Bible Reading Guide
The Old Testament: All 39 Books in Order
The Old Testament is the first part of the Bible: 39 books, from Genesis to Malachi, written mostly in Hebrew over roughly a thousand years before Jesus was born. It falls into four divisions: the Law (five books of Moses), History (twelve books), Poetry and Wisdom (five books) and the Prophets (seventeen books, counting the major and minor prophets together). Together they hold 929 chapters. Below is every Old Testament book in order, each with a one-line summary from Father’s Heart Bible™ and a link to read it free online with audio.
The divisions of the Old Testament at a glance
The 39 books of the Old Testament fall into 5 groups, the way most Bibles print their contents page. Each count below is read from the book list on this page. Counted as one division, the Major and Minor Prophets make the seventeen Prophets.
- The Law (the Five Books of Moses): 5 books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, 187 chapters.
- History: 12 books, Joshua to Esther, 249 chapters.
- Poetry and Wisdom: 5 books, Job to Song of Solomon, 243 chapters.
- The Major Prophets: 5 books, Isaiah to Daniel, 183 chapters.
- The Minor Prophets: 12 books, Hosea to Malachi, 67 chapters.
The 39 books of the Old Testament in order
The Law (the Five Books of Moses) · 5 books
- Genesis 50 chapters
The book of beginnings: creation and fall, flood and covenant, and the calling of Abraham’s family through whom the whole world would be blessed. Scripture opens where the gospel opens—with our Father making a world, and a family, for Himself.
- Exodus 40 chapters
Israel’s long sojourn in Egypt hardens into slavery. Our Father raises up Moses, breaks Pharaoh with ten plagues, opens the sea, and leads the people to Mount Sinai—where He binds Himself to them in covenant and comes to dwell in their midst.
- Leviticus 27 chapters
The book of holiness and sacrifice—how a redeemed people may live near our holy Father. Beneath every regulation runs a single promise: our Father means to dwell in the very midst of His people.
- Numbers 36 chapters
Forty years of wilderness wandering between Sinai and the Promised Land—a generation’s failures met by a Father’s patience. At its heart stands the blessing the priests were to speak over the people.
- Deuteronomy 34 chapters
Moses’ farewell sermons on the edge of the Promised Land, renewing the covenant with a new generation. Again and again he presses one picture home: the LORD is not a distant lawgiver but a Father.
History · 12 books
- Joshua 24 chapters
The conquest and settlement of the Promised Land under Joshua. As a daunting task begins, our Father anchors His people not in their own courage but in His presence.
- Judges 21 chapters
A downward spiral: the people forsake the LORD, fall to their enemies, cry out, and are rescued—again and again. The wonder of the book is not the judges but the Father who keeps answering.
- Ruth 4 chapters
In the dark days of the judges, one quiet story of loyalty and redemption: a widowed foreigner is drawn into the family of our Father through a kinsman-redeemer, and becomes great-grandmother to King David.
- 1 Samuel 31 chapters
Israel demands a king, and the LORD gives them Saul, then David. Behind the rise and fall of kings, the book reveals a Father who hears the barren, calls the child, and looks past appearances to the heart.
- 2 Samuel 24 chapters
David’s reign—its triumphs and its grievous failures. At the center stands the covenant our Father makes with David: a promise of a Father and a son that reaches far beyond one throne.
- 1 Kings 22 chapters
The glory of Solomon’s temple gives way to a kingdom divided and prophets who confront it. In the quiet after the storm, our Father reveals Himself not in wind or fire but in a gentle whisper.
- 2 Kings 25 chapters
The long decline of Israel and Judah into exile. Even as judgment falls, the book keeps catching glimpses of a Father slow to give His children up.
- 1 Chronicles 29 chapters
Israel’s story retold through David’s reign, with worship at its center. Woven through the genealogies and songs is the promise of a Father to His son, and an invitation to seek Him.
- 2 Chronicles 36 chapters
The reigns of Judah’s kings from Solomon to the exile, with the temple at the heart of the nation’s life. The book’s most beloved promise is a Father waiting to forgive and heal a people who turn back.
- Ezra 10 chapters
After seventy years in exile, a remnant returns to rebuild the temple. The book credits every step to one cause: the good hand of their Father upon them.
- Nehemiah 13 chapters
The walls of Jerusalem lie in rubble, and Nehemiah leads the people to rebuild them. At the center is a great prayer recalling a Father who sustained His people through every wilderness.
- Esther 10 chapters
Esther is the one book that never names God—no prayer, no miracle, no mention of the LORD. Yet from a Persian palace an orphaned girl is raised up “for such a time as this,” and a marked people is delivered. The Father’s name is absent; His hand is everywhere.
Poetry and Wisdom · 5 books
- Job 42 chapters
A blameless man loses everything and wrestles, through long chapters of anguished questions, with why the righteous suffer. In the end our Father answers not with explanations but with Himself.
- Psalms 150 chapters
The prayer book and songbook of our Father’s people—a hundred and fifty psalms of praise, lament, thanksgiving, and trust, spanning every season of the human heart, brought honestly before our Father.
- Proverbs 31 chapters
A collection of wise sayings for everyday life—on speech, work, money, friendship, and the fear of the LORD that begins all wisdom. Practical instruction offered from a father to his son.
- Ecclesiastes 12 chapters
Ecclesiastes searches for meaning “under the sun,” and from that earthbound vantage the Teacher sees God as distant and inscrutable—named simply as God, rarely as Father. Yet His fingerprints are everywhere: every good gift of ordinary life comes from His hand.
- Song of Solomon 8 chapters
A love song between a bride and her beloved, sung without shame. Read as scripture long has, it opens a window onto the love our Father has for His own—a love as strong as death.
The Major Prophets · 5 books
- Isaiah 66 chapters
The greatest of the prophets: sweeping oracles of judgment giving way to unmatched promises of comfort and a coming Redeemer. Nowhere in the Old Testament is the Father’s tenderness sung more beautifully.
- Jeremiah 52 chapters
Judah is breaking covenant and headed into exile, yet through Jeremiah our Father keeps speaking hope over His children—a future, a love that has no end, and a heart that still yearns for the son who wandered.
- Lamentations 5 chapters
Five poems of grief over Jerusalem’s destruction—raw, unflinching sorrow. And in the exact center, amid the ashes, rises one of the strongest confessions of hope in all scripture.
- Ezekiel 48 chapters
Visions of judgment and glory to the exiles in Babylon—and a promise that our Father Himself will do what the shepherds failed to do: gather His scattered flock.
- Daniel 12 chapters
Faithful exiles in a pagan empire, and visions of kingdoms that rise and fall before the kingdom that never ends. Through fiery furnace and lions’ den, our Father proves Himself present with His children.
The Minor Prophets · 12 books
- Hosea 14 chapters
A prophet is commanded to love an unfaithful wife, so that Israel might see how our Father loves an unfaithful people. It yields the tenderest father-portrait in all the Prophets.
- Joel 3 chapters
A devastating locust plague becomes a picture of the coming Day of the LORD—and an urgent call to return. The Father’s appeal is not for torn garments but for turned hearts.
- Amos 9 chapters
A shepherd from Tekoa thunders against injustice and empty worship in a prosperous, complacent nation. Beneath the warnings beats a Father’s longing for His children to simply seek Him and live.
- Obadiah 1 chapter
The Bible’s shortest book—a single chapter of judgment on Edom for gloating over Jerusalem’s fall. Yet even here the last word is not vengeance but deliverance, and a kingdom that belongs to our Father.
- Jonah 4 chapters
A prophet flees the Father’s call to preach to Israel’s enemies, is swallowed by a great fish, and learns—reluctantly—that our Father’s compassion is far wider than his own.
- Micah 7 chapters
Judgment on corrupt leaders and false prophets, shot through with the promise of a coming ruler from Bethlehem. Its famous questions end in an even more famous mercy.
- Nahum 3 chapters
A century after Jonah, Nineveh has returned to cruelty, and Nahum announces its fall. To a people terrorized by Assyria, the book is not vengeance but comfort: their Father is a refuge.
- Habakkuk 3 chapters
A prophet argues honestly with his Father about why evil goes unpunished—and moves from complaint to one of scripture’s boldest declarations of trust.
- Zephaniah 3 chapters
A short book of coming judgment that ends in one of scripture’s tenderest promises. After the warnings, our Father is revealed standing in the very midst of His people—singing over them like a Father over a child He delights in.
- Haggai 2 chapters
The exiles have returned but left our Father’s house in ruins while paneling their own. Haggai calls them to rebuild—and grounds the whole appeal in one repeated promise: “I am with you.”
- Zechariah 14 chapters
Visions of restoration for the returned exiles, pointing ahead to a coming King who enters humble on a donkey. Its promises circle one covenant refrain: they will be My people, and I their Father.
- Malachi 4 chapters
The last voice of the Old Testament confronts a people grown cynical and cold, and closes the era looking ahead to a coming dawn of healing. It opens with the Father’s stubborn declaration of love.
How the Old Testament points to our Father
The Old Testament is often read as a book of law and judgment, but its deepest note is a Father’s heart. Genesis opens with Him forming human beings to live with Him, and every book after it is the story of a family He refuses to give up on: Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, under kings, in exile, and in the long return.
The prophets say it most plainly. They do not only warn; they plead, with the voice of a Father whose children have wandered. And the songs of Israel give that same Father a face:
“As a father's heart goes out to his children, so our Father's heart goes out to those who fear him.”
“But now, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
“Don't we all have one Father? Didn't one Father create us? Why betray each other, desecrating our fathers' covenant?”
These are only three of many places where the Old Testament says what the New Testament will make unmistakable: the God of Israel is a Father. When Jesus later teaches His followers to pray “Our Father,” He is not introducing a new idea but fulfilling the oldest promise in the book.
How to read the Old Testament on Father’s Heart Bible™
Every one of the 39 books is free to read online, one chapter at a time, with audio narration so you can read and listen together. The Old Testament runs to 929 chapters; the longest book is Psalms, at 150 chapters. Good places to begin:
- Genesis 1 — The book of beginnings: creation and fall, flood and covenant, and the calling of Abraham’s family through whom the whole world would be blessed. Scripture opens where the gospel opens—with our Father making a world, and a family, for Himself.
- Psalms 1 — The prayer book and songbook of our Father’s people—a hundred and fifty psalms of praise, lament, thanksgiving, and trust, spanning every season of the human heart, brought honestly before our Father.
- Isaiah 1 — The greatest of the prophets: sweeping oracles of judgment giving way to unmatched promises of comfort and a coming Redeemer. Nowhere in the Old Testament is the Father’s tenderness sung more beautifully.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Old Testament?
The Old Testament has 39 books in Protestant Bibles, including Father’s Heart Bible™, from Genesis to Malachi. Catholic Bibles include several more (the deuterocanonical books), and Orthodox Bibles a few beyond that. The Jewish Bible holds the same writings as the 39, counted and ordered differently as 24 books.
What are the divisions of the Old Testament?
Most Bibles group the 39 books into the Law (Genesis to Deuteronomy, 5 books), History (Joshua to Esther, 12 books), Poetry and Wisdom (Job to Song of Solomon, 5 books) and the Prophets (Isaiah to Malachi, 17 books: 5 major and 12 minor).
What is the first book of the Old Testament, and what is the last?
Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament and of the whole Bible. Malachi is the last. About four centuries of silence follow Malachi before the New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew.
Why is it called the “Old” Testament?
“Testament” means covenant, an agreement. The Old Testament records the first covenant, our Father’s promises to Abraham and to Israel at Sinai. The New Testament records the new covenant promised by the prophets and sealed by Jesus. “Old” does not mean outdated: Jesus and the apostles read these books as Scripture and as pointing to Him.
Should I read the Old Testament before the New Testament?
You do not have to. Many readers start with the Gospel of John, then read the rest of the New Testament, and then return to the Old Testament, which reads with fresh eyes once you have met the Son. Every book is free to read online in Father’s Heart Bible™.
Keep going: the New Testament, all 66 books of the Bible in order, where to start reading the Bible, or why Father’s Heart Bible™ exists.
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