Genesis.
Origins, election, and the promises that drive the rest of the Bible.
Who wrote Genesis?
Traditionally Moses; modern scholarship sees multiple sources woven together (the Documentary Hypothesis) reaching their final form during or after the exile.
Who was it written for?
Israel — first as wilderness wanderers, finally as the people coming out of exile asking who they are.
Structure
- Primeval history (chapters 1–11): creation, fall, flood, Babel
- Abraham (12–25): the call and the covenant
- Isaac and Jacob (25–36)
- Joseph (37–50)
Key verses
Why Genesis matters
Genesis is the book the rest of Scripture quotes most. The call of Abraham (12:1–3) sets up every covenant that follows. The Joseph cycle is one of the oldest sustained narratives in world literature. Read it slowly and you can see almost every later biblical motif — election, exile and return, suffering and reversal — already present in its opening pages.
Related tools
Read the book, then test it.
Kerygma's trivia rounds cover Genesis in the Pentateuch stream — once you've sat with the overview, the questions go deeper into the text. Free for seven days.
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