Pentateuch
- 📜 Genesis ΓΕΝΕΣΙΣ In the beginning — creation, fall, flood, and the call of Abraham; the covenant family from Eden to Egypt.
- 📜 Exodus ΕΞΟΔΟΣ Out of Egypt — the burning bush and the divine name, the plagues and Passover, Sinai, and the glory filling the tabernacle.
- 📜 Leviticus ΛΕΥΙΤΙΚΟΝ The holiness of the camp — sacrifice, priesthood, purity, the Day of Atonement, and 'you shall be holy, for I am holy.'
- 📜 Numbers ΑΡΙΘΜΟΙ The wilderness years — the census and the camp in order, rebellion and wandering, Balaam's oracles, and the new generation at the plains of Moab.
- 📜 Deuteronomy ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Moses' farewell — the law repeated for the new generation, 'Hear, O Israel,' blessing and curse, and the death of the prophet like no other.
Historical Books
- 📜 Joshua ΙΗΣΟΥΣ The conquest and division of the land — Jordan crossed, Jericho fallen, the covenant renewed at Shechem: 'as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'
- 📜 Judges ΚΡΙΤΑΙ The spiral of apostasy and deliverance — Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson — when there was no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
- 📜 Ruth ΡΟΥΘ Loyal love in the days of the judges — Ruth the Moabitess, Boaz the kinsman-redeemer, and the line that leads to David.
- 📜 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ Α′ Samuel, Saul, and the rise of David — the ark, the demand for a king, and the anointed shepherd hunted in the wilderness.
- 📜 2 Kingdoms (2 Samuel) ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ Β′ David's reign — Jerusalem and the ark, the everlasting covenant, Bathsheba and the sword in the house, and Absalom.
- 📜 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ Γ′ Solomon's glory and the kingdom torn — the temple built and dedicated, the schism, and Elijah against the prophets of Baal.
- 📜 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ Δ′ Elisha and the fall of two kingdoms — Samaria to Assyria, Jerusalem to Babylon, and the long descent of the kings.
- 📜 1 Chronicles ΠΑΡΑΛΕΙΠΟΜΕΝΩΝ Α′ Israel retold from Adam — the genealogies, David's reign, the ark and the temple preparations, and the order of worship.
- 📜 2 Chronicles ΠΑΡΑΛΕΙΠΟΜΕΝΩΝ Β′ From Solomon to the exile — the temple's glory, the kings of Judah weighed by their worship, and the decree of Cyrus.
- 📜 1 Esdras ΕΣΔΡΑΣ Α′ The Greek Esdras — Josiah's passover to Ezra's reforms, with the contest of the three bodyguards: 'great is truth, and strongest of all.'
- 📜 2 Esdras (Ezra–Nehemiah) ΕΣΔΡΑΣ Β′ Return and rebuilding — the temple restored under Zerubbabel, Ezra's law, and Nehemiah's wall.
- 📜 Esther ΕΣΘΗΡ The Jewish queen in Persia — Haman's plot and its reversal, with the Greek additions: Mordecai's dream and the prayers the Hebrew text never records.
- 📜 Judith ΙΟΥΔΙΘ The widow who saved Israel — Holofernes' siege, Judith's daring, and the song of victory. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 Tobit ΤΩΒΙΤ A righteous exile, a dutiful son, and the angel Raphael — almsgiving, healing, and providence on the road to Ecbatana. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 1 Maccabees ΜΑΚΚΑΒΑΙΩΝ Α′ The revolt against Antiochus — Mattathias and his sons, the temple cleansed, and the Hasmonean house established. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 2 Maccabees ΜΑΚΚΑΒΑΙΩΝ Β′ The same struggle retold in pathetic style — the martyrs, Judas' victories, and the hope of resurrection. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 3 Maccabees ΜΑΚΚΑΒΑΙΩΝ Γ′ Ptolemy's rage against Egyptian Jewry — the elephants turned back and deliverance celebrated. (Apocryphal.)
- 📜 4 Maccabees ΜΑΚΚΑΒΑΙΩΝ Δ′ A philosophical encomium — devout reason sovereign over the passions, proved by the martyrs of the Antiochene persecution. (Apocryphal.)
Psalms & Wisdom
- 📜 Psalms ΨΑΛΜΟΙ Israel's prayer book in Greek — the Psalter of the early church (LXX numbering, with Psalm 151), the wellspring of New Testament citation.
- 📜 Odes ΩΙΔΑΙ The canticles gathered for worship — the songs of Moses, Hannah, Habakkuk, the Three Young Men, and the Magnificat among them.
- 📜 Proverbs ΠΑΡΟΙΜΙΑΙ The wisdom of Solomon in sayings — the fear of the Lord as beginning, Lady Wisdom's call, and the Greek translator's own expansive touch.
- 📜 Ecclesiastes ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΗΣ Vanity of vanities — Qoheleth's relentless audit of life under the sun, rendered with wooden literalism into Greek.
- 📜 Song of Songs ΑΣΜΑ ΑΣΜΑΤΩΝ The greatest song — love strong as death, the garden and the seal, read by synagogue and church as more than it seems.
- 📜 Job ΙΩΒ The righteous sufferer — the wager, the friends' theology, the whirlwind answer; the Old Greek notably shorter than the Hebrew.
- 📜 Wisdom of Solomon ΣΟΦΙΑ ΣΟΛΟΜΩΝΤΟΣ Greek-composed wisdom — immortality and the righteous soul, Wisdom the artisan of all, and the polemic against idols. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 Sirach ΣΟΦΙΑ ΣΕΙΡΑΧ Ben Sira's school of wisdom — practical counsel, the praise of the fathers, and the translator-grandson's Greek transmission of the work. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 Psalms of Solomon ΨΑΛΜΟΙ ΣΟΛΟΜΩΝΤΟΣ Eighteen psalms from the era of Pompey — judgment on Jerusalem's sins and the hope of the Lord's Anointed. (Apocryphal.)
Prophets
- 📜 Hosea ΩΣΗΕ The prophet's broken marriage as God's case against Israel — covenant betrayed, love that will not let go.
- 📜 Amos ΑΜΩΣ The herdsman from Tekoa — judgment on the nations and on Israel's injustice; 'let justice roll down like water.'
- 📜 Micah ΜΙΧΑΙΑΣ Courtroom and consolation — Zion plowed and rebuilt, the ruler from Bethlehem, and what the Lord requires.
- 📜 Joel ΙΩΗΛ The locust army and the day of the Lord — 'I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,' the text of Pentecost.
- 📜 Obadiah ΑΒΔΙΟΥ The shortest prophet — Edom's pride brought down, and the kingdom the Lord's.
- 📜 Jonah ΙΩΝΑΣ The prophet who fled — the storm, the fish, Nineveh's repentance, and the question that ends the book.
- 📜 Nahum ΝΑΟΥΜ The fall of Nineveh — the avenging God and the end of the oppressor.
- 📜 Habakkuk ΑΜΒΑΚΟΥΜ The prophet's complaint and God's answer — 'the righteous shall live by faith,' and the psalm of theophany.
- 📜 Zephaniah ΣΟΦΟΝΙΑΣ The great day of the Lord — judgment searching Jerusalem by lamplight, and the humble remnant rejoicing.
- 📜 Haggai ΑΓΓΑΙΟΣ Build the house — the returned exiles stirred to rebuild, and the latter glory greater than the former.
- 📜 Zechariah ΖΑΧΑΡΙΑΣ Night visions and the coming king — the Branch, the pierced one, the humble king on a donkey; the prophet most quoted in the Passion.
- 📜 Malachi ΜΑΛΑΧΙΑΣ The Lord's disputations with a weary people — corrupted offerings, the messenger of the covenant, and Elijah before the great day.
- 📜 Isaiah ΗΣΑΪΑΣ The vision of Isaiah — Immanuel, the Servant who suffers, comfort for Zion, and new heavens and new earth; the evangelist among the prophets.
- 📜 Jeremiah ΙΕΡΕΜΙΑΣ The weeping prophet — judgment, the new covenant, and the fall of Jerusalem; the Greek edition notably shorter and differently ordered than the Hebrew.
- 📜 Baruch ΒΑΡΟΥΧ The scribe's scroll from exile — confession, wisdom found by God alone, and Jerusalem consoled. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 Lamentations ΘΡΗΝΟΙ Five laments over the fallen city — 'great is your faithfulness' at the center of the ruins.
- 📜 Epistle of Jeremiah ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΙΕΡΕΜΙΟΥ A letter against idols — the gods of Babylon mocked clause by clause. (Deuterocanonical.)
- 📜 Ezekiel ΙΕΖΕΚΙΗΛ The prophet among the exiles — the chariot vision, the watchman, the valley of dry bones, and the glory returning to a new temple.
- 📜 Susanna ΣΟΥΣΑΝΝΑ The falsely accused wife and the young Daniel — justice by cross-examination. (Greek addition to Daniel.)
- 📜 Daniel ΔΑΝΙΗΛ Faithfulness in Babylon and visions of the kingdoms — the fiery furnace (with the Greek prayer and song), the lions' den, and one like a son of man.
- 📜 Bel and the Dragon ΒΗΛ ΚΑΙ ΔΡΑΚΩΝ Two idol-stories — Bel's priests exposed and the dragon destroyed; Daniel in the den again. (Greek addition to Daniel.)