Brief Outline of the Books of the Bible

The Old Testament

Historical Books - 17 books

Pentateuch - 5 books

Genesis - The Book of Beginnings: Creation, The Fall of man into sin, the Noahic flood, God chooses a people to be His own through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons. The book ends with Jacob and his sons going to Egypt.
Exodus - The Book of Deliverance: Deliverance from slavery in Egypt by Moses. In this book we have the 10 commandments, and the beginning of Israel's journey to the promised land.
Leviticus - The Book of Worship Laws: Laws of worship concerning the sacrifices, the priest's duties, the holy days, and holy living.
Numbers - The Book of Wanderings: The travels from Sinai to the edge of the promised land. This is the documentation of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy - The Book of Last Words: Moses' last words before he dies, and hands Israel over to Joshua's leadership.

Historical books cont. - 12 books

Joshua - The Book of Conquest: Joshua leads Israel into the conquest of the promised land, and divides the land among the twelve tribes.
Judges - The Book of Apostasies: A story of 7 apostasies, 6 seasons of servitude, 1 civil war, and the 15 judges whom God used to deliver Israel from their enemies.
Ruth - The Book of Redeeming Love: A love story of a young Moabite widow who marries a rich Jewish landowner. This is a picture of Jesus' loving redemption of us.
1 & 2 Samuel - The Book of Transition: The story of the time of change from the leadership of the prophets, to the leadership of the Kings. These books tell of the ministry of Samuel, the reign of King Saul, and the reign of King David.
1 & 2 Kings - The Book of the Kings of Israel: These books tell of the reign of Solomon, the division of Israel into 2 kingdoms (Israel and Judah), the ministry of the prophets Elijah, and later his sidekick Elisha, and the history of the kings of Israel and Judah (focusing mostly on Israel). It ends with Judah's captivity by the Babylonians.
1 & 2 Chronicles - The Book of the Kings of Judah: These books are a retelling of the history of the kings, from David to the Babylonian captivity, mostly from the perspective of the nation of Judah, after the division of the nation.
Ezra - The Book of Returning: The return of the Jews to Israel after the Babylonian captivity, and the rebuilding of the temple.
Nehemiah - The Book of Rebuilding: The story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
Esther - The Book of Protection: The story of the deliverance of the Jews from ethnic cleansing during the time of captivity, through the hand of Esther.

The Poetic Books - 5

Job - The Book of Patient Suffering: The story of the sufferings of Job, his discussion about his sufferings with His friends, God's response, and Job's deliverance.
Psalms - The Book of Worship: Prayers, meditations, and songs to the Lord. Written mostly by King David.
Proverbs - The Book of Wisdom: One liners of Wisdom. A book of pithy statements of wisdom. Written mostly by Solomon.
Ecclesiastes - The Book of Vanities: Solomon's search for wisdom, and the conclusion that all things are worthless by themselves, except for serving God.
The Song of Solomon - The Book of Love: A love story between Solomon and his bride. A picture of Christ's love for us.

The Prophetic Books - 17

The Major Prophets - 5

Isaiah - The Prophet of Redemption: Prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah. This book is filled with prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah.
Jeremiah - The Weeping Prophet: Prophesied from the 13th year of Josiah until after the captivity. This book is filled with warnings, calls to repentance, and promises of restoration.
Lamentations - The Funeral Dirge: A poetic book, written like a funeral dirge for Jerusalem.
Ezekiel - The Mystery Prophet: Ezekiel is a prophet during the time of the Babylonian captivity. This book is filled with mysterious images, and difficult prophecies. Ezekiel speaks of judgment upon the nations, and the eventual restoration of Israel. Similar to Daniel and Revelation.
Daniel - The End times Prophet: Daniel prophesies during the captivity, and rules as a leader in the king's courts. This is a companion book to Revelation. This book is filled with both stories and visions. Daniel foresees the centuries which lie ahead of him.

The Minor Prophets - 12

Hosea - The Jilted Prophet: A contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea's unfaithful wife becomes a picture of Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord.
Joel - The Prophet of Repentance: Joel speaks of judgment, calls the nation of Judah to repentance, and promises blessing and refreshing in the future. He prophesies of the coming of the day of Pentecost.
Amos - The Herdsman Prophet: This working-man/prophet prophesied to both Israel and Judah, during the reigns of Jeroboam II king of Israel, and Uzziah king of Judah. This book is filled with calls to repentance, promises of blessing to the repentant, and has a series of 5 visions.
Obadiah - The Prophet to Edom: This short book is a prophecy concerning the destruction of the nation of Edom. The Edomites were relatives, but enemies of the Jews.
Jonah - The Fishy Prophet: Unlike the other prophetic books, Jonah is a story. The prophet refuses to go to Nineveh, so God uses miraculous means to get him there. This is the great missionary story of the Old Testament.
Micah - The Finger-Pointing Prophet: A contemporary of Isaiah, Micah prophesied to both Judah and Israel. This book is filled with lists of specific sins committed. It also has promises of restoration, and a prophecy concerning the birthplace of Jesus.
Nahum - The Prophet to Nineveh: After Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, it later fell into sin again, and Nahum prophecies of their eventual demise.
Habakkuk - The Questioning Prophet: Habakkuk questions God over unpunished violence, and evil. This book is the prophet's complaint, and God's answer.
Zephaniah - The Prophet of Judgment: Although the book ends with a promise of the future glory of God's people, it is primarily a pronouncement of the judgments of God.
Haggai - The Temple Prophet: Haggai was born during the 70 years of Babylonian captivity, and later returned with the Jews to Jerusalem. This book is primarily a rebuke for neglecting the rebuilding of God's temple.
Zechariah - The Visionary Prophet: Zechariah was contemporary with Haggai. This is a highly figurative book, with a series of eight visions, and prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah.
Malachi - The Last Old Testament Prophet: This last book of the Old Testament, is also chronologically the final book of the Old Testament period. Malachi prophesied during the days of Nehemiah. He speaks of men robbing God, yet also gives glorious promises to the future.

The New Testament

The Gospels - 4

Matthew - Jesus the King: This book written by the apostle Matthew emphasizes the Kingdom of God in it's look at the life of Jesus.
Mark - Jesus the Servant: Mark, a missionary with Paul and Barnabas wrote this Gospel which shows us the untiring work of Jesus, the Servant of God.
Luke - Jesus the Son of Man: The physician Luke writes this history of Jesus' life, with an emphasis on the humanity of Christ.
John - Jesus the God-man: The Apostle John gives us the greatest New Testament teachings of the deity of Jesus, in this history of His ministry.

Historical Books - 1

Acts - The History of the Early Church: Luke writes this sequel to His Gospel, and gives us a history of the growth of early Christianity, and the ministry of the apostle Paul.

The Letters of Doctrinal Teaching (Epistles) - 21

The Letters from Paul - 13

Romans - The Letter of Salvation: This has been called the Gospel according to Paul. The greatest part of this letter is a discussion of the plan of salvation. It concludes with various duties of Christian living.
1 & 2 Corinthians - The Letters of Correction: The first letter is primarily a correction of a wayward church, and carries some of the most beautiful sections of scripture within the Bible. The second letter was written as a defense of Paul's apostolic ministry.
Galatians - The Letter of Defense: This letter's primary purpose is the defense of the doctrine of justification by faith, and a warning against false teachers who would taint the truth.
Ephesians - The Letter to Mature Christians: This letter has been called the Alps of the New Testament. It contains many high and lofty truths of doctrine.
Philippians - The Letter of Appreciation: This letter is like a love letter from Paul to a very faithful church.
Colossians - The Letter of Deeper Truths: Similar to Ephesians, Colossians is a letter which delves into the "mysteries" of the Gospel.
1 & 2 Thessalonians - The Letters of Christ's Return: From these letters we gain the greatest amount of information concerning Paul's teachings on the return of Jesus.
1 & 2 Timothy - The Letters to a Young Pastor: These letters are encouragements to Timothy, the pastor at the church in Ephesus. The second letter is Paul's last before his martyrdom.
Titus - The Letter to a Tough Missionary: Paul writes this letter to Titus who is busy planting churches in the hardened territory of the island of Crete.
Philemon - The Letter on Slavery: Onesimus was a runaway slave, who was saved under Paul's ministry. Philemon is Paul's friend, and Onesimus' owner. This letter is a plea from Paul asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus.
Hebrews - The Letter of the Covenants: The actual writer of this letter is unknown, although Paul is assumed by many scholars. This letter holds some of the loftiest truths concerning the person of Jesus, and clear teachings showing how Christ has fulfilled the Old Covenant by establishing the New Covenant.

The General Letters (Epistles) - 7

James - The Letter of True Religion: This letter (probably written by James, the Lord's brother) is filled with various distinctions between true religion and false profession.
1 & 2 Peter - The Letters for Troubled Times: The First letter is encouragement for persecuted saints, and the second is warnings against false teachers.
1, 2, &3 John - The Letters of Tough Love: John, the apostle of love, writes the first letter with some of the most black and white descriptions of the Christian life, to found in all the scriptures. The second and third letters are written as letters warning against false teachers.
Jude - The Letter of Contention: This letter written by Jude the brother of James, is full of warnings against immoral teachers, and exhortations to contend for the true faith.

Prophetic Books - 1

Revelation - The Book of The Last Days: This letter to the churches in Asia is a vision which the apostle John received, concerning the last days, and the return of Christ. Many parts are difficult to interpret, making this one of the mystery books of the Bible.