THE STORY TEEN EDITION The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People Selections from the New International Version Contents Cover Title Page Welcome to The Story–God’s Story Preface Timeline of The Story 1 Creation: The Beginning of Life as We Know It 2 God Builds a Nation 3 Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh 4 Deliverance 5 New Commands and a New Covenant 6 Wandering 7 The Battle Begins 8 A Few Good Men … and Women 9 The Faith of a Foreign Woman 10 Standing Tall, Falling Hard 11 From Shepherd to King 12 The Trials of a King 13 The King Who Had It All 14 A Kingdom Torn in Two 15 God’s Messengers 16 The Beginning of the End (of the Kingdom of Israel) 17 The Kingdoms’ Fall 18 Daniel in Exile 19 The Return Home 20 The Queen of Beauty and Courage 21 Rebuilding the Walls 22 The Birth of the King 23 Jesus’ Ministry Begins 24 No Ordinary Man 25 Jesus, the Son of God 26 The Hour of Darkness 27 The Resurrection 28 New Beginnings 29 Paul’s Mission 30 Paul’s Final Days 31 The End of Time Epilogue Discussion Questions Characters Chart of References Copyright About the Publisher Share Your Thoughts Welcome to The Story–God’s Story T most compelling story of all time: the story of a HIS BOOK TELLS THE GRANDEST, true God who loves his children, who established for them a way of salvation and provided a route to eternity. Each story in these 31 chapters reveals the God of grace — the God who speaks; the God who acts; the God who listens; the God whose love for his people culminated in his sacrifice of Jesus, his only Son, to atone for the sins of humanity. What’s more: this same God is alive and active today — still listening, still acting, still pouring out his grace on us. His grace extends to our daily foibles; our ups, downs, and in-betweens; our moments of questions and fears; and most important, our response to his call on our lives. He’s the same God who forgave David’s failures and rescued Jonah from the dark belly of a fish. This same heavenly Father who shepherded the Israelites through the wilderness desires to shepherd us through our wanderings, to help us get past our failures and rescue us for eternity. It’s our prayer that these stories will encourage you to listen for God’s call on your life, as he helps write your own story. M L and R F AX UCADO ANDY RAZEE Preface T S and easy-to-read format, opens a door to God’s HE TORY, THROUGH ITS UNIQUE truth. It’s a door that every person is consciously or unconsciously searching for. A door that leads to freedom, hope and God himself! The Bible is filled with exciting and intense stories of love, war, birth, death and miracles. There’s poetry, culture, history and theology. It’s a suspense novel, a book of sociology, a history lesson — all woven around one eternal conflict: good versus evil. This story offers a glimpse of people in a different time and place who are yet very much like us today. As you read The Story you will encounter not only the story of humankind but also the story of who God is and what he has done for us — for you. This story makes the insistent claim that a loving God has sought you and provided a way of redemption — a way for you to enter a relationship with him. The Story includes the actual, God-breathed words of the Bible. The 31 chapters that comprise The Story contain portions of Scripture that were thoughtfully and carefully excerpted and then placed in chronological order. Transitions, which appear in italic, were written to summarize omitted Scripture text in order to help the storyline read smoothly. The texts were chosen to retain the overall flow of the narrative, so that when you read this story, you will get a sense of the “big picture” of the Bible. Line spaces were added when text was omitted, and a chart at the back of this book will let you know what portions of Scripture were included. Other helpful material placed at the end of The Story include an epilogue that gives you an idea of the global impact this story has had on the world, a discussion guide with questions for you to reflect on personally or with a group and a cast of characters with brief descriptions so that you can tell who’s who at a glance. The Scripture text used in The Story is taken from the New International Version (NIV). Our goal was to make the Bible read smoothly and easily, so that you can read it just like you’d read a novel. But The Story you’re reading isn’t any ordinary story. You are reading a story that has the power to change who you are, what you think and how you view life. You are exposing yourself to deep, transforming truth. So sit back and enjoy the truest, greatest story ever written. Zondervan gratefully acknowledges the inspiration for this diagrammatic representation of the Bible storyline in “Gospel and Kingdom” by Graeme Goldsworthy. Timeline of The Story*