet.
Bible - Book of Colossians
A letter from prison to a small church tempted by rules, visions and philosophy, answering that Christ is supreme over everything and is all they need.
Bible - Book of Ecclesiastes
A king who has tried everything looks hard at work, pleasure, wisdom and death, calls it all vapor, and concludes that the best we can do is enjoy our days as gifts and fear God.