ABSTRACT

Without an understanding of Biblical stories, readers lose out on much of the richness of English literature, as authors from Milton through T.S. Eliot to Jeanette Winterson draw inspiration from Biblical stories in their own writing.   This user-friendly annotated selection of key passages from the King James’s Bible clarifies the key themes, characters, stories and genealogies for students, offering timelines, a bibliography, and a detailed index for quick and easy reference.

The original 1984 version, of which this is a revised edition, was written by Bill Stevenson as a response to his students' difficulty with biblical references in literature - a selection from the King James’s Bible that would give the student a notion of what the book contains, including the history of the 1611 text, the strands of imagery that bind the whole together. It gives the student a brief overview of the political, historical and religious contexts of the stories in the Bible as well as a brief history of the different versions of the Bible. 

chapter 1|11 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|3 pages

Originals and Translations

chapter 3|3 pages

The Writings

chapter 4|2 pages

Early Translations

chapter 5|20 pages

The English Bible

chapter 6|11 pages

The Language of AV

part 1|143 pages

The Old Testament

chapter 7|11 pages

Genesis

chapter 8|9 pages

Abraham and Sarah

chapter 9|13 pages

About Jacob

chapter 10|32 pages

Exodus

chapter 11|7 pages

Leviticus

chapter 12|2 pages

Numbers

chapter 13|4 pages

Deuteronomy

chapter 14|4 pages

Joshua

chapter 15|7 pages

Judges

chapter 16|10 pages

Ruth

chapter 17|18 pages

David and Absalom

chapter 18|13 pages

Solomon's Kingdom

chapter 19|6 pages

Decadence

chapter 20|8 pages

The Kingdoms' Fall

part 3|81 pages

The Prophets

chapter 21|7 pages

Prophets of the two kingdoms

Amos

chapter 22|6 pages

Hosea

chapter 23|4 pages

Micah

chapter 24|15 pages

Isaiah (I)

chapter 25|16 pages

Prophets of the Exile

Jeremiah

chapter 26|8 pages

Ezekiel

chapter 27|12 pages

Prophets of the return

‘Second' Isaiah

chapter 28|5 pages

Zechariah

chapter 29|3 pages

Malachi

chapter 30|8 pages

Daniel

part 4|69 pages

The Writings

chapter 31|25 pages

Job

chapter 32|21 pages

The Psalms

chapter 33|4 pages

Proverbs

chapter 34|3 pages

Ecclesiastes

chapter 35|15 pages

The Song of Solomon

chapter 36|3 pages

Epilogue to the Old Testament

part 5|2 pages

The New Testament

part 6|103 pages

The Gospels

chapter 37|35 pages

St Mark's Gospel

chapter 38|17 pages

St Matthew's Gospel

chapter 39|13 pages

St Luke's Gospel

chapter 40|29 pages

St John's Gospel

chapter 41|8 pages

The Acts of the Apostles

part 7|61 pages

The Epistles

chapter 42|3 pages

The Epistles of Paul

chapter 43|6 pages

To the Romans

chapter 44|1 pages

To the Corinthians (1–2)

chapter 45|6 pages

The First Epistle

chapter 46|4 pages

The Second Epistle

chapter 47|4 pages

The Second Epistle to Timothy

chapter 48|14 pages

The Epistle to the Hebrews

chapter 49|4 pages

An Epistle from James

chapter 50|3 pages

The First Epistle of John

chapter 51|17 pages

The Revelation of St John the Divine

chapter 52|4 pages

The Books of the Bible

A Summary