NIV, A Guided Tour of the Bible: Excerpts from The Quest Study Bible: The Question and Answer Bible

By Zondervan

This unique Zondervan Bible Extract offers daily readings consisting of 180 selected passages, including at least one chapter from each of the Bible’s 66 books. You can read both the chapter and its accompanying question-based notes that clarify the meaning of the Bible text in 15 minutes per day.

With a few exceptions, the Biblical material appears in chronological order. You will read the psalms attributed to David as you read about David’s life. You will read the prophets along with their background history. Portions from the Gospels, too, are interspersed, giving a composite picture of Jesus’ life on earth; Paul’s letters are scattered throughout the record of Jesus’ life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Mar 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9780310411376

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NIV, A Guided Tour of the Bible: Excerpts from The Quest Study Bible

Published by Zondervan, 2020

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CONTENTS

How to Use this Zondervan Bible Extract

A Guided Tour of the Bible

Index of the Top 100 Questions

Index of Other Questions

Other NIV Quest Study Bible eBooks

HOW TO USE THIS ZONDERVAN BIBLE EXTRACT

Thank you for purchasing NIV, A Guided Tour of the Bible: Excerpts from The Quest Study Bible. This unique Zondervan Bible Extract from the NIV Quest Study Bible offers daily readings consisting of 180 selected passages, including at least one chapter from each of the Bible’s 66 books. You can read both the chapter and its accompanying Quest study notes in 15 minutes per day.

With a few exceptions, the Biblical material appears in chronological order. You will read the psalms attributed to David as you read about David’s life. You will read the prophets along with their background history. Portions from the Gospels, too, are interspersed, giving a composite picture of Jesus’ life on earth; Paul’s letters are scattered throughout the record of Jesus’ life.

Questions about the Bible are indicated by a icon and question mark and will appear throughout the Scripture text. Clicking the icon will present a question about the Bible relevant to the referring passage of scripture.

Top 100 Most-Asked questions about the Bible are highlighted with a icon.

Use the [BACK TO ] links to return to scripture after navigating to questions about the Bible.

Included in some reference notes will be additional Scripture references. Use these references with a complete Bible to dive deeper into Bible study.

The NIV Quest Study Bible has clarified the meaning of the Scriptures for countless people. This Zondervan Bible Extract will do the same for you.

A complete Quest Study Bible, containing 7000 questions & answers, is also available.

We hope you enjoy reading NIV, A Guided Tour of the Bible: Excerpts from The Quest Study Bible.

A GUIDED TOUR OF THE BIBLE

This tour offers a kind of bird’s-eye view. The daily readings consist of 180 selected passages, including at least one chapter from each of the Bible’s 66 books. You can read both the chapter and its accompanying notes in 15 minutes per day.

With a few exceptions, the Biblical material appears in chronological order. You will read the psalms attributed to David as you read about David’s life. You will read the prophets along with their background history. Portions from the Gospels, too, are interspersed, giving a composite picture of Jesus’ life on earth; Paul’s letters are scattered throughout the record of Jesus’ life. This arrangement should help convey the Bible’s plot.

Since A Guided Tour of the Bible is arranged in 180 separate readings, most people will find it convenient to read one designated passage each day, along with the notes. If you miss a few days, don’t worry. Just resume reading when you can.

Time Commitment: 180 Days

Goal: To understand the underlying story of the Bible

The Plot Unveiled

• Day 1. Genesis 1: A Book of Beginnings

• Day 2. Genesis 2: One Shining Moment

• Day 3. Genesis 3: The Crash

• Day 4. Genesis 4: Crouching at the Door

• Day 5. Genesis 7: Under Water

• Day 6. Genesis 8: The Rainbow

• Day 7. Genesis 15: The Plan

• Day 8. Genesis 19: A Catastrophe Sent from God

• Day 9. Genesis 22: Final Exam

• Day 10. Genesis 27: Jacob Gets the Blessing

• Day 11. Genesis 28: Something Undeserved

• Day 12. Genesis 37: Family Battles

• Day 13. Genesis 41: Behind the Scenes

• Day 14. Genesis 45: A Long Forgiveness

Birthing a Nation

• Day 15. Exodus 3: Time for Action

• Day 16. Exodus 10–11: The Ten Plagues

• Day 17. Exodus 14: Miracle at the Red Sea

• Day 18. Exodus 20: The Ten Commandments

• Day 19. Exodus 32: The Dream Dies

• Day 20. Leviticus 26: Legal Matters

• Day 21. Numbers 11: Trials in the Desert

• Day 22. Numbers 14: Open Mutiny

• Day 23. Deuteronomy 4: Never Forget

• Day 24. Deuteronomy 8: Dangers of Success

• Day 25. Deuteronomy 28: Loud and Clear

• Day 26. Joshua 2: New Spies, New Spirit

• Day 27. Joshua 6: Strange Tactics

• Day 28. Joshua 7: Slow Learners

• Day 29. Joshua 24: Home at Last

• Day 30. Judges 6: Unlikely Leader

• Day 31. Judges 7: Military Upset

• Day 32. Judges 16: Superman’s Flaws

• Day 33. Ruth 1: Tough Love

The Golden Age

• Day 34. 1 Samuel 3: Transition Team

• Day 35. 1 Samuel 16: Tale of Two Kings

• Day 36. Psalm 23: A Shepherd’s Song

• Day 37. 1 Samuel 17: Giant-Killer

• Day 38. Psalm 19: Outdoor Lessons

• Day 39. 1 Samuel 20: Jonathan’s Loyalty

• Day 40. Psalm 27: Ups and Downs

• Day 41. 2 Samuel 6: King of Passion

• Day 42. 1 Chronicles 17: God’s House

• Day 43. Psalm 103: The Goodness of God

• Day 44. 2 Samuel 11: Adultery and Murder

• Day 45. 2 Samuel 12: Caught in the Act

• Day 46. Psalm 51: True Confession

• Day 47. Psalm 139: David’s Spiritual Secret

• Day 48. 1 Kings 3: Raw Talent

• Day 49. 1 Kings 8: High-Water Mark

• Day 50. Psalm 84: Home Sweet Home

• Day 51. Proverbs 4: Life Advice

• Day 52. Proverbs 10: One-Liners

• Day 53. Proverbs 22: Sayings of the Wise

• Day 54. Song of Songs 2: Love Story

• Day 55. Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Everything

The Northern Kingdom

• Day 56. 1 Kings 17: The Prophets

• Day 57. 1 Kings 18: Mountaintop Showdown

• Day 58. 2 Kings 5: Double Portion

• Day 59. Joel 2: Word Power

• Day 60. Jonah 3–4: Beloved Enemies

• Day 61. Amos 4: Street-Corner Prophet

• Day 62. Hosea 1, 3: Parable of Love

• Day 63. Hosea 11: Wounded Lover

• Day 64. 2 Kings 17: Postmortem

The Southern Kingdom

• Day 65. 2 Chronicles 20: Meanwhile in Jerusalem

• Day 66. Micah 6: Pollution Spreads

• Day 67. 2 Chronicles 30: Hezekiah’s Festival

• Day 68. Isaiah 6: Power behind the Throne

• Day 69. Isaiah 25: Eloquent Hope

• Day 70. 2 Chronicles 32: Battlefield Lessons

• Day 71. Nahum 1: Enemy Justice

• Day 72. Zephaniah 3: Rotten Ruling Class

• Day 73. 2 Kings 22: Boy Wonder

• Day 74. Jeremiah 2: National Adultery

• Day 75. Jeremiah 15: Balky Prophet

• Day 76. Jeremiah 31: Israel’s Future

• Day 77. Jeremiah 38: A Prophet’s Perils

• Day 78. Habakkuk 1: Debating God

• Day 79. Lamentations 3: Poet in Shock

• Day 80. Obadiah: No Room to Gloat

Starting Over

• Day 81. Ezekiel 1: In Exile

• Day 82. Ezekiel 2–3: Toughening Up

• Day 83. Ezekiel 4: Write Large and Shout

• Day 84. Ezekiel 37: Resurrection Time

• Day 85. Daniel 1: Enemy Employers

• Day 86. Daniel 3: Ordeal by Fire

• Day 87. Daniel 5: Like Father, Like Son

• Day 88. Daniel 6: Daniel’s Longest Night

• Day 89. Ezra 3: Home at Last

• Day 90. Haggai 1: A Needed Boost

• Day 91. Zechariah 8: Raising Sights

• Day 92. Nehemiah 2: A Man for All Seasons

• Day 93. Nehemiah 8: Mourning into Joy

• Day 94. Esther 4: A Race’s Survival

• Day 95. Malachi 2: Low-Grade Disappointment

Cries of Pain

• Day 96. Job 1–2: Is God Unfair?

• Day 97. Job 38: God Speaks to Job

• Day 98. Job 42: Happy Ending

• Day 99. Isaiah 40: Who’s in Charge?

• Day 100. Isaiah 52: The Suffering Servant

• Day 101. Isaiah 53: Wounded Healer

• Day 102. Isaiah 55: The End of It All

A Surprising Messiah

• Day 103. Luke 1: One Final Hope

• Day 104. Luke 2: No Fear

• Day 105. Mark 1: Immediate Impact

• Day 106. Mark 2: Signal Fires of Opposition

• Day 107. John 3: Late-Night Rendezvous

• Day 108. Mark 3: Miracles and Magic

• Day 109. Mark 4: Hard Soil

• Day 110. Mark 5: Jesus and Illness

• Day 111. Matthew 5: Inflammatory Word

• Day 112. Matthew 6: Sermon on the Mount

• Day 113. Matthew 13: Kingdom Tales

• Day 114. Mark 6: Contrast in Power

• Day 115. Luke 16: Of Two Worlds

• Day 116. Luke 12: Jesus on Money

• Day 117. Luke 18: Underdogs

Responses to Jesus

• Day 118. Luke 15: Master Storyteller

• Day 119. John 6: Food that Endures

• Day 120. Mark 7: Poles Apart

• Day 121. Matthew 18: Out of Bondage

• Day 122. John 10: No Secrets

• Day 123. Mark 8: Turning Point

• Day 124. Mark 9: Slow Learners

• Day 125. Luke 10: Mission Improbable

• Day 126. Mark 10: Servant Leadership

• Day 127. Mark 11: Opposition Heats Up

• Day 128. Mark 12: Baiting Jesus

• Day 129. Mark 13: A Day to Dread

• Day 130. Mark 14: A Scent of Doom

Final Days

• Day 131. John 14: One Final Meal Together

• Day 132. John 15: Vital Link

• Day 133. John 16: Grief into Joy

• Day 134. John 17: Commissioning

• Day 135. Matthew 26: Appointment with Destiny

• Day 136. Matthew 27: No Justice

• Day 137. Mark 15: Removing the Barrier

• Day 138. Matthew 28: A Rumor of Life

• Day 139. John 20: The Rumor Spreads

• Day 140. Luke 24: The Final Link

The Word Spreads

• Day 141. Acts 1: Departure

• Day 142. Acts 2: Explosion

• Day 143. Acts 5: Shock Waves

• Day 144. Acts 9: About-Face

• Day 145. Galatians 3: Legalism

• Day 146. Acts 16: Detour

• Day 147. Philippians 2: Downward Mobility

• Day 148. Acts 17: Mixed Results

• Day 149. 1 Thessalonians 3–4: Preparing for the End

• Day 150. 2 Thessalonians 2: Rumor Control

• Day 151. 1 Corinthians 13: The Love Chapter

• Day 152. 1 Corinthians 15: The Last Enemy

• Day 153. 2 Corinthians 4: Baked Dirt

• Day 154. 2 Corinthians 12: Boasting of Weakness

Paul’s Legacy

• Day 155. Romans 3: Remedy

• Day 156. Romans 7: Limits of the Law

• Day 157. Romans 8: Spirit Life

• Day 158. Romans 12: When Christians Disagree

• Day 159. Acts 26: Unexpected Passage

• Day 160. Acts 27: Perfect Storm

• Day 161. Acts 28: Rome at Last

• Day 162. Ephesians 2: Prison Letter

• Day 163. Ephesians 3: Success Story

• Day 164. Colossians 1: Spanning the Gap

• Day 165. Philemon: A Personal Favor

• Day 166. Titus 2: Paul’s Troubleshooter

• Day 167. 1 Timothy 1: Growth Pains

• Day 168. 2 Timothy 2: Final Words

Vital Letters

• Day 169. Hebrews 2: The Great Descent

• Day 170. Hebrews 11: What Is True Faith?

• Day 171. Hebrews 12: Marathon Race

• Day 172. James 1: Walk the Talk

• Day 173. 1 Peter 1: Converted Coward

• Day 174. 2 Peter 1: Hidden Dangers

• Day 175. Jude: Sounding the Alarm

• Day 176. 1 John 3: Merest Christianity

• Day 177. 2 and 3 John: Pesky Deceivers

• Day 178. Revelation 1: The Final Word

• Day 179. Revelation 12: Another Side of History

• Day 180. Revelation 21: An End and a Beginning

INDEX OF THE TOP 100 QUESTIONS

Are these literal 24-hour days?

Is one man, one woman the only kind of union God approves of?

What are angels, and how do they interact with the world today?

Who is God, what does he value, and how can we approach him?

Can our prayers cause God to change his mind?

Which is better, spiritually speaking—to be rich or poor?

Is there a connection between spiritual and physical health?

What values does a Christian family hold?

Can we determine God’s will by putting out a fleece?

Does it matter when and where we pray?

Does the Bible define when human life begins?

How can parents prepare their children to impact the world?

What does the Bible say about sex?

Has God revealed himself differently to different cultures and time periods?

What is hell like?

How can I tell if I have too much stuff?

How should Christians understand prayer?

How can we, imperfect people, live the way Jesus wants us to live?

Does the Bible approve of remarriage after divorce?

Are natural disasters literally acts of God? Does he cause them?

Does saving for retirement show a lack of trust in God?

Is accepting Jesus the only way for people to get to heaven?

How can the Christian church become what Jesus intended?

What is the Holy Spirit’s role in evangelism?

Does sin ever quit?

As a Christian, am I supposed to do good works?

In what ways should the church be serving the world?

Are we tempted by Satan or by our own evil desires?

What does it mean to be sanctified?

Does the Bible have answers for all of today’s moral dilemmas?

What does it mean to have faith?

Does obedience bring prosperity?

Does God give people a chance to believe in him after death?

INDEX OF OTHER QUESTIONS

Why are names important in the Bible?

How widespread was the flood?

What was so great about Abram’s faith?

Would God ever ask us to do wrong?

Are dreams messages from God?

Was Joseph excusing what his brothers had done?

Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?

Why does God harden some people’s hearts?

Why did God require sacrifices?

Does God punish children for their parents’ sins?

Did God love Israel more than other nations?

Is success guaranteed to those who obey God?

Isn’t this like the modern health-and-wealth gospel?

Does God make us anxious?

Why kill every living thing?

Did Samson commit suicide?

Why would God kill someone who was trying to help?

Are the innocent punished for others’ sins?

Was leprosy a curse from God?

How did the temple of the exiles compare to Solomon’s temple?

Why isn’t God mentioned at all in the book of Esther?

Did God answer Job’s charges?

How had Job changed?

In what ways do the wise in heart accept commands?

Can our mouths ruin our lives?

How valid are visions today?

Why did God cause his servant to suffer?

Did Matthew misuse this verse?

How can we hope in a God who abandons us?

Why does God send calamity?

Why pray if our prayers are not getting through to God?

How can we obey God’s commands without knowing the outcome?

Why did Ezekiel engage in such bizarre behavior?

When will peace come to the Middle East?

Does God still speak through visions and dreams?

Does God change his mind?

What does God require of us?

Does God use evil to do good?

Is this book a warning or an encouragement?

How can anyone live up to these high standards?

Aren’t there times when we should resist an evil person?

Why did Jesus speak in parables?

Why do details sometimes differ from one Gospel account to another?

Should we obey instantly, or should we first count the cost?

Why did Jesus call himself the Son of Man?

Do demons still possess people today?

Can believers commit this unpardonable sin?

How did the resurrection change the world?

How are Jesus and the Father one?

If Jesus prayed for the unity of believers, are church denominations wrong?

Why did Paul circumcise Timothy?

When is a person old enough to make a decision to believe in Jesus?

Does God speak through prophets today?

What do we have to look forward to?

Should we obey or ignore the Old Testament law?

Where are the dead?

What has to happen before Christ returns?

How do we know the Bible is true?

In what ways were Christians suffering?

If we sin, does that mean we aren’t born of God?

Why did John use such obscure, mysterious language?

What will eternal life be like?

Day 1

Genesis 1

The Beginning

Are these literal 24-hour days? (Genesis 1:3–31)

Regardless of whether the days of creation were figurative or literal 24-hour periods, this passage is a truthful description of what took place. It indicates that there is intelligence, meaning and purpose behind all existence. In other words, the word of God directed the method of creation as well as the source of creation (Ps 33:6, 9; Heb 11:3). Yet human beings have been given the privilege of exploring, through scientific investigation, how God may have engineered these events and how long he took to do so.

Many understand the six days of creation as representing long periods of time because the sun, which marks a 24-hour day, wasn’t created until the fourth day. And the word day is used in chapters 1–2 in three distinct ways: (1) as approximately 12 hours of daylight (Ge 1:5); (2) as 24 hours (1:14) and (3) as a period of time involving, at the very minimum, the whole creative activity from day one to day seven (see 2:4, where the word that is translated when is the same word that is elsewhere translated day). The light (1:3) could not have come from the earth’s sun if the sun was not created until the fourth day. The light could have come from other sources that God provided in the universe prior to the creation of the sun. We can only speculate about what the atmospheric conditions might have been at that time.

Setting of Genesis (Genesis 1:1)

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²   [?] Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵   [?] God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶And God said, Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. ⁷So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸God called the vault sky. And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹   [?] And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. ¹²The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴   [?] And God said, Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰And God said, Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky. ²¹So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth. ²³And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴   [?] And God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶   [?] Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[1] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

²⁷   [?] So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

²⁸   [?] God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

²⁹Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. And it was so.

³¹God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Day 2

Genesis 2

¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

²   [?] By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve

Is one man, one woman the only kind of union God approves of? (Genesis 2:24)

In a word, yes. Here’s what Jesus said about marriage: At the beginning the Creator "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh" (Mt 19:4–5).

Scripture uses metaphorical language to describe marriage, picturing it in terms of a head and body. Ephesians 5:23 says, For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Headship has to do with oneness. The wife is the body of the husband as the church is the body of Christ (Col 1:18). The mystery of marriage is that the head (the husband) plus the body (the wife) equals one flesh.

This head-body picture shows why God approves only of monogamous, heterosexual marriage: two heads (two men) do not equal one flesh, and two bodies (two women) do not equal one flesh. This is affirmed many times in Scripture (e.g., Lev 18:22; 1Co 6:9–11). This picture also shows why polygamy is wrong: a head (one man) and two or more bodies (two or more wives) do not comprise a union of one flesh. It is true that many people in Scripture practiced polygamy—including Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon—but those relationships ultimately produced many kinds of strife for each family. And although God chose to bring some good out of those situations (e.g., the 12 tribes of Israel), the goodness of God’s original plan was not changed.

Finally, this picture of one-flesh union does not mean that single people are incomplete or somehow worth less than married people. The metaphorical image of one flesh is used in Scripture to identify the boundaries of marriage and highlight the institution as a picture of our relationship with Christ. Indeed, Paul (who was not married) made it clear in 1 Corinthians 7:7–8 that marriage and singleness are both gifts to be used in service to God.

⁴   [?] This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵   [?] Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[1] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, ⁶but streams[2] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. ⁷   [?] Then the LORD God formed a man[3] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

⁸   [?] Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹   [?] The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[4] and onyx are also there.) ¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[5] ¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷   [?] but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."

¹⁸   [?] The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

¹⁹Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam[6] no suitable helper was found. ²¹   [?] So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[7] and then closed up the place with flesh. ²²Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib[8] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man."

²⁴That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

²⁵Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Day 3

Genesis 3

The Fall

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?

²   [?] The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’

⁴You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. ⁵For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

⁶   [?] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷   [?] Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸   [?] Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the LORD God called to the man, Where are you?

¹⁰He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

¹¹And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

¹²The man said, The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.

¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, What is this you have done?

The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

"Cursed are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

¹⁵   [?] And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring[1] and hers;

he will crush[2] your head,

and you will strike his heel."

¹⁶   [?] To the woman he said,

"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

with painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you."

¹⁷To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

"Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life.

¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return."

²⁰Adam[3] named his wife Eve,[4] because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²²   [?] And the LORD God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. ²³So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴   [?] After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[5] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Day 4

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

Why are names important in the Bible? (Genesis 4:1–2)

Sometimes a name was prophetic, indicating God’s plan for a child’s life. The name Jesus is a good example; it means deliverer or savior.

Sometimes children were named for something in nature, such as a wild goat (Terah), a cow (Leah), a dove (Jonah), a palm tree (Tamar) or a gazelle (Tabitha). Sometimes names indicated a particular aspect of personality. Was the person calm? A struggler? A fighter? When Esau and Jacob were born (25:24–26), Esau was named for his appearance at birth. The name Esau may mean hairy; Esau was also called Edom, which means red.

God sometimes gave people new names. Abram (meaning exalted father) became Abraham (meaning father of many) when God established the covenant of circumcision with him (17:5). Jacob (meaning he grasps the heel) became Israel (meaning he struggles with God) after an all-night struggle with God significantly changed Jacob (32:28). Likewise, Peter’s name (meaning rock) took on additional significance when the Messiah commissioned him to lead the church (Mt 16:18).

¹Adam[1] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[2] She said, With the help of the LORD I have brought forth[3] a man. ²Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵   [?] but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷   [?] If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it."

⁸Now Cain said to his brother Abel, Let’s go out to the field.[4] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel?

I don’t know, he replied. Am I my brother’s keeper?

¹⁰The LORD said, What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.

¹³Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴   [?] Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

¹⁵   [?] But the LORD said to him, Not so[5]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[6] east of Eden.

¹⁷   [?] Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

¹⁹   [?] Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. ²²Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[7] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives,

"Adah and Zillah, listen to me;

wives of Lamech, hear my words.

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for injuring me.

²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times,

then Lamech seventy-seven times."

²⁵Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[8] saying, God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him. ²⁶   [?] Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time people began to call on[9] the name of the LORD.

Day 5

Genesis 7

How widespread was the flood? (Genesis 7:17–24)

The case is strong that this flood covered the whole world: (1) It destroyed all life under the heavens (6:17). (2) The waters rose at least 20 feet above all the high mountains (7:19–20). (3) The flood lasted 371 days, indicating that this was more than just local flooding. (4) The final fiery judgment of the whole earth is compared to Noah’s flood (2Pe 3:3–7).

On the other hand, certain questions can be raised in support of the theory that this was a local flood: Why doesn’t the original Hebrew use the most common word for world even once in the whole account? Why instead does it use a word for earth that can also be translated land or country? (The same word is used later in Ge 41:57 to describe a famine in all the world, meaning the world as known from the writer’s perspective.)

Some believe this flood was worldwide. Others think it covered a region of the world but is described in universal language—much as we might speak of a world war without meaning that every nation in the world was involved.

¹The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ²   [?] Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

⁵And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷   [?] And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹   [?] male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

¹¹   [?] In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹²And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴   [?] They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

¹⁷For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[1],[2] ²¹Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²²Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³   [?] Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

²⁴The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Day 6

Genesis 8

¹   [?] But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ²Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶   [?] After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹   [?] When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹²He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

¹³By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.

¹⁸So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹   [?] The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[1] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

²²"As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease."

Day 7

Genesis 15

The LORD’s Covenant With Abram

What was so great about Abram’s faith? (Genesis 15:6)

The Bible makes Abram/Abraham’s faith the model for us all (see, e.g., Ro 4; Gal 3; Heb 11; Jas 2). The surprising thing is that Abram never saw a Bible, had no church, possessed no creed, took no sacrament, heard not even one of the Ten Commandments and perhaps knew little about life after death.

Yet Abram’s faith shows us what really matters. He heard the voice of God and dared to believe he could trust God when God spoke. He risked his life, his security, his reputation, his future and even his son on the word that came from the God whom he could not see but in whom he believed. Can anything better demonstrate that it is by faith, and faith alone, that we are saved?

Today we have the Bible, the church, the creeds, the sacraments and the Ten Commandments. But God still looks for one essential: faith that trusts him completely.

¹After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

"Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield,[1]

your very great reward.[2]"

²But Abram said, "Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[3] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? ³   [?] And Abram said, You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

⁴Then the word of the LORD came to him: This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. ⁵   [?] He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring[4] be.

⁶Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷He also said to him, I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.

⁸But Abram said, Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?

⁹So the LORD said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.

¹⁰   [?] Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶   [?] In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

¹⁷   [?] When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸   [?] On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[5] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.

Day 8

Genesis 19

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

¹The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ²   [?] My lords, he said, please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.

No, they answered, we will spend the night in the square.

³But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. ⁴   [?] Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵They called to Lot, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.

⁶Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him ⁷   [?] and said, No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸   [?] Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.

⁹Get out of our way, they replied. This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them. They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹   [?] Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

¹²The two men said to Lot, Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry[1] his daughters. He said, Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city! But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.

¹⁶When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. ¹⁷As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!

¹⁸But Lot said to them, "No, my lords,[2] please! ¹⁹Your[3] servant has found favor in your[4] eyes, and you[5] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰   [?] Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared."

²¹He said to him, Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²²But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it. (That is why the town was called Zoar.[6])

²³By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴   [?] Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. ²⁶   [?] But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹   [?] One day the older daughter said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. ³²Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.

³³That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father. ³⁵So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷   [?] The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[7]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi[8]; he is the father of the Ammonites[9] of today.

Day 9

Genesis 22

Abraham Tested

Would God ever ask us to do wrong? (Genesis 22:2)

No. But he might push to the limit our ability to trust him. The first words of this chapter— Some time later God tested Abraham—suggest that God never really intended the sacrifice of Isaac to take place. The point was the test: Did Abraham really trust God?

We are shocked by this situation today because we know the Bible’s strong commands against child sacrifice (Lev 20:1–5; 2Ki 23:10; Jer 32:35). That’s what pagan gods demanded, not the holy God of Israel.

Because the Biblical laws against child sacrifice came later, we can’t be sure what Abraham understood about the practice. Even so, God had shaped Abraham’s values. This request would not have been consistent with God’s character as Abraham had come to know him to this point, so perhaps Abraham was confused by the nature of God’s command. But even though God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the son promised to him, the writer of Hebrews states that Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead (Heb 11:19). The laughter of disbelief when Abraham had been promised a son with his aged wife had become a firm confidence in the God who had made—and kept—that promise.

God’s command was harsh (even for the ancients). But Abraham believed God would fulfill his promise through Isaac. It makes us ask ourselves, Will we entrust our futures unreservedly to the God Abraham trusted?

Although the true and living God prohibits child sacrifice, in a sense he still asks for a human sacrifice—but it’s a living sacrifice he wants, not a dead one (Ro 12:1). See the article Why did God require sacrifices? (Ex 20:24).

¹   [?] Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham!

Here I am, he replied.

²Then God said, "Take