Part one. Introductory: What is the Bible? -- The Promised Land: geography, history, and importance -- Part two. Cosmic origins: Creations: Genesis 1-3 -- The formation of the Pentateuch and the primeval history: Genesis 4-11 -- Part three. National origins: The ancestors of Israel: Genesis 12-50 -- Escape from Egypt: Exodus 1-15 -- From Egypt to Sinai: Exodus 16-20 and 24 -- Law, ritual, and holiness: Exodus 20.22-23.33 and 25-40 and Leviticus -- In the wilderness: Numbers -- The end of the journey to the Promised Land: Deuteronomy -- Joshua and the conquest of the land of Canaan: Joshua -- The emergence of Israel in the land of Canaan: Judges -- Part four. Kings and prophets: The establishment of the monarchy: 1 Samuel -- The reign of David: 2 Samuel and 1 Kings 1-2 -- The reign of Solomon: 1 Kings 1-11 and Psalm 89 -- The divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah from the late tenth to the early eighth centuries BCE: 1 Kings 12-2 Kings 14 with an introduction to prophecy -- The northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BCE: 2 Kings 14-17, Amos, and Hosea -- The southern kingdom of Judah in the eighth and early seventh centuries BCE: 2 Kings 15-20, 2 Chronicles 29-32, Isaiah 1-39, and Micah -- Judah in the seventh and early sixth centuries BCE : the end of Assyrian domination and the fall of Jerusalem : 2 Kings 21-25, 2 Chronicles 33-36, Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah -- Part five. Exile and return: After the fall: Judeans in Judah and Babylon: Lamentations, Psalm 137, Obadiah, and Ezekiel -- Return from exile: Ezra 1-2 and Isaiah 34-35 and 40-55 -- Part six. Reconstruction, consolidation, and challenge: The restoration: Judah in the late sixth and fifth centuries BCE: Ezra 3-10, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Isaiah 24-27 and 56-66, Joel, and Malachi -- Retelling the story of David: 1-2 Chronicles and Psalms -- The wisdom of the sages: preservation and challenge: Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon with an introduction to wisdom literature -- Heroes in foreign lands: postexilic literature and diasporic identity: Ruth, Jonah, Esther, and Daniel -- Afterword -- Appendix. The apocryphal/deuterocanonical books.