The Chronological Book Order Chart

English Old Testament Bible

Paul J. Bucknell

Purpose: Graphically show the Old Testament (OT) chronological Bible book order. Click here to see the Hebrew Bible book order.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE OT BOOKS

The English⁽¹⁾ OT Bible is separated into four sections according to emphasis rather than time sequence. The Hebrew canon is differently organized, an important thought to remember. Keep the above chart as a learning tool. The English Bible book order is not the ‘biblical’ way. Other than the Law being the first five foundational books, there seems to be no ‘biblical’ order. The New Testament follows the same lack of clear organization.

• The The OT Law is the same as the Torah or Pentateuch and stands as a foundation for all the other OT books, including the New Testament. Jesus interlinks the Old and New Testaments.⁽²⁾ God established the Law to define the foundational terms for His relationship with His people. This is the reason the five books of Moses, the Law, are placed on the bottom of the chart. The Law contains the Old Testament covenant (or simply Old Covenant), in contrast to the New Covenant. The Law, though includes five books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the Jewish people saw them as one. They set forth two major themes:

  • God cares for and responds to man’s needs.
  • God has expectations for man in both the ways he conducts his relationship with God and others.
    
• The twelve Historical Books chronologically continue the sequence in the Law. The Book of Joshua, the conquering of Canaan, necessarily follows Deuteronomy, the charging and equipping of God’s people before entering Canaan. According to their common purpose, the historical books are grouped together carefully describing how God variously responded to His people depending on their responses to His Law. . The historical books are commonly separated into three sections:

  • Pre–Kingdom Era.
    Joshua, Judges, and Ruth recount the times before the Israelites insisted on gaining an earthly king like the other nations.
  • Kingdom Era
    The Kingdom Era included six books: 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles. They describe both the united kingdom period as well as the divided kingdom period. The southern (Judah) and the northern (Israel) comprised this divided Israel (also the name of the whole people of God). Each kingdom possessed its king and formed its own history on how they responded to the Lord. Assyria captured the northern kingdom, Israel, in 721 BC while Babylon seized the southern kingdom, Judah, in 586 BC. Although Judah with the temple appeared more faithful to God, she shared the same sins as the northern kingdom and likewise as taken capture.
    
  • Post–Kingdom Era
    The three post-kingdom historical include Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Seventy years after Babylon captured Judah, the Lord marvelously orchestrated the return of God’s people back into the Promised Land. During this time, they had no king and focused on survival, building the wall around Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple.
    
• The five David and his son, Solomon, wrote most of the five Poetical Books: David and his son, Solomon, wrote most of the five Poetical Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. The Book of Job describes the period of Genesis, before the calling out of Israel. Study the Book of 2 Samuel to understand better the authors, David and Solomon, and their circumstances in which they relate the inner and outer struggles God’s people face as they live or do not live by God’s law.Ecclesiastes, for example, depict Solomon straying away from God in his later years. Some include Jeremiah the Prophet’s book, Lamentation, as a poetical book, but I included it with the prophetical.
  
  
• The Prophetical Books are chronologically separated into three distinct chronological periods according to their exile or captivity.

  • Pre–exilic period.  Most of the prophetical books took place in this pre–exilic period before Judah and Israel were taken captive, including: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. These prophets challenged God’s people and some nations to return to the LORD as the Law stated, lest the judgments written in the Law would take place leading to their captivity. These twelve books share the background of the 2 Kings period.
  • Exilic– period.   Only Ezekiel and Daniel describe events during the time God’s people were hostage in foreign lands. They held great hope for God’s people that God had not forsaken them but would restore them.
  • Post–exilic period.   Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi describe the Jewish exiles’ struggles after they returned to the land. The northern kingdom, known as The Lost Tribes, was taken to Assyria and not heard from again. Only a remnant of Judah returned from Babylon to inhabit the land.

  There are other ways to view the prophets, such as the major prophets (longer books—four of them) and the minor prophets (shorter books—twelve of them) or the place of their recipients (i.e., north or south kingdom, other countries).