People and genealogy
The people of Scripture
The people this site has written or filed, set in the period each one stands in, from before Abraham to the letters of the apostles.
Summary
111 lives are written here in full, and 117 more names carry a register row with the verses that hold them. Five studies take a whole group at once and are counted apart.
- Genesis opens with every nation. It narrows to the family God calls in Abraham.
- The family goes into Egypt, comes out under Moses, and takes the land under Joshua.
- Judges lead until Israel asks for a king. Then 39 reigns follow the split.
- Assyria takes the north and Babylon the south. Persia sends the people home.
- The Gospels open four hundred years later. The Twelve carry the story into Acts.
The people by era
Show the groups
- Five walks across the familyeach takes a whole group at once0 group studies
- The patriarchsAbraham to Joseph1 in the register
- Egypt and the wildernessMoses to the plains of Moab1 written life, 1 in the register
- Judah, the southern throneRehoboam to Zedekiah2 written lives
- Israel, the northern throneJeroboam to Hoshea1 written life, 1 in the register
- Exile and returnBabylon to the Persian years1 written life, 1 in the register
- Jesus and the Gospelsthe birth to the ascension4 written lives, 2 in the register
- Named elsewhere in Scripturethe record gives no date1 in the register
The patriarchs
One family across four generations, carrying a promise it could not keep, and Job, whom the record sets in the same age. Every later covenant is spoken back to these names.
1 in the register
The register: 1 names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
Egypt and the wilderness
The generation that left Egypt, took the law at Sinai, and died in the desert. Its leaders and its rebels are both here.
1 written life, 1 in the register
The register: 1 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
Judah, the southern throne
The line of David held Jerusalem for twenty reigns, from the split under Rehoboam to the fall of the city, with the prophets sent to them.
2 written lives
MicahMicah of Moresheth was contemporary with Isaiah, prophesying during Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah's reignsGustave Doré, Micah Exhorts the Israelites to Repent (1866)- ManassehThe longest-reigning king of Judah, fifty-five years, and the most wicked, who practiced child sacrifice and sorcery and built altars to Baal throughout Jerusalem
Israel, the northern throne
Nine dynasties rose and fell in two hundred years, each judged by the calves at Bethel and Dan. Elijah and Elisha were sent against this throne.
1 written life, 1 in the register
The register: 1 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
Exile and return
The people who kept faith in a foreign court, and the ones who came back to build. Two empires and their kings stand here too.
1 written life, 1 in the register
The register: 1 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
Jesus and the Gospels
The Twelve stand here, where a reader first meets them, with the family, the friends, the rulers who tried Jesus, and the witnesses of the resurrection.
4 written lives, 2 in the register
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Mary, Mother of JesusA young Galilean woman chosen to bear the Messiah through the Holy Spirit's overshadowingGerard van Honthorst, Adoration of the Shepherds
Mary MagdaleneDelivered by Jesus from seven demons and became one of His most devoted followersGuido Reni, The Penitent Magdalene%20Vermeer%20-%20Christ%20in%20the%20House%20of%20Martha%20and%20Mary%20-%20Google%20Art%20Project.jpg?width=640)
MarthaMartha, sister of Mary and Lazarus, welcomed Jesus into her home and served Him faithfully, though she was gently corrected for anxious distractionJohannes Vermeer, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary- Mary of BethanyMary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, is remembered for sitting at Jesus' feet to learn and for anointing Him with costly perfume before His death, an act Jesus declared would be told wherever the gospel was preachedJohannes Vermeer, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
The register: 2 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
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Matthew (Levi)Tax collector of Capernaum called by Jesus from the receipt of custom; one of the Twelve; traditional author of the first Gospel, written to show Jesus as Israel's Messiah-King9 passages- MatthiasChosen by lot to replace Judas among the Twelve, on Peter's stated qualification: a man who had been with them the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out, and a witness of the resurrection1 passage
Named elsewhere in Scripture
Names the record places by book rather than by reign. Their pages say what Scripture says and leave the date open.
1 in the register
The register: 1 names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
Keep studying
On this page
Where they stood3
The written lives come from this site’s own character pages. The register rows come from its person dossiers. The number in a register row is how many passages Orville J. Nave lists under that name in Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a public domain work.