This is a collection of recent articles by one of the bestselling Old Testament professors in the U.S. Collins wrote the Fortress Press volume Introduction to the Hebrew Bible with CD-ROM (2004). An engaging writer, Collins explores a diversity of topics, from the role of the Bible in culture to major themes within the Bible: messianism, revelation, natural theology, and so on.

"The book of Job always constituted essential and formative reading about the ways of the soul. This has always been the conviction of the spiritual classics through the centuries. Yet, for some reason, the figure of Job is elusive to us-possibly because by seems so comfortably distant; or perhaps because he seems so frightfully close. What Fr. Patrick Reardon achieves with this book is to render Job comprehensible, tangible and accessible. Ultimately, all of us identify with one or another aspect of Job's life. As life inevitably informs and as this book intuitively confirms, one cannot sing Psalms without having read Job." - Fr. John Chryssavgis

In The Children of Israel, Danna Nolan Fewell explores how imaginative readings of selected scriptural texts might raise adult consciousness and responsibility toward children. Through stories, quotes, vignettes, and notes, Fewell provides different kinds of reading experiences, with different levels of coherence and disjunction, depending on how much the reader decides to delve into the critical apparatus or the framing dialogues. This work is designed to unsettle, to plant suggestions and questions, and to create space for reflection and conversation. It is an experiment to see if a postmodern reading of the Bible can provide a credible ethical vision that can inspire us to do a better job of caring for our children.

"The ways in which Fewell addresses the theme is inspiring. The text is imaginatively crafted and skillfully written." --Leslie J. Francis, from The Expository Times, volume 116, Number 8, May 2005

We're updating and revising our bestselling LifeGuides to make them even more effective for small group Bible study

New features of the revised LifeGuides include special options for group activities, additional questions for personal reflection, a "Now or Later" section with practical follow-up activities for use after the study or between sessions, expanded and improved leaders' notes and an attractive, redesigned format for easier reading.

Beginning with the new guides Miracles and Pleasing God (released in February 1999), all new LifeGuides will be presented in the new format. In addition more existing volumes will be revised every year to ensure that all our LifeGuides continue to be effective Bible study resources for the twenty-first century.

We live in a fractured world. How can the pieces be put back together? In Ephesians Paul lifts the veil from the future to allow us to see God's plan to unite all the things in Christ. Studying this book will renew your hope.

Janzen stresses the theological themes permeating Genesis 12-50 as calling for theological reflection and religious response, and shows how the story of Israel's ancestors has continuing significance for all humankind.

We are called to four great loves: to love God to love God's Word to love God's people to love God's purposes in the world It is both an awesome task and a glorious opportunity. God promises to equip us for it. As Judith Allen Shelly leads you through eight studies, she points out tangible ways to love and serve the God who loves you perfectly and who longs for you to know him more intimately. This LifeGuide Bible Study features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, together with leader's notes and a "Now or Later" section in each study.

About LifeGuide Bible Studies We're updating and revising our bestselling LifeGuides to make them even more effective for small group Bible study! New features of the revised LifeGuides include special options for group activities, additional questions for personal reflection, a "Now or Later" section with practical follow-up activities for use after the study or between sessions, expanded and improved leaders' notes and an attractive, redesigned format for easier reading. These Bible studies will help you build a foundation of confidence in God's love for you and equip you to respond to his love by loving others.

Who is the Holy Spirit? How does he change our lives? How does he work in the world? In ten sessions Douglas Connelly helps you examine these and other critical questions. You will see that the Spirit of God is eager to work in your life to draw you closer to God. This revised LifeGuide Bible Study features additional questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, together with expanded leader's notes and a "Now or Later" section in each study.

Do you sometimes wish that the Bible could make your decisions for you? Donald Baker is familiar with this desire. He writes, "God has given me free will, and while I appreciate his confidence in my ability to choose, there are times when I wish that he would make the decisions for me." The Bible won't give you a direct answer to each choice--or dilemma--you face. But the Bible will teach you how to make decisions wisely, confidently and in harmony with God's will. These studies introduce you to the Bible's lessons on decisionmaking--and show you how to apply what you learn to your own decisions, big and small. This LifeGuide Bible Study in IVP's revised format features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, as well as a new "Now or Later" section following each session to help you act on what you learn.

This INDEX is a companion to William Barclay's Daily Study Bible. Old and New Testament references, different subjects, names and places are collated from across the series.

You can be the match that ignites a great Bible discussion You only need a few basic skills. This guidebook by Jack Kuhatschek and Cindy Bunch (both veteran discussion leaders and experienced Bible study creators) will show you how to start a group how to decide what to study how to prepare to lead how to study the Bible how to use a study guide how to write your own questions how to lead the discussion how to evaluate the study Over 100,000 copies of this handbook (now revised and expanded from the original, Leading Bible Discussions) have been used by Bible study leaders and Sunday school teachers. Along with practical suggestions and the answers to common questions offered in each brief chapter, you'll find two appendixes: "Guidelines for Interpreting Scripture" and "A Sample Study." The resources section also leads you to more training guides, website references and study guides to use with your group. Here is the help you need to lead a great Bible discussion.

Read the best news the world has ever been given about the most significant life in all history--Jesus Christ. In "One Perfect Life," Dr. John MacArthur shares with us the complete story of the Eternal Christ from Genesis to Revelation. Using Matthew as the base text, Dr. MacArthur blends the gospels and other biblical material about Jesus into one continuous story that will help you better understand Scripture and grow stronger in your faith. No other harmony of the Gospels includes such extensive study notes to help you unpack the meaning of each verse.

Features include:

• Verse-by-verse explanations from one of the most important pastor-teachers of our time
• Every verse connected to Christ from Genesis to Revelation
• A harmony of the Gospels that demonstrates the inerrancy of Scripture
• New King James translation

The book of Revelation is one of the most intriguing books of the Bible. It's also one of the most mysterious. Filled with vivid imagery, rich themes, and deep spiritual insights, it can be challenging to read and understand. Yet woven throughout Revelation's sweeping tapestry is a unifying message: The victory found in Jesus Christ. This Bible study takes an in-depth, yet practical, look at the book of Revelation, and shares how we can experience a victorious life. The Wiersbe Bible Studies Series explores timeless wisdom found in God's word. Based on Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe's popular "BE" series, each study provides topical, relevant insights from selected books of the Bible. Designed for small groups, this eight-week study features selected commentaries from "BE Victorious," engaging questions, and practical applications, all designed to help you connect God's word with your life.

In the New Testament Gospel of Mark, we meet Jesus, the man who is King. But this king comes to serve--not to be served. He eats with sinners rather than royalty. His crown is made of thorns instead of gold. This study guide introduces you to the compassionate, suffering, astonishing king who calls us to follow him.

2009 Christianity Today Merit Award winner 2009 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Christian Book Award winner The Old Testament books of wisdom and poetry carry themselves differently from those of the Pentateuch, the histories or the prophets. The divine voice does not peal from Sinai, there are no narratives carried along by prophetic interpretation nor are oracles declaimed by a prophet. Here Scripture often speaks in the words of human response to God and God's world. The hymns, laments and thanksgivings of Israel, the dirge of Lamentations, the questionings of Qohelet, the love poetry of the Song of Songs, the bold drama of Job and the proverbial wisdom of Israel all offer their textures to this great body of biblical literature. Then too there are the finely crafted stories of Ruth and Esther that narrate the silent providence of God in the course of Israelite and Jewish lives. This third Old Testament volume in InterVarsity Press's celebrated "Black Dictionary" series offers nearly 150 articles covering all the important aspects of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth and Esther. Over ninety contributors, many of them experts in this literature, have contributed to the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings. This volume maintains the quality of scholarship that students, scholars and pastors have come to expect from this series. Coverage of each biblical book includes an introduction to the book itself as well as separate articles on its ancient Near Eastern background and its history of interpretation. Additional articles amply explore the literary dimensions of Hebrew poetry and prose, including acrostic, ellipsis, inclusio, intertextuality, parallelism and rhyme. And there are well-rounded treatments of Israelite wisdom and wisdom literature, including wisdom poems, sources and theology. In addition, a wide range of interpretive approaches is canvassed in articles on hermeneutics, feminist interpretation, form criticism, historical criticism, rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches. The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings is sure to command shelf space within arm's reach of any student, teacher or preacher working in this portion of biblical literature. Tremper Longman III and Peter E. Enns edit this collection of 148 articles by 90 contributors on Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth and Esther.

The word hospitality brings to mind tables filled with cookies and pots of good coffee. Offering food to friends is a wonderful ministry indeed, but the biblical concept of hospitality is much deeper and more significant. In these studies by Patty Pell, you'll discover the Old Testament call to hospitality as the distinguishing feature of those who are in relationship with God, the outward-focused expression of the grace and provision that one has received from God. In the New Testament the extension of life, provision and protection is expanded as Jesus unpacks image after image of the kingdom of God in the language of host and guests. Come and discover God's call to hospitality.

God is loving and powerful. He is able to work against some of the strongest forces of hate in the world. You can imitate God's justice by fighting against these same powers in your own life and in the lives of those around you. Taking a fresh look at this theme throughout Scripture, Bob and Carol Hunter challenge you to love justice as God does. And they show you how to work for justice in your everyday life. This revised LifeGuide Bible Study features additional questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, together with expanded leader's notes and a "Now or Later" section in each study.

This second edition of N. T. Wright's popular Following Jesus - originally published in 1995 - includes a new preface by the author. In twelve exhilarating meditations Wright explores what it truly means to follow Jesus today. Wright first outlines the essential messages of six major New Testament books - Hebrews, Colossians, Matthew, John, Mark, and Revelation - looking in particular at their portrayal of Jesus and what he accomplished in his sacrificial death. In the second part of the book Wright takes six key New Testament themes - resurrection, rebirth, temptation, hell, heaven, and new life - and considers their significance for the lives of present-day disciples.

Good news It was good news not only of Jesus' birth but of what he offered to men, women and children throughout his ministry. To the sick he offered healing. To the hurting, comfort. To the outcast, acceptance. In this study guide Ada Lum leads you to discover that this message of hope and joy is for you as well This LifeGuide Bible Study in IVP's revised format features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, as well as a new "Now or Later" section following each session to help you act on what you learn.

Christian faith is centered in the cross. And the Christian life is likewise rooted in the cross. The studies in this guide, written by John Stott and based on his book The Cross of Christ, are designed to bring us to the heart of the cross with an understanding of what was accomplished there on our behalf. We begin with an individual perspective but move on from there into a deeper understanding of what it means to live as a community under the cross. Our worship, our call to mission, our ability to love our enemies and to face the perplexities of suffering--the cross transforms everything These studies provide the ever-increasing understanding of the cross needed by every believer.