Bible: Old Testament: English Standard Version

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

This quotation, also from the first chapter of the Old Testament, relates a fundamental doctrine of theological anthropology: that humanity is made in the image of God. This has never been taken to mean that humanity’s physical form is reflective of God’s physical form (since in both Jewish and Christian traditions, God is spiritual), but rather that humanity reflects God’s special intentionality toward us, who bear certain aspects of his own character: rationality, morality, creativity, relationality, spirituality, etc.

“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

This is from one of the opening scenes of the Abrahamic narratives, showing the transition from Genesis’s focus on humanity’s primeval history to God’s intentional relationship with one particular branch of humanity, which begins with Abraham (called Abram here, as in all the early stories of his narrative). The promise assured in this statement is later underscored in the covenant God makes with Abraham in Genesis 15.

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’”

God speaks to Moses from the burning bush on Mount Sinai, instructing him to go to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of enslavement. Although the personal name of God (YHWH) has been used in previous narratives, this is the first full explanation of that name, which in Hebrew appears to derive from God’s statement of absolute self-existence in this passage. For this reason, the ESV chooses to set all of these expressions of God’s personal name in capital letters, to show their association with the tetragrammaton (YHWH, see the entry for “God” in the Key Figures section).

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them […]. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain […]. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. […] Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

This passage relays the Ten Commandments, the foundational piece of Mosaic law and the basic expression of the covenant stipulations which the Israelites are expected to keep. Moses delivers these commandments to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after their escape from Egypt. The commandments are engraved on two stone tablets and later kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle. A parallel expression of the Ten Commandments can be found in Deuteronomy 5.

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

This is known as the “Aaronic Blessing,” a prayer of benediction which the high priest is enjoined to say over the people of Israel. It has become a major part of liturgical practice in later Jewish and Christian traditions, and is emblematic of the multifaceted usage of the canon of scripture, not only as a set of books to be studied, but as an active and ongoing part of worship and devotional practices.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

This is one of the most important passages in the Old Testament, known as the Shema (from the Hebrew word for “hear”). It is a core part of Jewish liturgy and expresses the importance of the theme of Faithfulness to God’s Law. It is also a key piece of the Christian tradition, which Jesus cites in his teaching as “the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

“Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”

The section of historical books in the Old Testament opens with this divine injunction to Joshua, the new leader of the Israelites after Moses’s death. It restates the two sides of God’s covenant with Israel: the Israelites’ faithfulness to the law of Moses, and God’s commitment to keep his promises toward them.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ”Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature […]. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

This quotation comes from the scene in which Samuel, the prophet and judge, is sent to anoint a new king of Israel after God rejects the kingship of Saul. Samuel is directed to go to the family of Jesse in Bethlehem, and although Samuel expects one of the strong older sons to be selected, it is the youngest son, David, who is anointed. God reminds Samuel of an important principle that applies to the whole perspective of the historical books: People are not assessed by their outward attributes, but by whether their hearts are faithfully following God’s ways, which becomes the metric by which every subsequent king of Israel and Judah is judged.

“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

God (speaking through the prophet Nathan) addresses his promise to David, which becomes the basis for the Davidic covenant: the promise of an unending kingdom to David’s successor. This promise goes unrealized in the Old Testament, which shows the Davidic kingship later losing its sovereignty to the Babylonian conquest, but in Christian tradition it is understood to be pointing toward the eternal kingship of Jesus Christ.

“And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.’”

The prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of the Canaanite god Baal to a showdown on Mount Carmel. Elijah does this to address the looming problem of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God’s law, since many people have gone over to the worship of pagan gods. Each side in the showdown makes efforts to call down fire from heaven upon an altar, but only Elijah is successful, which demonstrates to the watching crowd that God alone is to be worshiped.

“And [Solomon] said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart […].”

This quote comes from Solomon’s dedicatory prayer at the establishment of the temple in Jerusalem. It underscores the importance of personal faithfulness to God, demonstrated by a devoted alignment of one’s heart toward God. It also makes reference to the theme of The Steadfast Love of God, expressed primarily in God’s promise to keep his covenant toward his people.

“And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.’ And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping […].”

This poignant scene is a description of the rededication of the temple after the first exiles return from Babylon. As in Solomon’s dedication of the first temple, God’s attribute of steadfast love is invoked, but here there is a marked contrast between the glory of the first temple (Solomon’s) and the meager replacement the returned exiles are able to build, which causes the difference in people’s reactions described in the text.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

These are the opening lines of the book of Psalms, which express the importance of both avoiding sin and faithfully following God’s law. As always throughout the Old Testament, the law of God is not portrayed as burdensome or restrictive, but rather as a precious gift which enables humanity to experience a blessedness which it would otherwise not be capable of receiving.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”

Among Christians, Psalm 23 is likely the most familiar passage in the Old Testament, often committed to memory. These opening lines reflect the evocative imagery of the passage, setting God in the role of a caring shepherd who leads his sheep into places of peace and safety. This psalm, attributed to David, reflects his own background of working as a shepherd in his childhood.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

These are the opening lines of the penitential Psalm 51, important in the Christian tradition as an expression of the need for the forgiveness of our sins. Its traditional attribution to David appears to derive from David’s act of repentance after his sin of having an affair with Bathsheba. This psalm has become a key piece of the Christian liturgical tradition, and its opening sentiment forms one of the core refrains of many ancient Christian liturgies: “Lord, have mercy.”

“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. […] He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

This excerpt from Psalm 103 expresses God’s character, referencing the theme of The Steadfast Love of God. This is then linked to another theme, The Problem of Sin, for which the love and mercy of God is portrayed as the answer. One of the main poetic features of the psalms, parallelism, can be seen in the repeated idea of the closing lines of the passage.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

This quote from Proverbs, a book that is concerned with the acquisition of wisdom, conveys one of the book’s key insights: that wisdom is first and foremost derived from following God’s ways and walking in wholehearted relationship with him. This quote also demonstrates the Hebrew poetic feature of parallelism, as the second sentence serves as recapitulation and extension of the ideas in the first sentence.

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

In the conclusion to the book of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher’s reflections on the meaningless vanity of existence are grounded in a statement that accords well with the rest of the Old Testament and the theme of Faithfulness to God’s Law. This conclusion is sometimes suspected of being a later addition to the text of Ecclesiastes, but its presence reflects much of the value that Jewish and Christian traditions have derived from the book’s inclusion in the canon.

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ […] And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’”

This is an example of a prophetic vision, taken from Isaiah’s account of his calling, in which he sees the throne of God and the angels (seraphim) around it. This passage also speaks to the theme of The Problem of Sin: Confronted with the absolute holiness of God, Isaiah is immediately convicted of his own sense of spiritual uncleanness.

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.’”

This passage is characteristic of the uplifting tone of the second half of Isaiah, which promises a coming restoration and assures the Israelites of the certainty of God’s love for them. A loose chiastic structure can be seen in this passage, with the opening and closing statements of identity and belonging appearing to match one another.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah […]. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Here God gives his promise of a new covenant, in which the problem of sin will be fully and finally resolved. Faithfulness to God’s Law is alluded to as well, although under the new covenant it will not be an external law, but an internal one, based on each person’s own intimate, relational knowledge of God. The Christian tradition sees this prophecy fulfilled in the new covenant under Jesus Christ.

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

This poetic expression of the theme of The Steadfast Love God is made all the more compelling because it comes from the book of Lamentations, set amidst the prophet’s desolate grief for the catastrophic suffering of his people. Even in the context of Jerusalem’s destruction and the exile of the Jewish people, Jeremiah could still profess his faith in the unchanging nature of God’s covenant-love.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

This passage offers a glimpse of the many ethical applications of the prophetic books, which focus not only (and not even primarily) on predicting the future, but on expressing God’s message to his people in their present circumstances. This statement sums up the theme of Faithfulness to God’s Law in a set of brief and powerful ethical principles.