1. Before
2. After

Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Egyptians, starting a chain of events that would lead to the Israelite people living in captivity in Egypt. When Moses led the Israelites in the Exodus from Egypt, he was leading them out of that captivity.

1. Abraham
   Noah
2. Jacob
   Isaac

Noah precedes Isaac, Jacob and Abraham. In the biblical timeline, Noah is born only 164 years after Adam, the first man, died. The Bible describes Noah as “a just man and perfect in his generation.”

1. John and Andrew
   Peter and Phillip
2. Matthew and Mark
   Judas and James

Jesus approached Andrew and John when they were following John the Baptist. John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, and Andrew and John began following him, literally. Jesus turned and asked them, “What do you want?” and they responded, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” He told them to “Come and see.” And they did.

1. Rachel
2. Leah

After Jacob worked seven years to earn the hand of Rachel, Laban tricked him by disguising Leah for the wedding day. Not until he woke up the next morning beside the wrong sister did Jacob realize that he had been fooled. After an additional seven years of labor, he married Rachel, too.

1. Yes
2. No

Moses did not enter the promised land before his death; he only glimpsed it from afar. The Lord made it clear to him that he would not enter, on account of an incident at the Waters of Meribah, where he failed to keep faith in the Lord’s promise. Nevertheless, Moses is one of the great examples of faith.

1. Divided the land of Canaan among the 12 tribes
   Defeated Jericho in battle
2. Crossed the river Jordan with the Israelites
   Sent as one of the 12 spies into Canaan

When Moses was still leading the people of Israel, he sent Joshua and 11 other men to spy on the land of Canaan, to discover whether the land was as promising as they had been told. Of all the 12, only Joshua and Caleb reported that the land was blessed, and they were rewarded by being allowed to enter the land.

1. Sermon on the Mount
2. Feeding of the Five Thousand

Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, whereas the feeding of the five thousand is recorded in Matthew 14. Shortly after he performed his first miracles, crowds of people began following Jesus. When he saw the huge crowd, “he went up on a mountainside and sat down” and began to teach.

1. Matthew
   Mark
2. Luke
   None, they cover the same time period.

None of the gospels precedes the others, because they cover roughly the same period — the life of Jesus and the period shortly afterward. The four gospels, while very similar in their accounts, have some differences between them, and this provides excellent fodder for scholarly debate.

1. Jeremiah
   Malachi
2. Obadiah
   Isaiah

The book of Isaiah marks the beginning of the prophetic texts of the Old Testament. Isaiah received the Lord’s call to serve as a prophet in the year King Uzziah died, 742 B.C. Israel faced a time of turmoil, as the Northern Kingdom had collapsed, and the Assyrian and Sennacherib armies drew up around them.

1. David
2. Saul

The story of Saul and David is one of the great dramas of the Old Testament. King Saul, the first king of Israel, lost the Lord’s favor for not following his instructions. The Lord sent Samuel to anoint David to be the next king. When David won Israel’s favor for defeating Goliath, Saul was enraged and sought to kill him.

1. The Flood
2. God mixed up people’s language so they could no longer communicate.

According to the biblical timeline, the Flood swept over the earth before 2500 B.C., while the Tower of Babel and its ensuing babbling occurred before 2100 B.C. It had only been 400 years after the great flood when people tried to build a tower to heaven and had their common language jumbled into many as a consequence.

1. Yes
2. No

Isaac had not yet been born when the Lord instituted the custom of circumcision. Ishmael, Abraham’s other son, on the other hand, was circumcised the very day that the Lord gave this decree, as was Abraham. Abraham was 99, and Ishmael was 13.

1. Frogs
   Locusts
2. Water turned to blood
   Death of the firstborn

When Pharaoh would not listen to Moses’ pleas to let his people go, God told Moses to enact plagues upon the country of Egypt. It all began when Moses, at the Lord’s direction, struck the water with his staff, and it turned to blood, killing all the fish and releasing a foul odor.

1. Bathsheba
2. Uriah

David’s lust for Bathsheba, of course, led to him sending Uriah, her husband, to his death. After David had taken Bathsheba for himself and impregnated her, he tried to get Uriah to think the child would be his. When Uriah wouldn’t go home to his wife, David had him sent to the front lines, where he’d surely be killed.

1. Mary
2. Elizabeth

When Mary visited Elizabeth, after being visited by an angel, Elizabeth was already in her sixth month. In the story, the baby — who would be John the Baptist — leaped in his mother’s womb when Mary told her news.

1. The shepherds
   The Wise Men
2. Simeon
   Miriam

When Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable outside Bethlehem, a host of angels cried out in glory in a field nearby. Some shepherds keeping watch of their flocks witnessed the miracle, and the angels revealed the good news to them. Hearing the news, the shepherds went straight to the stable to pay homage.

1. Handwriting
2. Lion’s den

Daniel won King Nebuchadnezzar’s favor by his ability to understand the handwriting on the wall. When some of the king’s counselors wanted to catch Daniel out, they made a rule that whoever was caught praying would be thrown in with the lions. David’s prayerful habits got him thrown right in.

1. Song of Solomon
2. Ecclesiastes

The Song of Songs, a book about ecstatic love read by many as mystical allegory, is dated at 950 B.C. Ecclesiastes, which laments that “all is vanity,” comes later in the wise king’s life at 937 B.C.

1. Before
2. After

If the Holy Family had not escaped to Egypt before Herod’s decree went into effect, the Bible would be a lot shorter. Joseph received a vision of an angel warning him to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous plans, and they made it out in time.

1. Healing the blind man
   Water to wine at Cana
2. Healing the woman with a discharge of blood
   Raising Lazarus from the dead

The first miracle recorded in the gospels is when Jesus turns the water into wine at a wedding in Cana. In the story, Jesus didn’t initiate the miracle. Instead, his mother did. She asked him to do something to help, and he said his time hadn’t come. Mary went on, though, and told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

1. Yes
2. No

Though David sincerely wanted to build a temple fit to honor God, God told him through the prophet Nathan that he would not be the one to build it, but his son would. Scholars say one reason for this is that God wanted his house to be a house of peace, while David had lived as a man of war.

1. Went home to her people, saying she could never truly “leave her people”
   Married another Israelite named Boaz and went to live in his household
2. Stayed with Naomi, saying “your people will be my people”
   Went with the other sisters-in-law to find new husbands

After Ruth and Naomi are both widowed, Ruth makes the unusual choice of staying with Naomi rather than returning to her own people. Her words, “your people will be my people and your God my God” are remembered as a symbol of faithfulness.

1. Nicodemus
2. The woman at the well

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a group of scholars of the law who tried to catch Jesus making a mistake. When he came by night to visit Jesus, in John 3, he really came to ask questions, so Jesus answered them. One exchange leads to one of the most well-known verses in the Bible, John 3:16. The woman at the well comes in John 4.

1. John’s head on a platter
2. Feeding the five thousand

Herod ordered John the Baptist to be beheaded before Jesus fed the five thousand. Actually, after he was beheaded, his disciples took his body, buried it, and told Jesus the news. When he heard the news, Jesus withdrew to a quiet place. As usual, he was followed by a large crowd ... five thousand or so.

1. A great wind
   An earthquake
2. A fire
   A whisper

When Elijah was up on the mountain, waiting, he was first buffeted by a great wind, then an earthquake shook the earth, then a fire licked close to him, but the Lord was not in any of these. Only in the whisper did Elijah feel the presence of God, and he covered his face and went out to meet him.

1. The people leave Egypt.
   God gives Moses the Ten Commandments.
2. Moses throws down the stone tablets in anger.
   The people make a golden calf.

The people had to first leave Egypt before they began their desert wanderings. During their wanderings, in fact, they often lamented that they should not have left Egypt since it was better to be a slave with food than to die of starvation in the desert.

1. Ravens
2. Widow

After Elijah predicted a drought and famine on the Land, the Lord instructed him to go to a brook where he would be fed by ravens. The ravens fed him consistently until the brook dried up. Later he visited the widow, who used the last of her flour and oil to feed him. She found afterward that her supplies wouldn’t run out.

1. He picks out a good stone.
   He shouts for everyone to stop.
2. He moves out to her and blocks her with his body.
   He bends down and draws in the dirt.

When Jesus comes upon a mob angrily taking a woman out to stone her, all eyes turn to him, wondering what he will do. He does not do anything with a flair for the dramatic. Rather, he bends down and writes in the dirt. Standing up, he says, “Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone.” Everyone walks away.

1. The women who came to anoint his body
   Peter and John
2. Mary Magdalene
   Mary, his mother

After the women found the tomb empty and were told by the angels that “He is not here,” Mary Magdalene stayed behind, perplexed. She ran into who she thought was the gardener until he called her name and she knew it was Jesus.

1. Peter promised to never leave Jesus.
   Judas went out into the night.
2. Judas made a deal with the Pharisees.
   Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.

Judas made a deal with the Pharisees that he would help them apprehend Jesus. When he left on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, he had a plan. Before he left, though, Jesus washed his feet along with the other disciples.

1. They ate only vegetables and water and looked healthier than all the others.
   Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the fire.
2. Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den.
   Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Early in the time that the young men were made servants of the king, they refused to eat the strong food and drink offered to them. Daniel asked the chief official for permission not to eat the royal food. He granted it and was surprised when they looked more healthy than the other servants who ate the royal food.

1. Jesus, Peter, James and John went up to a high mountain.
   Peter offers to build three shelters.
2. Jesus shines in glory and light.
   Moses and Elijah appear and converse with Jesus.

In the story of the Transfiguration, Jesus, Peter, James and John first trek up a high mountain. Once they are up on top, they see Jesus in his true form, with glorious light too bright to look at. In that glory, they see Moses and Elijah conversing with him. Not knowing what to do, Peter offers to build three shelters.

1. A huge storm rose up over the lake.
   Jesus told his disciples, “Let’s go to the other side.”
2. Jesus falls asleep.
   The disciples ask him, “Don’t you care that we’re perishing?”

The narrative of Jesus calming the storm begins with the weighty words, “Let’s go over to the other side.” Once they are on the lake, and Jesus is sound asleep, the storm rises and terrifies the disciples, who then wake Jesus to see if he can save them.

1. His camels are stolen by the Chaldeans.
   All his oxen and donkeys are taken by a gang.
2. An accusing angel suggests that God should remove his protections to see if Job truly serves God.
   His children are smashed by their home in a windstorm.

The book of Job begins with a description of what a faithful and prosperous man Job was. This idyllic portrait is disrupted by an accusing angel mocking God by saying that Job only serves him because he’s successful. God allows great suffering to befall Job as a result of the accusation, and Job is proven faithful.

1. He taught in the synagogue.
   Jesus had harsh words with his critics, saying that he would not work miracles to satisfy their curiosity.
2. The people doubted him because they knew that he grew up there.
   They took Jesus to a cliff to throw him off, but he got away.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth, he first taught in the synagogue, reading a passage from Isaiah and insisting that it had been fulfilled. The people did not accept his teaching, and Jesus told them what he thought about them. They took him by force to the cliffside, but he escaped.