People have attempted to defy death for thousands of years but they have failed. Elijah, who was whisked to heaven in a whirlwind, didn’t fail. Read more about this death-defying prophet. Elijah was a prophet who lived in Israel from around 899 to 850 B.C.  This was after the Israelite kingdom… Read More

Read this poem in a quiet devotional time or out loud with your family. As you read the poem reflect on the joy that Jesus brought to the world. Bethlehem was a well-known city where King David had been born a thousand years before the birth of Jesus.  During… Read More

Use this tool each Sunday in the Advent season to reflect on the Christmas story presented in the Gospel of Matthew. Advent: Week 1 Wait Expectantly for the Lord Think About It: Have you ever waited for something to happen? What did you wait for? How did you feel… Read More

Different Christian traditions include different books in the Old Testament. This table offers a comparison of the Old Testament canon used by Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians. The Old Testament in Christian Bibles contains all of the books included in the Jewish Scriptures. Some Christian traditions also include… Read More

The “New Testament” is the second part of the Christian Bible. Its twenty-seven books continue the story of God’s people begun in the Old Testament (the Jewish Scriptures). The “New Testament” is the second part of the Christian Bible. Its twenty-seven books continue the story of God’s people… Read More

Read profiles of several Africans featured in the Old and New Testaments. If one were to ask most people if Africans are found in the Bible, the common answer one would get would be that they are not. There are several reasons for such an answer such as… Read More

In the time of Jesus, the Samaritans were despised by most Jews for two reasons: (1) many of them were following the lifestyle of the Roman world and ignoring the Law of Moses; (2) the Samaritan religious traditions denied that God was present among his people in Jerusalem and scorned… Read More

When did the events in the Bible take place? This reading guide gives a historical and chronological perspective to your daily Bible reading. Prehistory Creation Genesis 1.1—2.25 Adam and Eve in the Garden and the First Sin Genesis 3.1-24 Cain and Abel and the Murder Genesis 4.1-16 Noah and… Read More

When the Jewish community gathered in annual rituals to confess their faith in God, they did not formulate abstract creeds and doctrines. They told stories–stories about what God has done. Storytelling does not play a very significant role in modern life in the United States. Mostly we tell stories… Read More

When was the CEV translated? Who is the target audience of the NLT? Learn about some of the most popular Bible translations. There are too many Bible translations available in English today (more than 100!) to describe them all here, but below are descriptions to help orient you to some… Read More