NIV, Storyline Bible: Each Story Plays a Part. See How They All Connect.

By Zondervan

A Study Bible that Weaves God’s Story Together for an Unraveling World

Journey through the interwoven story of the gospel from Genesis to Revelation. The NIV Storyline Bible features over 380 articles paired with book introductions that illuminate the interconnected nature of God’s inspired Word. The content adapted from Biblemesh.com explores major events, key characters, and the theology of the Bible over seven historical eras: Creation / Patriarchs / Moses / Israel / After Exile / Jesus / The Church.

• Book introductions provide a “Storyline” perspective on how each book relates to the rest of the Bible
• Over 200 major articles about theological principles, characters of the Bible, the political and cultural influences on the people of Israel, and the Bible’s major events
• Over 180 smaller articles address the same topics as the major articles, using an applicational perspective
• Topical feature indexes
• Full text of the accurate, readable, and clear NIV translation
• Beautiful full-color page design
• Over 200 full-color photos, graphs, and charts
• Exclusive Zondervan NIV Comfort Print® typeface

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Apr 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9780310080244

Book preview

New International Version

NIV

Storyline

Bible

Each Story Plays a Part.

See How They All Connect.

NIV Storyline Bible

Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan

All rights reserved

The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

www.Zondervan.com

New International Version and NIV are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

Book introductions and articles copyright © 2018 by Bible Mesh.

Unless otherwise indicated, illustrations in the NIV Storyline Bible are copyright © 2012 by Zondervan. Additional illustrations can be found in the NIV Quickview Bible

ePub Edition April 2019: 978-0-310-08024-4

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2018943785

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Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

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Table of Contents

How to Use This eBible

Foreword

Introduction to the NIV Storyline Bible

The BibleMesh Curriculum

NIV Preface

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Old Testament Table of Contents

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New Testament Table of Contents

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Table of Weights and Measures

The Seven Eras of the NIV Storyline Bible: A Study

Index of Features in Canonical Order

Index of Articles by Era

Subject Index

Full Color Maps

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OLD TESTAMENT

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Genesis

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50

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Exodus

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40

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Leviticus

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

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Numbers

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36

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Deuteronomy

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34

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Joshua

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

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Judges

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

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Ruth

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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1 Samuel

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

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2 Samuel

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

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1 Kings

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22

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2 Kings

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

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1 Chronicles

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29

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2 Chronicles

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36

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Ezra

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

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Nehemiah

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

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Esther

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

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Job

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42

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Psalms

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | 129 | 130 | 131 | 132 | 133 | 134 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150

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Proverbs

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

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Ecclesiastes

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

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Song of Songs

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

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Isaiah

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66

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Jeremiah

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52

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Lamentations

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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Ezekiel

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48

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Daniel

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

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Hosea

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

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Joel

1 | 2 | 3

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Amos

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

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Obadiah

1

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Jonah

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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Micah

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

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Nahum

1 | 2 | 3

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Habakkuk

1 | 2 | 3

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Zephaniah

1 | 2 | 3

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Haggai

1 | 2

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Zechariah

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

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Malachi

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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NEW TESTAMENT

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Matthew

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

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Mark

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

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Luke

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

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John

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

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Acts

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

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Romans

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

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1 Corinthians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

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2 Corinthians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

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Galatians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

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Ephesians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

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Philippians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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Colossians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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1 Thessalonians

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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2 Thessalonians

1 | 2 | 3

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1 Timothy

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

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2 Timothy

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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Titus

1 | 2 | 3

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Philemon

1

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Hebrews

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

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James

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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1 Peter

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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2 Peter

1 | 2 | 3

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1 John

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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2 John

1

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3 John

1

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Jude

1

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Revelation

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22

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How to Use This eBible

What is the difference between an eBook and a print book?

eBook versions of Bibles contain all the content and supplementary materials found in the original print versions and are optimized for navigation in the various apps and devices used for display. eReaders recognize text as one fluid string and are formatted in a single column, which differs from the multi-column layout seen in many print version Bibles. Therefore, some content may not match the exact appearance of the original print version, but instead uses hyperlinks to navigate between related content.

How do I use the eBook Table of Contents?

* Important Note: Be sure to consult your device manufacturer’s User’s Guide for device-specific navigation instructions. *

The Table of Contents is generally formatted in the same order as the original print version and hyperlinked as follows:

• Front matter – Introductory articles

• Bible books and chapters

• Back matter – Supplementary materials

To navigate to specific Bible books, chapters, or verses, please note the following:

• Book links (Ex. Genesis) go directly to the Introduction of each book, or the beginning of that Bible book if there is no introductory text.

• Chapter links go directly to the beginning of the chapter associated with a book.

• Use the device’s Next Page/Previous Page buttons or functions to scroll through the verses in each chapter.

• Every Bible book and chapter hyperlink in the Bible text returns or goes back to the Table of Contents. Or, use the device’s back button or function to go back to the last selection.

How do I navigate supplementary materials?

Articles and Features related to Bible content are accessible through the pointer links that are interspersed throughout the Bible text.

• Select the hyperlinked content title at the end of a paragraph where referenced Bible verse(s) appear to go to its location in the Annotations section at the end of each Bible book.

• Select the hyperlinked title entry to go back to the Bible verse location, or use the device’s back button or function to go back to the last selection.

Translators’ Notes are marked with a hyperlinked letter a, to indicate important textual information.

• Click the hyperlinked letter to the left of the word or phrase in the main Bible text to the corresponding note.

• Click the hyperlinked letter to the left of the note and you are returned to the main Bible text.

Footnotes are marked with a hyperlinked number ¹ to indicate references to additional source information.

• Click the hyperlinked number to the right of the word or phrase to the corresponding note.

• Click the hyperlinked number to the left of the note and you are returned to the main text.

Indexes are features that supplement the Bible text and are hyperlinked directly to the content-specific location following the main Bible text.

• Select the hyperlinked entry in the Table of Contents to the specific article, list, or index.

• Select the Bible reference or article hyperlink to the corresponding main Bible text or article.

• Use the device’s back button or function to go back to the last selection.

Color Maps are included as images and optimized for eReader device display.

• Select the hyperlinked entry in the Table of Contents to a specific map.

• Use the device’s back button or function to go back to the last selection.

Foreword

One of the greatest discoveries any of us can make is that the Bible has one main story. Of course, the Scriptures contain many individual accounts of the events in the history of nations, families, and individuals, yet the Lord’s purpose in giving us his holy Word is to teach us about his redeeming love in Jesus Christ.

This NIV Storyline Bible is based on the online BibleMesh Biblical Story Course (www.biblemesh.com). With the motto One God, One Book, One Story, this course has helped many people around the world grasp the overall message of the Bible. From Abraham to the people of Israel, from David to the apostles, all the characters and events of the Bible find their greatest meaning in the light of the promise of a Savior and the fulfillment of God’s covenant hope in his Son, Jesus Christ. It is in an incomparably rich and glorious story, and when grasped in its full scope adds depth and texture to all the individual stories of the Bible.

The world is full of confusion; unfortunately, many who claim the name of Christ hardly know the story of his Word. As you study the NIV Storyline Bible and learn more about the richness of the Bible and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, our hope is that you will experience what the disciples on the road to Emmaus felt as they exclaimed, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32).

Sincerely,

Emmanuel (Publisher, BibleMesh) & Camille Kampouris

Introduction to the NIV Storyline Bible

Overview

The NIV Storyline Bible has been designed to educate, inspire and inform readers of the Bible who want to see and understand the critical connections between the many stories in the Bible. The articles and features of this Bible have been crafted from an online educational Bible curriculum called BibleMesh, and specifically from a course called The Biblical Story (for more information, please visit www.biblemesh.com and see the description of the program here).

The study materials in the NIV Storyline Bible are designed around seven Biblical eras. Each article has been assigned to one of these seven eras, and each article has also been carefully placed within the Bible at a particular book, chapter and verse (with the exception of two articles before Genesis and a few articles on the Bible’s cultural milieu that are placed between the testaments). Each of these major and minor articles are cross-referenced to many other articles to demonstrate the connections between one biblical story and a host of others. The implication is, therefore, that the diligent student of the NIV Storyline Bible will discover infinite connections between one storyline and the rest of the Bible.

Articles

There are two types of articles in this Bible, each based on different aspects of the instructional materials on www.biblemesh.com. The larger (single or multi-page) articles are based on the core instructional texts in the online resource. These contain the main teachings in the NIV Storyline Bible and have been built to educate and inspire readers in their study. The shorter (half-page or less) articles that are placed within the text of the Bible are based on video scripts that can also be found online on the BibleMesh website. The smaller articles deal with themes that are identical to the themes in the larger articles; they simply take a different, more application-oriented tack on the particular subject matter. Also note that each larger article does not necessarily have a parallel smaller article (for more information, please reference the subject index).

Subject Matter in the Seven Eras

Note that identical themes are dealt with in the different eras. God has been at work in various ways since the beginning of time, and in fact is still critically active in the world today (He is before all things, and in him all things hold together [Col 1:17]; I am making everything new! [Rev 21:5]). That’s why the editors of the articles found it advantageous to examine identical themes in multiple eras: for instance, you’ll find multiple articles entitled God, Blessings and Curses, and Passover, to name a few, over each of the seven eras. Each of these subjects is examined in a different way based on the era in which it is categorized. This allows for interesting topical study of a single subject over multiple eras (again, for more information, please reference the subject index).

God’s Word is beautifully and wonderfully interconnected, from the first part of Genesis (In the beginning, Ge 1:1) to Jesus’ last statement in Revelation (Yes, I am coming soon, Rev 22:20). The goal of the NIV Storyline Bible is, therefore, to lead the reader to discover these connections via the various articles that serve to inform and expand upon the stories and teachings in the Bible.

Features of the NIV Storyline Bible

Each of the features of the NIV Storyline Bible has been designed to allow readers to examine the connections between the stories in the Bible so that they can begin to understand the Bible as one unified, interconnected whole rather than a series of separate, disconnected books.

Book introductions include several helpful features for each of the Bible’s 66 books. First, a key passage from the book introduces readers to a main theme. Next there is insightful introduction and background information provided to expand the reader’s perspective on each book and prepare them for the study on which they’re about to embark. Finally, each introduction includes a brief Storyline paragraph that gives a unique perspective on how each book relates to the rest of the Bible. You’ll also find a helpful outline of each Bible book, and a graphic representation of the seven eras that will show you which of the seven are dealt with in each book, as illustrated here.

THE 7 ERAS

Over 200 major articles lead the reader through learning about different aspects of instruction: theological principles, characters of the Bible, the contemporary political and cultural influences on the people of Israel, the Bible’s major events, and other topics are dealt within these articles to provide insight and inspiration to readers as they make their way through the stories and teachings of the Old and New Testaments. Over 180 smaller articles (taken from the video scripts of the BibleMesh curriculum) address the same topics as the major articles, using an applicational perspective and a more conversational tone. Through completing a topical study of both the smaller and larger articles, readers will gain a more complete picture of the stories and teachings of the Bible.

Over 200 full-color photos, graphs, and charts grace the pages of this Bible, carefully selected to bring inspiration and understanding to the reading of God’s Word. And three comprehensive feature indexes, one canonical, one by era and a subject index, can be found in the back of this Bible for easy reference. Finally, a brief study of the seven eras presented in this Bible is available in question form. It is provided as a resource for small groups and church classes to aid in understanding each of the seven individual eras, and it is designed to shed light on the intent of the editors of BibleMesh to segment their instructional materials in this way.

The Seven Biblical Eras in the NIV Storyline Bible

As mentioned previously in this introduction, the editors of the BibleMesh curriculum have segmented their instructional material into seven helpful eras, into which all of the study articles have been categorized. In this Bible project, we have used the same seven eras as we have placed the articles throughout the Scripture text.

What follows is a brief description of each of these seven eras. For more in-depth study of these eras for your church class or small group, please see the study questions in the back of this Bible.

Era 1: Creation

We’re all familiar with instances where heartache comes to families who seem to have it all going for them—and then things come unraveled. Though they have every comfort and convenience; though they join together in Bible study and prayer at home and sit beside each other in church; though, in the community, they are highly regarded for their work ethic and amiability—tragedy strikes. Perhaps a spouse develops a weakness for pornography or prescription medications; perhaps a touch of greed drives one into shady business affairs; perhaps jealousy leads to treachery. Whatever the cause, the blissful home is ruined.

And it doesn’t stop there. The children are scarred, and they themselves choose bad paths. Their children, in turn, are stigmatized and embittered, and stumble along without proper role models. And so the dominoes fall through the generations.

This is, essentially, the oldest story on earth: A family that had it all threw it away. And whatever blessings contemporary families might enjoy, they pale beside the glories of life in the Garden of Eden.

It was a time and place of perfect safety and plenty, with no illness or fear. And the people enjoyed warm fellowship with their Creator. But then the catastrophe: When the family turned its back on the pleasure of God and disobeyed their maker’s directions, they suffered the grave consequences of their rebellion.

Their tragic choice and God’s response, the manifestation of His tough love, set the course of all human history. His act of creation and subsequent act of judgment in response to their sin has colored everything that has happened since then—every cultural activity, every movement in human history, every political cause, and every course of study.

Without recognizing both the Creation and Fall of the world, one cannot understand anything very well, if at all. But by taking these momentous events into account, one is able to make sense of virtually everything.

In this era, we also catch a sight of redemption, of God’s work to reclaim human fellowship and allegiance. Though there is much to mourn in these early days of the earth: the introduction of death, pain in childbirth, sibling rivalry, natural calamity, alienation from God; there are also traces of deliverance: a word about Satan’s ruin, an ark to save a remnant from the Flood. This too is essential to understanding where history is going and where one should invest his or her life. In the end, it will be a story of hope and gladness for those who walk with God despite the world’s opposition.

This era of the Bible and its attendant articles raise questions of how these earliest biblical stories should frame our dealings with the world.

Era 2: Patriarchs

By Abraham’s time, mankind had made a terrible mess of things. In the beginning, Adam and Eve lived in paradise, but they ruined it by their petty disobedience. And though Noah had shown fortitude in building the ark in the midst of a rotten culture, he in turn made a drunken spectacle of himself once the Flood had passed. It was clear that people just could not handle the good things God gave them, so there was a breakdown in their relationship with the Creator.

The big question, then, was how men and women might get back in the Lord’s favor, how they could restore their relationship with Him. After all, it had begun so beautifully in Eden. Why couldn’t the world reboot and make a fresh start with God?

Through the centuries, people have tried a thousand ways to catch God’s attention and to please him enough to get back into his good graces. The Bible describes some of these attempts, including those of a group who sacrificed their own children on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Through the centuries, others have insisted that pilgrimages, fasts, charities, poverty, religious rituals, tortures, and such would break down the wall of separation between people and their maker, but they’ve gotten things precisely backwards, as the Genesis passages in this era reveal. For humanity is not to fashion more or less effective ways to charm a grumpy, bitter god—one who is indignant at the damage done to his good creation. Rather, it is God who reaches down to humanity and shows them the way back home.

God took the initiative with Abraham, promising to bless the whole world through his offspring. To make this happen, God worked a miracle to give Abraham a child, so that the line might start. And God kept the line alive through thick and thin, as first one and then another of Abraham’s progeny faced certain ruin—whether through personal foolishness, the treacheries of domestic strife, or the scourge of famine.

But here’s the most remarkable thing: the path God laid out before people was one of faith, not performance. Yes, there would be sacrifice, but God and not humans would provide the victim. He gave Abraham a ram for the altar, when it was clear Abraham’s faith was great. And, in a mysterious ceremony, God pointed toward a day when he would even put himself on the altar if necessary to make sure humanity could be rescued. What kind of God was this? What sort of religion might this be? Well, certainly, an astonishing one. Indeed, the true one, whose overarching purpose is love.

Era 3: Moses

Slavery is a recurring curse of history, whether instigated by the 18th-century Barbary Pirates, 19th-century cotton farmers in the American South, expansionist Japanese in the mid-20th century, or human traffickers worldwide in the 21st century. Though the Israelites were God’s chosen people, they were not spared this terrible experience. They too knew the humiliation, brutality, and poverty of slavery, and they thought that there was no way out. The Egyptians were as mighty as the children of Abraham were helpless.

Nevertheless, deliverance came in miraculous fashion. God used a flawed man, Moses, as His human instrument for bringing the Egyptians to their knees. The Lord backed Moses’ demand, Let my people go, with plague after devastating plague, culminating in the death of firstborn Egyptian sons. At the same time, the Israelite boys were spared by means of a God-ordained observance, one that reverberates with meaning throughout all subsequent history: the Passover. The people were instructed to sacrifice a lamb and to mark their doorposts with its blood, a sign that death should pass over their homes when it moved across the land.

Once released by a broken Pharaoh, the Israelites fled the land with other miraculous provisions at every turn—the parting of the sea, fresh food daily from the skies, and pillars of cloud and fire to lead them through the desert. But God’s care went beyond physical assistance to the spiritual. There, in the desert of Sinai, He gave them a life-giving moral code and a form of worship that opened the path to restoration and escape from the debt of sin.

The Passover and these newly instituted worship practices pointed to a day when even a slave master could be delivered from the bondage of a sinful heart and from the guilt of his cruelty. It would all depend upon the sacrifice of yet another lamb—one whose blood would one day be shed for many, Jew and Gentile alike.

At the time of their escape, the Israelites enjoyed a season of pure reliance upon God, a time of communion with their maker as he supplied their material needs. But this was only a foretaste of the fellowship enjoyed by believers today when they turn to the Lamb of God.

As we close our study of this era, we are still over a millennium away from the full telling of this story. Nevertheless, God’s revelation is proceeding apace as He leads us to understand the miraculous deliverance found in Jesus.

Era 4: Israel

As Adam and Eve demonstrated in the Garden of Eden, humanity finds it difficult to handle great blessing. This first couple had it all, but they spoiled it by their pointless disobedience.

Thousands of years later, God’s people are again given a golden opportunity to flourish in the most favorable of circumstances. The Lord has led them out of slavery in Egypt, sustained them in the wilderness, provided them moral guidance and a system of worship, vanquished their enemies, given them a bountiful land of their own, and promised them continued prosperity if they’ll just obey Him.

But, again, God’s favored people cannot not handle blessing. Though success seems so simple (by way of thankful respect for God’s reasonable standards), God’s children walk—and even run—away from the right path into the thorns and ditches of sin. They become devotees of false worship, greed, lust, and pride.

Repeatedly, God rescues them from themselves and their enemies. He provides them with a series of leaders, called judges, called to bring order out of chaos. Gideon, Deborah, Samson, and others offer a measure of deliverance, but only for a season. And then come the kings. Though Saul is a disappointment, his successors David and Solomon give the people a glimpse of how they might flourish under the right sovereign. But again, Israel and its leaders cannot seem to manage prosperity and their unity comes undone.

It becomes increasingly clear that people are so thoroughly broken by sin that they are incapable of sustained goodness in the face of plenty. So, here, God employs tough love at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who march the humiliated Israelites and Judahites into exile.

As this era comes to a close, there seems to be yet another opportunity for a fresh start. The refugees have returned to their homeland under the godly leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The temple is rebuilt. Jerusalem is restored. Perhaps God’s people have learned their lesson and are ready to walk with him, enjoying all the attendant benefits.

But, as we’ve learned, something fundamental must change in their hearts before they can make the most of the good things that surround them. Fortunately, that change is coming in the person of Jesus, the Messiah—the promised, perfect King whose reign will impact everything.

Era 5: After the Exile

Scripture tells the people of God to be in the world, but not of it, for they often find themselves in an alien culture with ungodly values. The cultural agenda is not their own. Still, they cannot withdraw completely. So how do they cope?

This was a major question for the Israelites. They had to deal first with Babylonian captivity and then with continued subjugation to the Persians when they returned to the promised land. Next came the Greeks under Alexander the Great, who pressed them to speak his language, and whose successors challenged Jewish traditions and nudged them toward greater moral laxity. One particularly odious ruler in this line, Antiochus Epiphanes, desecrated the temple and forbade all religious observance under penalty of death.

Finally, the Jews had had enough, and they revolted under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus. The coup was successful, and they were able to manage their own affairs for two hundred years. But this didn’t last. The Romans swept in and once again, Israel was answerable to a foreign force, politically and culturally.

At this point, the Jewish leadership splintered into parties representing the classic ways in which believers have coped with their enemies through the centuries. First, following the footsteps of the Maccabees, the Zealots favored violence.

Another group, the Essenes, simply withdrew from the scene into communes of sort, some of them gathered in the Dead Sea caves. There, they practiced their piety, largely untouched and untainted by the alien force. Perhaps one might think of the Amish approach to modern culture, with its lack of interest in entertainment reviews, political campaigns, and the latest fashions.

Yet another party, the Pharisees, emphasized holiness, but stayed engaged with society. Though they were active in the marketplace, their attention to ritual and rules was conspicuous, guarded, and even judgmental. One might think of the way in which Muslim beards and burkas in Western cities indicate an unwillingness to assimilate.

Then there were the Sadducees, who for the most part adapted to the prevailing Roman rule and culture, holding their religious convictions lightly and finding ways to ingratiate themselves to opinion leaders and power brokers. In every age and denomination, you will find their offspring—nominal members who are hard to distinguish from society in general.

In short, though the studies in this era follow the ebb and flow of power and culture in the Middle East thousands of years ago, the issues confronting contemporary believers are similar, as are their responses.

It was a time of great frustration and confusion for God’s people, but new revelation and power were just around the corner, albeit in a form the people could not anticipate.

Era 6: Jesus

The New Testament speaks of two sorts of time—chronos and kairos. The first is the sort of time one measures on a watch, a chronometer. The second is what we might call timely time or pregnant time, the time when things are ripe for major transition and bold action. If ever there was a kairos moment, it came at the occasion of Jesus’ birth, when the set time had fully come, as Paul puts it in Galatians 4.

Consider these elements at play:

1. The Jews were frenetic with hope for the long-promised Messiah. After centuries of humiliating subjugation to foreign powers, they were desperate for a change. So they were particularly attentive to the message of John the Baptist, a striking prophet in the wilderness who foretold the coming of one whose sandals he was unworthy to carry.

2. The Romans were on edge, spring-loaded for violent reaction. Their empire was stretched thin from Britain to Mesopotamia and all across North Africa. They had found the Jews a contentious lot, and were determined to stamp out the slightest chance of insurrection. Thus, execution of a popular yet controversial figure such as Jesus was not a remote possibility.

3. Because of Alexander the Great’s conquest and rule, the Greek language was widely known throughout the Mediterranean world. It would serve admirably for the Gospels and for the letters sent to emerging congregations throughout the Roman Empire.

4. Because of Roman rule, a network of roads and prevailing peace within the Empire’s boundaries meant unprecedented opportunity to travel widely and freely with the message of Jesus.

5. As Pastor Tim Keller puts it, all the story lines of the Bible come together in the appearance of Christ. Everywhere one turns in the Old Testament, Scripture points to Jesus—whether the division of twelve tribes, anticipating the twelve disciples; the good news to the poor and broken-hearted, proclaimed in Isaiah 61 and claimed by Jesus in Luke 4; the choice of a Passover lamb in Egypt; the way in which Abraham would not withhold his son Isaac should his sacrifice be necessary; and the way in which the Ten Commandments set the stage for the Sermon on the Mount, with its insistence that inner righteousness match outer righteousness. The indicators are manifold.

Christ’s coming was the watershed event of all history, the most important event of all time. Its centrality has been recognized in the labels, BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, year of our Lord). Though secularists have pressed scholars to use BCE and CE (with the CE standing for common era), there is no changing the reality of these momentous events—the coming, ministering, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, Lord of all, and the only hope of salvation for anyone on earth.

Era 7: The Church

The Bible speaks a great deal of returning. For instance, the Hebrew Old Testament word for repentance (shuv) simply means turning around, moving from where you should not be headed to where you should. The Greek New Testament counterpart (metanoia) means a change of mind: what once seemed the right way to go now seems foolish and destructive.

Shuv also translates turn back (as in Psalm 51:13); so does the Greek word epistrepho (turn about) in the New Testament, where it’s used in Acts 3:19 to say, Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

This was the message of the early Church, where conversions were plentiful and dramatic:

• At Pentecost, where 3,000 people from many nations heard the gospel in their own language, turned to Christ, and were baptized.

• On the road to Damascus, where Paul, who was persecuting the Church, met Christ and was changed forever. This man, who was once a fierce enemy of the Church, became its greatest missionary.

• On the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, where Philip led an Ethiopian official to the Lord and baptized him.

• In Philippi, when a terrified jailer was overcome by the kindness of his prisoners and the grace of Christ and became a believer, along with his household. An angel of the Lord had opened the jail’s doors, and the poor man thought he would be executed for their escape. Instead, he found eternal life.

• In Caesarea, where a Roman centurion, a Gentile named Cornelius, surrendered to Christ on the witness of Peter, who had come reluctantly from Joppa, initially resisting the notion that non-Jews could be saved.

They all responded to the call to turn from their present paths to the one that led back to God. And this call went out to all humanity. It was not a summons for those of Jewish descent to return to the promised land, but rather an invitation to all of Adam and Eve’s offspring to come back to Eden, or actually a new Eden in the City of God, where the wedding feast of the Lamb would be set for all who put their trust in Jesus’ shed blood.

The BibleMesh Curriculum

www.biblemesh.com

The articles and features of the NIV Storyline Bible are based on the instructional materials present in the BibleMesh online curriculum. The BibleMesh site is a comprehensive educational platform designed to help Christians engage with the Word of God through various overview and intensive course offerings. The NIV Storyline Bible uses instructional materials from a course called The Biblical Story. This course allows the reader to see the connections between the various parts of Scripture that unfold as the reader engages in an in-depth course of study.

What follows is more information on the BibleMesh curriculum and the theological basis for the information and instructional materials on the website; and thus, by correlation, the basis for the articles and features of this Bible.

About BibleMesh®

BibleMesh is owned by a private foundation. All proceeds are used to further the work of the gospel worldwide.

Mission

The mission of BibleMesh is to help people learn the comprehensive story of Scripture and apply it to all aspects of life.

Vision

The Bible is the infallible Word of the living God and the central book in the history of Western civilization. The basis of the faith of billions of people around the globe, it has inspired countless works of art, literature, and charity. Yet many people express frustration over their attempts to understand the Bible. This may be due to the unstructured manner in which they have encountered the Scriptures. They may have picked up individual bits of information over the years and know certain parts of God’s Word better than others, but they still do not see how the story fits together.

When we open the pages of Scripture, we discover there is One God, One Book, and One Story. BibleMesh aims to help people understand the big picture as well as important facts of the Bible. The first BibleMesh resource is The Biblical Story, a course that presents Scripture as a cohesive narrative of God’s work in the world from Genesis to Revelation (and which, again, forms the basis for the study features in this NIV Storyline Bible). It utilizes an interactive quizzing tool that helps people remember what they have learned.

About the Publisher

Emmanuel A. Kampouris is the founder and publisher of BibleMesh and the retired Chairman and CEO of American Standard. He currently serves on the boards of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ and Amway Corp. He has also served on the boards of Stanley Works, Click Commerce, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Hudson Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Throughout his years as a business executive, Mr. Kampouris became burdened to see the Church renew its historic role as a prophetic voice and moral conscience of culture. In 2002, he began Kairos Journal, an online resource designed to equip pastors and church leaders to engage with public square issues. BibleMesh extends this vision by providing a comprehensive online educational platform designed to help people achieve biblical literacy.

Doctrinal Statement

The BibleMesh Editorial Team affirms the inerrancy and full trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures and stands in continuity with the Ecumenical Councils of the Christian Church. They subscribe to a theological framework as distilled in the following statement from the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (U.K.).

1. There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

2. God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgment.

3. The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behavior.

4. Since the fall, the whole of humankind is sinful and guilty, so that everyone is subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.

5. The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son, is fully God; he was born of a virgin; his humanity is real and sinless; he died on the cross, was raised bodily from death and is now reigning over heaven and earth.

6. Sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death once and for all time of their representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between them and God.

7. Those who believe in Christ are pardoned all their sins and accepted in God’s sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God’s act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by their own efforts.

8. The Holy Spirit alone makes the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, enabling them to turn to God from their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ.

9. The Holy Spirit lives in all those he has regenerated. He makes them increasingly Christlike in character and behavior and gives them power for their witness in the world.

10. The one holy universal church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong.

11. The Lord Jesus Christ will return in person, to judge everyone, to execute God’s just condemnation on those who have not repented and to receive the redeemed to eternal glory.

Editorial Team for the BibleMesh Biblical Story Course

Publishers

Emmanuel Kampouris (MA, Law, Oxford; LLD, Nyack and King’s/NYC) is the retired Chairman and CEO of American Standard. He is the founder of both kairosjournal.org and biblemesh.com.

Camille Kampouris (BA, Catholic University of America; LLD, King’s/NYC) has appeared in a wide range of stage and broadcast productions, including ten seasons on Sesame Street. She joined Emmanuel in founding both kairosjournal.org and biblemesh.com.

Senior Editorial Team

Mark T. Coppenger (BA, Ouachita; MDiv, SWBTS; PhD, Vanderbilt) is professor of Christian philosophy and ethics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY.

Charles Marnham (MA Cambridge; DipTh, Durham) is vicar of St. Michael’s, Chester Square, London, UK.

Michael McClenahan (MA, MA, M.St., D.Phil., Oxford) is professor of systematic theology at Union Theological College in Belfast and the executive director of BibleMesh.

C. Ben Mitchell (BS, Mississippi St.; MDiv, SWBTS; PhD, Tennessee) is Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, TN.

Bob Phillips (BA, Western Kentucky; MDiv, SBTS) (1947–2017) was long-time pastor of New York’s Times Square Church and Encourager Church in Houston, TX.

Gregory Alan Thornbury (BA, Messiah; MDiv, SBTS; PhD, SBTS) is Chancellor of King’s College, New York, NY.

BibleMesh Team

Jeff Degracia (BBA Stetson) has served in a variety of marketing management positions in the consumer electronics industry.

Nicholas Ellis (BA, Union University; MA, Trinity Western University; M.St., DPhil, Oxford) is a Director at OneHope.

Brian Pinney (BS, Toccoa Falls; MAT, Piedmont; MAR, Reformed) is administrator for both Kairos Journal and BibleMesh.com.

David Roach (BS, Vanderbilt; MDiv, PhD, SBTS) is chief national correspondent of Baptist Press in Nashville, TN.

Jacob Shatzer (BA, Union; MDiv, SBTS; PhD, Marquette) is assistant professor of theological studies and associate dean in the School of Theology and Missions at Union University, in Jackson, TN.

Content Contributors

Alistair Begg is senior pastor of Parkside Church in metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio, and is heard on the radio program Truth For Life.

Mark Dever is pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and president of 9Marks Ministries.

Michael Haykin is a professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he directs the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies.

George Kalantzis is an associate professor of theology at Wheaton College in Illinois, where he also serves as the director of the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies.

Timothy Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, the chairman of Redeemer City to City, and a New York Times bestselling author.

Will Kynes is Associate Professor of Theology at Whitworth University, Spokane, WA.

Tricia Marnham is a board member of IVP (UK) and works alongside her husband, Charles, vicar of St Michaels, Chester Square, London.

Eric Metaxas is an American author, speaker, and radio host. His two best known biographies are Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.

Noel Rabinowitz is a professor of biblical studies at the Israel Study Center in Tel Aviv, and online instructor of biblical students at The King’s College, New York.

Owen Strachan is associate professor of Christian theology and director of the Center for Public Policy at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Rico Tice is associate minister (evangelism) at All Souls Church in London.

Peter Williams is Warden (CEO) of Tyndale House, Cambridge, UK.

Note: A complete list of the over 50 pastors and teachers who contributed to The Biblical Story videos can be found at www.courses.biblemesh.com/biblical-story-project.

Preface

The goal of the New International Version (NIV) is to enable English-speaking people from around the world to read and hear God’s eternal Word in their own language. Our work as translators is motivated by our conviction that the Bible is God’s Word in written form. We believe that the Bible contains the divine answer to the deepest needs of humanity, sheds unique light on our path in a dark world and sets forth the way to our eternal well-being. Out of these deep convictions, we have sought to recreate as far as possible the experience of the original audience—blending transparency to the original text with accessibility for the millions of English speakers around the world. We have prioritized accuracy, clarity and literary quality with the goal of creating a translation suitable for public and private reading, evangelism, teaching, preaching, memorizing and liturgical use. We have also sought to preserve a measure of continuity with the long tradition of translating the Scriptures into English.

The complete NIV Bible was first published in 1978. It was a completely new translation made by over a hundred scholars working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. The translators came from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, giving the translation an international scope. They were from many denominations and churches—including Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Brethren, Christian Reformed, Church of Christ, Evangelical Covenant, Evangelical Free, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and others. This breadth of denominational and theological perspective helped to safeguard the translation from sectarian bias. For these reasons, and by the grace of God, the NIV has gained a wide readership in all parts of the English-speaking world.

The work of translating the Bible is never finished. As good as they are, English translations must be regularly updated so that they will continue to communicate accurately the meaning of God’s Word. Updates are needed in order to reflect the latest developments in our understanding of the biblical world and its languages and to keep pace with changes in English usage. Recognizing, then, that the NIV would retain its ability to communicate God’s Word accurately only if it were regularly updated, the original translators established the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The Committee is a self-perpetuating group of biblical scholars charged with keeping abreast of advances in biblical scholarship and changes in English and issuing periodic updates to the NIV. The CBT is an independent, self-governing body and has sole responsibility for the NIV text. The Committee mirrors the original group of translators in its diverse international and denominational makeup and in its unifying commitment to the Bible as God’s inspired Word.

In obedience to its mandate, the Committee has issued periodic updates to the NIV. An initial revision was released in 1984. A more thorough revision process was completed in 2005, resulting in the separately published TNIV. The updated NIV you now have in your hands builds on both the original NIV and the TNIV and represents the latest effort of the Committee to articulate God’s unchanging Word in the way the original authors might have said it had they been speaking in English to the global English-speaking audience today.

Translation Philosophy

The Committee’s translating work has been governed by three widely accepted principles about the way people use words and about the way we understand them.

First, the meaning of words is determined by the way that users of the language actually use them at any given time. For the biblical languages,