Featured studies · 89 live, 44 in preparation
People and groups
89 featured studies ask who one person or one people was, and what part they take in the story, listed by the part of the canon each one stands in.
What these studies ask
Lives told from first mention to last, and the nations, families and parties around Israel and the church. The full roster of names stands on the people hub; these are the studies built around one life or one people.
The parts of the canon
- Torah35 live
- History24 live, 19 in preparation
- Wisdom and Poetry1 live
- Prophets4 live, 2 in preparation
- Gospels16 live, 14 in preparation
- Acts and the Letters7 live, 9 in preparation
- The Apocrypha2 live
The people and groups on the index of every featured study, 89 studies
Torah
35 live
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abraham | The life of Abraham from Ur to Machpelah in Genesis 11 to 25, and the New Testament's reading of him. | Genesis | 41 linked studies |
| Adam | The life of Adam from his forming in Genesis 2 to his death in Genesis 5, with the readings of him in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15. | Genesis | 13 linked studies |
| Adam to Noah | The line of Seth from Genesis 4:25 to 5:32, which Luke 3:36 to 38 traces to Jesus. | Genesis | 16 linked studies |
| Amalek and the Standing War | The people of the Negev who bore Amalek's name, from Abram's day in Genesis 14 to Haman the Agagite in Esther. | Genesis | 19 linked studies |
| Dinah at Shechem | Genesis 30, 34 and 46 follow her from Paddan-aram to Shechem and down to Egypt. | Genesis | 13 linked studies |
| Esau | Genesis follows Isaac's firstborn twin from chapter 25 to chapter 36, and three verses of the New Testament name him. | Genesis | 17 linked studies |
| Eve: The Mother of All Living | The first woman, the first promise of a seed that would bruise the serpent, and the first funeral, read forward from Genesis 3 rather than backward from the Fall. | Genesis | 21 linked studies |
| Hagar | Sarai's servant from Egypt in Genesis 16 and 21, and Paul's reading of her in Galatians 4. | Genesis | 18 linked studies |
| Isaac | The life of Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, from the promise of his name in Genesis 17 to his burial at Mamre in Genesis 35, with the New Testament texts that name him. | Genesis | 15 linked studies |
| Jacob | The life of Jacob from his birth beside his brother Esau to his burial at Machpelah, told in Genesis 25 to 50 and recalled by Hosea, Malachi, John, Paul and Hebrews. | Genesis | 27 linked studies |
| Joseph | The longest sustained Christ-pattern in the Old Testament, beloved, betrayed, descended, exalted, the giver of bread, the forgiver. | Genesis | 48 linked studies |
| Judah, the Brother Who Stood Surety | Genesis follows Leah's fourth son from his birth in chapter 29 to his father's blessing in chapter 49. | Genesis | 17 linked studies |
| Laban | Genesis gives him one scene at his sister's betrothal in chapter 24 and follows him through Jacob's twenty years of service in chapters 29 to 31. | Genesis | 12 linked studies |
| Lot | Genesis follows Lot through chapters 11 to 19, and Jesus and Peter both recall his escape from Sodom. | Genesis | 13 linked studies |
| Moab and Ammon | Lot's two sons fathered the nations east of the Jordan, and Ruth of Moab stands in the line of David. | Genesis | 23 linked studies |
| Nimrod and the First Kingdoms | Genesis 10 records Nimrod, a son of Cush, as a mighty hunter whose kingdom held cities in Shinar and Assyria. | Genesis | 17 linked studies |
| Noah | The life of Noah from his naming by Lamech to his death after the flood, told in Genesis 5 to 9 and recalled by the prophets, by Jesus and by the apostles. | Genesis | 22 linked studies |
| Rachel and Leah | Two sisters married to one man, the tribes that came from each, and the weeping mother Jeremiah and Matthew both call by Rachel's name. | Genesis | 21 linked studies |
| Rebekah | The life of Rebekah from the spring outside Nahor's town to the blessing she won for Jacob, and Paul's reading of the oracle she received. | Genesis | 22 linked studies |
| Sarah: Mother of Nations | The wife who laughed at the promise, was twice passed off as a sister, and is the only woman whose age at death Scripture records. | Genesis | 22 linked studies |
| Seth | Seth is the third named son of Adam and Eve, in Genesis 4 and 5, 1 Chronicles 1 and Luke 3. | Genesis | 15 linked studies |
| The Cherubim | Readers from the fathers to the nineteenth century divide over the cherubim's faces and over the cherub of Tyre. | Genesis | 17 linked studies |
| The Table of Nations | Seventy names in Genesis 10 read as a map: where each line settled, which of them Israel meets later, and what the list is doing before Babel. | Genesis | 17 linked studies |
| The Twelve Tribes | Where each tribe camped, what it was given, what became of it, and which of the twelve the lists at the end of the Bible leave out. | Genesis | 27 linked studies |
| Aaron | Aaron, the brother of Moses, spoke for him before Pharaoh, wore the first high priest's garments and died on Mount Hor at 123. | Exodus | 27 linked studies |
| Miriam, the Prophetess | Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 Chronicles and Micah name her, from the basket on the Nile to her grave at Kadesh. | Exodus | 18 linked studies |
| Moses | Moses led Israel out of Egypt and mediated the covenant at Sinai. | Exodus | 57 linked studies |
| Pharaoh | The king of Egypt in Exodus: the king who did not know Joseph, and the king who refused to let Israel go and lost his army in the sea. | Exodus | 13 linked studies |
| Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew Midwives | Exodus 1:15 to 21 tells how two midwives refused the king of Egypt's order and how God was good to them. | Exodus | 12 linked studies |
| The Elders of Israel | The elders led Israel's tribes beside Moses from Egypt to Sinai, and the law set them at the gates of Israel's towns. | Exodus | 12 linked studies |
| The Levites | The tribe took its name from Levi, the third son Leah bore to Jacob. | Exodus | 21 linked studies |
| The Mixed Multitude and the Foreigner | Scripture names an Egyptian father's son, the Kenites of Hobab and the foreigners of the camp at Moab among those who travelled with Israel. | Exodus | 13 linked studies |
| Balaam | A seer from Aram whom eight books of the Bible name, from Numbers to Revelation. | Numbers | 16 linked studies |
| Joshua son of Nun | Joshua's life in four books, with the readings of his name and of the Commander near Jericho. | Numbers | 43 linked studies |
| The Sons of Korah | Korah, their father, was a Levite of the clan of Kohath. | Numbers | 9 linked studies |
History
24 live, 19 in preparation
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Achan | Joshua 7 is the one chapter that tells Achan's story, from the theft at Jericho to his death. | Joshua | 5 linked studies |
| Caleb | His life from the report at Kadesh-barnea in Numbers 13 to his inheritance at Hebron in Joshua 15. | Joshua | 9 linked studies |
| The nations left in the land | Philistines, Sidonians, Jebusites and Canaanites kept the coasts, the northern hills and many walled towns after the conquest. | Joshua | 10 linked studies |
| The Philistines | The Philistines held five cities on the southern coast of Canaan under five rulers and fought Israel from the judges to the reign of David. | Joshua | 9 linked studies |
| Deborah and Jael | Judges 4 and 5 tell how the LORD freed Israel from Jabin of Hazor through the prophetess Deborah, the general Barak and Jael, and routed the Canaanite chariots at the river Kishon. | Judges | 18 linked studies |
| Gideon | The life of Gideon in Judges 6 to 8, from his call at Ophrah to his burial there, and the reading of him in Hebrews 11. | Judges | 21 linked studies |
| Othniel, the first judge | He captured Debir for Caleb, and after eight years under Cushan-rishathaim he became the first deliverer the book of Judges names. | Judges | 12 linked studies |
| Samson | The last judge whose life the book of Judges tells, in Judges 13 to 16. | Judges | 22 linked studies |
| The Five Minor Judges | Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon and Abdon judged Israel for seventy years, and the book of Judges gives none of them a battle. | Judges | 9 linked studies |
| Ruth | The life of Ruth the Moabitess in the book of Ruth, from her marriage in Moab to the birth of her son Obed, and her name in Matthew 1:5. | Ruth | 22 linked studies |
| Abigail | The woman who rode out to meet David with two hundred loaves and talked him out of a massacre, then buried a husband and married a king. | 1 Samuel | 11 linked studies |
| Hannah: 1 Samuel 1:1–2:21 | A barren woman's vow at Shiloh, the prayer Eli mistook for drink, and the song Mary later takes up almost line for line. | 1 Samuel | 15 linked studies |
| Samuel | The prophet and judge of 1 Samuel 1 to 28, who anointed Israel's first two kings. | 1 Samuel | 25 linked studies |
| Saul | Israel's first king, from his anointing by Samuel to his death in battle with the Philistines. | 1 Samuel | 23 linked studies |
| David | The life of David from his anointing at Bethlehem to his burial in the City of David, told in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles and the Psalms. | 2 Samuel | 38 linked studies |
| Rizpah: 2 Samuel 21:1-14 | A three-year famine, read as judgment for Saul's broken oath to the Gibeonites, ends with seven of Saul's male descendants handed over and hanged. | 2 Samuel | 3 linked studies |
| Elijah the Tishbite | The prophet who stood against King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and the worship of Baal. | 1 Kings | 13 linked studies |
| Jeroboam I and the Divided Kingdom | The first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, from Solomon's building works in Jerusalem to the fall of his house. | 1 Kings | 16 linked studies |
| Solomon | The son of David and Bathsheba who built the first temple in Jerusalem. | 1 Kings | 21 linked studies |
| Assyria | Assyria rose from Nineveh into the most feared war machine of its age, ruling by deportation. | 2 Kings | 14 linked studies |
| Huldah, the Prophetess Who Authenticated Scripture | The prophetess the king's own high priest went to when the lost book was found, and what her verdict settled about the text before Josiah acted on it. | 2 Kings | 6 linked studies |
| The Genealogies | Nine chapters and 407 verses of names open 1 Chronicles, before its story begins at the death of Saul. | 1 Chronicles | 15 linked studies |
| Cyrus, the LORD's anointed | The king of Persia who took Babylon in 539 BC and sent the exiles of Judah home. | 2 Chronicles | 12 linked studies |
| Persia | Persia rose under Cyrus, who took Babylon the night a hand wrote judgment on Belshazzar's wall, and in his first year issued a decree letting captive Judah return home and rebuild its temple. | Ezra | 9 linked studies |
| Naomi | Planned in the queue for Ruth. | Ruth | In preparation |
| Abner son of Ner | Planned in the queue for 2 Samuel. | 2 Samuel | In preparation |
| Absalom | Planned in the queue for 2 Samuel. | 2 Samuel | In preparation |
| Joab son of Zeruiah | Planned in the queue for 2 Samuel. | 2 Samuel | In preparation |
| Mephibosheth | Planned in the queue for 2 Samuel. | 2 Samuel | In preparation |
| Nathan the prophet | Planned in the queue for 2 Samuel. | 2 Samuel | In preparation |
| The wise woman of Abel | Planned in the queue for 2 Samuel. | 2 Samuel | In preparation |
| Ahab and Jezebel | Planned in the queue for 1 Kings. | 1 Kings | In preparation |
| Jehoshaphat | Planned in the queue for 1 Kings. | 1 Kings | In preparation |
| Micaiah son of Imlah | Planned in the queue for 1 Kings. | 1 Kings | In preparation |
| Omri and the founding of Samaria | Planned in the queue for 1 Kings. | 1 Kings | In preparation |
| Pharaoh's daughter and the alliance with Egypt | Planned in the queue for 1 Kings. | 1 Kings | In preparation |
| The queen of Sheba | Planned in the queue for 1 Kings. | 1 Kings | In preparation |
| Elisha | Planned in the queue for 2 Kings. | 2 Kings | In preparation |
| Hezekiah | Planned in the queue for 2 Kings. | 2 Kings | In preparation |
| Josiah | Planned in the queue for 2 Kings. | 2 Kings | In preparation |
| Manasseh | Planned in the queue for 2 Kings. | 2 Kings | In preparation |
| Haman | Planned in the queue for Esther. | Esther | In preparation |
| Mordecai | Planned in the queue for Esther. | Esther | In preparation |
Wisdom and Poetry
1 live
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Proverbs 31 Woman: Proverbs 31:10-31 | Proverbs 31:10-31 is an acrostic poem, one verse per Hebrew letter, describing a woman of eshet chayil, the same word used of warriors and valor. | Proverbs | 4 linked studies |
Prophets
4 live, 2 in preparation
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Weeping Prophet — the Confessions of Jeremiah | Six laments that get darker, and a book that publishes them anyway, the tears running outward to Rachel, Bethlehem, and Jesus over the same city. | Jeremiah | 10 linked studies |
| Daniel the Prophet | Daniel's life as an exile in royal service, with the readings of his age, of Darius the Mede and of the date of his book. | Daniel | 20 linked studies |
| Greece | Daniel 8 pictures Greece as a he-goat that crosses the world without touching the ground and names it outright as the king of Greece, then shows its great horn broken and four horns rising in its place, exactly what happened when Alexander the Great died and his empire split among his four generals. | Daniel | 5 linked studies |
| Michael the archangel | The angel Daniel calls the great prince who stands watch over Israel. | Daniel | 14 linked studies |
| Darius the Mede | Planned in the queue for Daniel. | Daniel | In preparation |
| Nebuchadnezzar | Planned in the queue for Daniel. | Daniel | In preparation |
Gospels
16 live, 14 in preparation
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jesus | The life of Jesus of Nazareth in the four Gospels, with His names, His family, the places where He lived and taught, and every room of the study of Him. | Matthew | 293 linked studies |
| John the Baptist | The priest's son who preached in the wilderness of Judea and baptized in the Jordan before Jesus began His ministry. | Matthew | 22 linked studies |
| Peter | The life of Simon Peter from the nets of Galilee to the council at Jerusalem, and the two letters that carry his name. | Matthew | 22 linked studies |
| Scribes and the Sanhedrin | The scribes were the recognized legal experts of Jesus' day, a profession tracing to Ezra; the Sanhedrin was the nation's court, drawn from chief priests, elders and scribes together. | Matthew | 9 linked studies |
| The Essenes | The Essenes were a Jewish school Josephus places beside the Pharisees and Sadducees, marked by shared property, strict purity rules, and their own calendar. | Matthew | 6 linked studies |
| The Genealogies of Christ | Two genealogies, two different fathers for Joseph, two different sons of David. Behind the apparent contradiction is some of the most elegant theological architecture in scripture. | Matthew | 8 linked studies |
| The Genealogy of Jesus: Matthew's 3×14 | Fourteen, fourteen, fourteen: Matthew's stated design, the four women written into the royal line, and the Jeconiah hinge Luke's genealogy resolves. | Matthew | 26 linked studies |
| The Pharisees | A lay movement built on keeping the law in the home, the party Paul was trained in, and what they and Jesus actually disagreed about. | Matthew | 12 linked studies |
| The Sadducees | The Sadducees were the priestly aristocracy of Second Temple Judaism, centered on the Temple and its politics. | Matthew | 7 linked studies |
| The Samaritans | Who they were, what happened at Shechem, why the woman at the well raised the mountain, and what the parable would have cost its first hearers. | Matthew | 11 linked studies |
| The Twelve, the four lists set against each other | The four New Testament lists set side by side, the honest name variants, and a compact profile for each of the Twelve. | Matthew | 6 linked studies |
| Mary of Nazareth | A teenage girl in Nazareth says yes to an angel, sings the longest speech given to any woman in the New Testament, and stands at a cross thirty years later, given by her dying son into another man's care. | Luke | 6 linked studies |
| Rome | Daniel's vision names a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, that the majority reading across church history identifies as Rome. | Luke | 6 linked studies |
| The Women Who Followed: Luke 8:1-3 and the Passion Witnesses | Luke 8:1-3 names Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod's steward, Susanna, and many others as women who traveled with Jesus and funded His ministry from their own means. | Luke | 5 linked studies |
| Mary Magdalene: the Witness at the Tomb | Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven demons, helped fund Jesus's ministry, stayed at the cross when most fled, and was the first person to see Him risen. | John | 6 linked studies |
| The Beloved Disciple and the elder | Five scenes in John, the letters 2 and 3 John, and what the church at Ephesus said of their writer. | John | 8 linked studies |
| Herodian dynasty page | Planned in the queue for Matthew. | Matthew | In preparation |
| Joseph of Nazareth | Planned in the queue for Matthew. | Matthew | In preparation |
| Tax collectors in the Gospels | Planned in the queue for Matthew. | Matthew | In preparation |
| John the Apostle | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| Judas Iscariot | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| Pontius Pilate | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Anabaptist Churches Today: Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite and Brethren | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Baptist Churches | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Eastern Orthodox Church | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Lutheran Churches | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Methodist and Wesleyan Churches | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Church of the East | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Reformed and Presbyterian Churches | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
| The Roman Catholic Church | Planned in the queue for John. | John | In preparation |
Acts and the Letters
7 live, 9 in preparation
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| James the Brother of the Lord | What the Gospels, Acts, Paul's letters and Josephus record of him, and how the church has read the word brother. | Acts | 14 linked studies |
| Lydia: Acts 16:11–15, 40 | Lydia was a wealthy trader in purple cloth from Thyatira, already a worshipper of God, whom Paul met at a riverside prayer meeting outside Philippi. | Acts | 9 linked studies |
| Paul | Paul's life from Tarsus to Rome in twenty-one turns, with his family, his places and two disputed questions. | Acts | 33 linked studies |
| Priscilla: She Explained the Way More Accurately | The tentmaker who, with Aquila, took the eloquent Apollos aside and taught him the way of God more accurately, and who is named first in four of their six mentions. | Acts | 12 linked studies |
| Phoebe: Servant, Patron, Letter-Carrier | Phoebe appears in exactly two verses, and three Greek words carry nearly all of the interpretive freight: diakonos, servant, the same word Paul uses of himself and of Christ; prostatis, patron, naming her among the earliest church's material supporters; and the letter she is widely believed to have carried to Rome. | Romans | 8 linked studies |
| The House Churches | The churches that met in private houses at Jerusalem, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, Laodicea and Colossae, and the houses excavated at Dura-Europos and Capernaum. | Romans | 14 linked studies |
| Melchizedek: the King-Priest of Salem | Three texts a thousand years apart, and the whole case that a man from Judah is our High Priest. | Hebrews | 33 linked studies |
| Apollos | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| Barnabas | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| Herod Agrippa I | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| Simon the sorcerer | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| The Charismatic Renewal | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| The Holiness Churches | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| The Pentecostal Churches | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| the-moravians | Planned in the queue for Acts. | Acts | In preparation |
| Onesimus: the Slave Paul Sent Back as a Brother | Planned in the queue for Philemon. | Philemon | In preparation |
The Apocrypha
2 live
| The study | In one sentence | Book | Doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enoch, the Man Who Walked with God | Genesis 5 repeats 'and he died' eight times, but Enoch's line breaks the pattern: God took him without a death. | Apocrypha | 7 linked studies |
| The Giants of 1 Enoch | 1 Enoch expands Genesis 6:4's one verse into a full account: the Watchers' giant offspring devoured mankind, destroyed each other, and left spirits behind that the Gospels' demons echo. | Apocrypha | 7 linked studies |
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