The sixteen books in the Old Testament give a summary of the story of Israel from the end of Joshua's leadership to their exile in Babylon. It also includes the poetic books of the Bible, like the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs.
Israel's Judges
After the leadership of Moses and Joshua, God raised various men and women (judges) to lead Israel into battle and out of oppression. These include a prophetess called Deborah and a man named Gideon with low self-esteem who, with God's help led an army of 300 to defeat an enemy coalition of thousands.
Another judge is called Samson, whose long hair is a sign of his God-given superhuman strength until a woman named Delilah is paid by Israel's enemies the Philistines to seduce him into revealing this fact. Delilah then lulls him to sleep, cuts his hair and a weakened Samson is ambushed by the Philistines, but he manages to kill them all before he dies.
The Book of Ruth
Naomi and her husband and two sons move from Israel to Moab. After some time Naomi's husband and sons die and she returns to Israel with her daughter-in-law Ruth.
Ruth then impresses a relative of her late husband named Boaz who marries her and they have a son they name Obed who will become King David's grandfather.
1 Samuel and 2 Samuel - The story of David
A woman named Hannah is miserable because she is barren and prays for a child. God gives her Samuel and Hannah leaves him in the care of the priest after weaning him. Samuel grows up to become Israel's prophet.
The people of Israel demand a king so Samuel chooses Saul, but Saul sins so God rejects him and leads Samuel to choos a young shepherd named David as his successor.
David then kills Goliath the nine-foot giant in a battle and Saul grows jealous of his bravery and tries to kill him. David goes into hiding and after Saul dies he becomes king and leads Israel to many victories in battle.
Later, David sleeps with Uriah's wife Bathsheba and has Uriah killed so he could marry her. He soon realises his sin, repents and God forgives him. Bathsheba gives birth to Solomon. David dies.
1 Kings and 2 Kings - From Solomon to Israel's Exile
Solomon becomes King and asks God for wisdom. God is pleased with his request and Solomon becomes Israel's richest (1,000 wives and concubines, 12,000 horses etc) and wisest king and builds Israel's first temple to God in Jerusalem.
After he dies, his descendants take the throne: some are faithful to God, others are not and all fight battles against neighbouring kingdoms.
A prophet called Elijah performs miracles and is persecuted by Israel's ungodly king, but he defeats the king's false prophets by calling down fire from heaven. Elijah is taken up to heaven by God and Elisha takes over and performs miracles. The Israelites are captured by Babylon and their temple is destroyed.
1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles
1 Chronicles lists the descendants from Noah to the generation in captivity in Babylon and recaps King David's life and battles. It also lists Israel's priests, singers, temple officials and army divisions.
2 Chronicles recounts Solomon's reign and his construction of God's temple, and also describes Solomon's wealth and fame. The reign of the good and bad kings after Solomon is described again as is Israel's eventual capture and journey into exile.
Ezra and Nehemiah - Prophets of Reconstruction
Babylon was eventually taken over by the Persia Empire and its king allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple. They faced opposition but managed to complete the temple.
Nehemiah leads a large group of Israelites back to Jerusalem to rebuild its city walls despite also facing opposition.
Esther - the Jewish Queen of Babylon
Persia's King Xerxes is displeased with his wife and searches for a new queen. Esther wins the contest and becomes queen and her uncle Mordecai advises her to keep the fact that she is an Israelite (Jewish) a secret.
A pompous palace official named Haman plots to kill all the Jews in the empire and Mordecai persuades Esther to use her position to stop this. Esther appeals to the king who stops the plot, Haman is hanged and Mordecai is honoured.
Job - a Man of Faith and Suffering
Job is the richest and most God-fearing man in the East and God boasts about his faithfulness to Satan, who bets that if Job loses everything (children, cattle and servants) he will denounce God.
But despite losing all he has in one day and receiving bad advice from his wife and four friends, Job remains faithful and refuses to curse God. So God wins the bet and honours Job by giving him back twice more than what he lost.
The Poetic Book of Psalms
The Psalms is a collection of 150 poetry and songs of varying lengths mostly written by David. Some are joyful and give thanks to God, others describe pain, despair and anguish and implore God to help and others are songs of praise and worship to God.
The Wisdom of Proverbs
The book of Proverbs contain numerous wise sayings, phrases and advice on a wide variety of subjects including right and wrong actions in relationships, money, generosity, crime and punishment, living right and discipline.
Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life
Ecclesiastes contains the musings of Solomon on the meaning of life, where he explores the benefits and disappointments of pleasure, wisdom, hard work and God. He concludes that fulfilment only comes from obeying God.
Romance in Song of Songs
Song of Songs is a love poem between an unnamed lover and his beloved, where they take turns to describe their love and delight with each other using imaginative language and dramatic expressions.
These sixteen books continue the story of the Israelites but also mark the end of a narrative description of their history. After the book of Esther, the Israelites' experience is mostly told through various warnings and prophecies and is no longer chronological.
Related Bible summary: Isaiah to Malachi.
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