BibleProject

Redemption E1 — Following our series on the Exodus Way, we’re going to explore a word that first shows up in the Exodus scroll, redemption. This word can mean lots of things: redeeming a coupon, redeeming an otherwise bad day, or—from a Christian perspective—being redeemed by Jesus. But what does redemption actually refer to in the story of the Bible? Jon and Tim kick off this new theme series by...

The story of Pentecost in Acts 2 is brimming with rich imagery and hyperlinks from the Hebrew Bible. God’s Spirit dramatically fills a house of Jesus’ followers like a wind, and fire burns over the disciples' heads as they begin speaking languages from across the known world! What is happening here, and how is it a fulfillment of God’s promises? In this re-released episode from our 2018 Luke-Acts...

How the Bible Was Formed E4 — In the last three episodes of this short series, we focused on the formation of the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament. We also talked about other works of literature from the Second Temple period, known collectively as the Deuterocanon or Apocrypha. Today, we’ll finally explore yet another collection of Second Temple literature that was formed around the life, death,...

How the Bible Was Formed E3 — Today, most Bibles are a single book that’s easy to carry and flip through. But the Bible started as an assortment of scrolls, bound together into a collection. The Hebrew Bible—or the Old Testament—went through a centuries-long, iterative development process with a variety of scribes and prophets. It didn’t come into its final form until roughly the time of Jesus. So...

 How the Bible Was Formed E2 — The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is a collection of 24 scrolls, passed down for generations, that tells the long, complicated story of ancient Israel. But who wrote these scrolls, and how did they come together in their final form? And how do we understand the claim that these books are the very voice of God? In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the formation of t...

How the Bible Was Formed E1 — If you’ve ever compared a Protestant Bible to a Catholic Bible, you may notice some additional books in the Catholic Bible, such as Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, etc. These books, called the Deuterocanon by Catholics and the Apocrypha by Protestants, are Jewish Literature from the period after the Babylonian exile but before the time of Jesus. The Jewish people we...

The Exodus Way Q+R (E14) — What birth imagery do we find in Exodus? Are there hyperlinks elsewhere in the Bible that connect to Pharaoh’s hardened heart? And is the circumcision story with Zipporah and Moses’ son connected to Passover? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from our Exodus Way series. Thank you to our audience for your thoughtful contributions to this episode! View...

The Exodus Way E13 (Bonus Interview) — The exodus from Egypt was a foundational story for ancient Israel, but without a special group of seven often overlooked women, the exodus would have never happened! In this episode, Jon and Tim have a conversation with BibleProject Scholarship Fellow Tamara Knudson about the seven women in Exodus 1-4 who save Moses—and by extension—all of Israel. View all of...

The Exodus Way E12 (Bonus Interview) — If we come to the New Testament without much knowledge of the Hebrew Bible, we may think that baptism is just something that John the Baptist made up and Jesus carried on for new disciples. But there are multiple levels of meaning in this practice, including ritual purification, Israel’s passage through the Red Sea, entry into the promised land, and, most imp...

The Exodus Way E11 — After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, his followers grew into a movement known simply as “The Way”—a new exodus people delivered from sin and death, following the narrow way of Jesus through the wilderness of our present world and awaiting entry into a promised new creation. The Apostle Paul is a central figure in this movement, commissioned by the risen Jesus to sp...

The Exodus Way E10 — The Exodus story was core to the identity of ancient Israel. Inspired by the prophet Isaiah’s words, 1st-century Israelites were awaiting a new exodus, where a new Moses-like figure would deliver them from Roman oppression. The gospels present Jesus as that figure, who saves people from sickness, hunger, spiritual oppression, and even death itself. And following Jesus’ resurre...

The Exodus Way E9 — All four gospel accounts build anticipation for Jesus to accomplish a new kind of exodus when he arrives in Jerusalem. But later in the gospel narratives, Jesus begins telling his disciples that he will be arrested and killed in Jerusalem before rising on the third day. So Jesus journeys to Jerusalem and confronts the religious establishment—notably only days before Passover! A...

The Exodus Way E8 — Before the arrival of Jesus, Israelites already viewed their current circumstances and hopes for God’s salvation through the lens of the Exodus. This is why the gospel authors tell the story of Jesus with language that points back to the main beats of the Exodus story. In this first episode of two on the gospels, Jon and Tim explore the many Exodus hyperlinks found in the stori...

The Exodus Way E7 — In Mark 14, we’re told that Jesus and his disciples celebrated Passover and sang a hymn before going out to the garden of Gethsemane. So what hymn did they sing? Rabbinic tradition going back to the time of Jesus records that during Passover, Jewish people sang Psalm 113-118, a collection of songs known as the Passover Hallel. In this episode, Jon and Tim explore these six psal...

The Exodus Way E6 — By the time of the prophet Isaiah, the Assyrian Empire had already exiled the northern kingdom of Israel. Isaiah prophesied that the southern kingdom of Judah would survive Assyrian attack but that a new empire, Babylon, would one day take Judah into exile because of their injustice and idolatry. Within this world of empires, oppressors, and exiles, Isaiah prophesied about a mo...

The Exodus Way E5 — By the time we get to the scroll of Joshua, the Israelites are preparing to enter the land of promise. But we quickly discover a reverse Exodus happening in the narrative. The Canaanite kings—who are depicted as new pharaohs—assemble with armies to meet Israel on the other side of the Jordan River. And in the midst of the story, a Canaanite woman in Jericho actually shows more...

The Exodus Way E4 — We’re tracing the narrative theme of Exodus in the Bible, and we’re finally ready to trace it in … Exodus! There are three main beats in this narrative theme: the road out of slavery, the road through the wilderness, and the road into inheritance. These three beats play out in Moses' life before Israel’s Exodus from Egypt even begins. There are also key moments of justice and d...

The Exodus Way E3 — Before we get to the Exodus story, we must first ask a question: How and why did Israel end up enslaved in Egypt in the first place? Throughout the book of Genesis, the biblical authors seem to imply that Abraham’s descendants land in Egypt because of their patriarch’s failures to trust God and do right by others. In this episode, Jon and Tim highlight the Exodus beats in Abrah...

The Exodus Way E2 — The main beats of the Exodus Way are the road out of slavery, the road through the wilderness, and the road into inheritance. These moments become a narrative theme that plays out over and over in the story of the Bible. We even see them show up in Genesis before the events of the Exodus even happen! In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the significance of Exodus imagery in two...

The Exodus Way E1 — Most followers of Jesus are familiar with three foundational biblical stories: the story of Jesus in the gospels, the creation story in Genesis, and the Exodus story. These narratives are referred to throughout the whole Bible, but the Exodus story is the most referenced story. Why is this narrative in Exodus so important? In this episode, Jon and Tim start a new series on the...

The Mountain Q+R (E14) — Could the Tower of Babel be considered a man-made mountain? How does Yahweh asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain fit with his gracious character? And after Elijah’s failure on Mount Sinai, why is he still regarded as a great prophet? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from our series on the theme of the mountain. Thank you to our audience f...

The Mountain Hyperlink Episode (E13) — If you’ve been following along in our series on the mountain, you may have had moments where you thought, “I feel like I’ve heard this before.” And that’s because you have—we’ve been on this mountain before! There are so many themes in the Bible, from mountains to tabernacles, to tests and cities. And while we try to isolate and study themes on their own, the...

The Mountain E12 — If Jesus’ role as the promised mountaintop intercessor was unclear from the mountain stories in the Gospels, the author of the letter to the Hebrews wants to make it explicit. Drawing together imagery of Moses on Mount Sinai, the levitical priesthood, and the Old Testament sacrificial system, Hebrews declares that Jesus is the eternal high priest who can ascend to the holy mount...

The Mountain E11 — We’ve learned that mountains in the Hebrew Bible often become a space where Heaven and Earth overlap and human beings must choose between self-preservation or surrender and trust in God. The story builds our hope and expectation for a faithful intercessor on the mountain who can mediate God’s blessings to the people below. As we turn to the New Testament, gospel writer Matthew i...

The Mountain E10 — The prophet Isaiah depicts Mount Zion as a cosmic mountain where Heaven and Earth overlap and God’s blessings flow down to all of creation. But Isaiah also lived in the real Jerusalem that had Mount Zion at its center, which was filled with corruption, injustice, and idolatry. So in his prophecies, he balances hope in this future new Eden with warnings of judgment on Jerusalem’s...