Where every promise begins
Before God ever told anyone to fear not, before there was a nation called Israel or a law written on stone, there was a garden and a word. Book One starts there. It reads Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus from beginning to end and pauses each time God commits Himself to do something.
These three books hold the roots of almost everything that comes later. The promise that the woman's seed would bruise the serpent's head. The covenant sealed with a rainbow. The land, the descendants and the blessing for all families, first spoken to Abram and then repeated to his son and grandson. The rescue from Egypt. The God who said He would dwell with His people. If you know these, the rest of the Bible starts to make sense.
Every Promise of God, Book One, gathers Promises 1 through 295. It is about 300 to 350 pages, in the King James Version, and written at about a seventh grade reading level.
Three books of the Bible, three kinds of story
Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus feel very different when you read them. Book One keeps the same six-part page through all three, so you can feel the change in the story without losing your place.
Genesis: families
Genesis is a book of households. Adam and Eve outside the garden. Noah and his sons stepping off the ark onto a washed earth. Abraham and Sarah waiting decades for a baby. Hagar crying in the wilderness. Isaac digging wells. Jacob running from his brother and sleeping on a stone. Joseph sold by his brothers and raised up in Egypt.
God speaks to these people one at a time, often at night or in a dream. Many of His promises are personal, and the book is careful to tell you who each one was for.
Exodus: a rescue
Exodus opens with a nation in chains. God hears their groaning and calls a shepherd named Moses from a burning bush. Then come the plagues, the first Passover, the sea that parts, bread from heaven each morning, water from a rock and the thunder of Mount Sinai.
The promises here are bigger and louder. God speaks of bringing a people out, carrying them as on eagles' wings and going with them. Exodus ends with the cloud of His glory filling the tabernacle.
Leviticus: a holy God nearby
Leviticus is the book many readers skip, and it is easy to see why. It is full of offerings, priests, clean and unclean, and feast days. Yet under all of it is a startling idea. The God of Sinai wanted to live in the middle of the camp.
Book One does not skip Leviticus. Its promises about peace in the land, rain in its season and God walking among His people are given the same care as the stories in Genesis.
A promise to a man on the run
One night stands out in Genesis. Jacob had tricked his father and was fleeing from his angry brother. He lay down in the open with a stone for a pillow, and God spoke to him above a ladder reaching to heaven.
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Genesis 28:15 (KJV)
Jacob had done nothing to earn that. He was alone, scared and in the wrong. God still promised to go with him everywhere, keep him and bring him home. That night shows why Book One matters: the first promises of the Bible are full of grace for people who do not deserve it. Read more on our page about God's promises to Jacob.
How each promise is set out
Open Book One to any page and you will find the same six parts in the same order.
- The verseThe promise, quoted in the King James Version.
- Made toThe person or people God was speaking to.
- The conditionWhat God asked for, if anything. If nothing, it says so.
- What it meant thenThe promise in its own time and place.
- What it means for youHow it reaches your life today, and plainly when it does not apply directly.
- Stand on itA short prayer to say out loud.
The second and third parts keep you honest. When God took Abram outside and told him to count the stars, the promise about his seed was spoken to Abram. When He promised a land between the river of Egypt and the Euphrates, that was for Abram's seed. The book names who heard each word and whether anything was asked of them in return.
The fifth part then asks a fair question: since this was spoken to someone else, what does it show you about God? Often the answer is a great deal. A God who kept His word to a childless old man across about twenty-five years can be trusted with your waiting too. Our guide to which promises are for us explains this way of reading.
Who will get the most from Book One
- Anyone starting from scratch. If you have never read Genesis straight through, this is a gentle way in. Each promise is explained in plain words.
- Teenagers and young adults. The reading level is about seventh grade. The pages are short enough for one sitting.
- Families and small groups. One promise makes a good evening reading. Everyone hears the verse, talks about who it was for, then prays the prayer together.
- Longtime Bible readers. Reading Genesis through Leviticus with only the promises in view shows patterns you may have missed, like how often God repeats Himself to a new generation.
- People in a waiting season. Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Joseph all waited years to see God's word come true. Their stories meet you there.
The promise Moses would not go without
After the golden calf, God told Moses He would send an angel ahead of the people but would not go up with them Himself. Moses refused to accept that. He pleaded, and God answered with the words in this verse picture.
Moses then said that if God's presence did not go, he did not want to move at all. He understood something the whole of Book One keeps teaching: the best thing God promises is Himself. Land, children and rescue all matter, but they are gifts from a God who wants to be near.
You can follow this thread on our pages about God's promises to Israel and covenant promises.
Formats and prices
| Format | Price | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Kindle | $6.99 | Phone, tablet or Kindle. Included in Kindle Unlimited. |
| Paperback | $16.99 | Underlining, notes in the margin, carrying in a bag. |
| Hardcover | $29.99 | Daily use for years, or a gift. |
Read the opening pages for free
Want to see a page before you buy? Go to Book One on Amazon and use Look Inside on the cover. Amazon lets you read the first part of the book there, so you can see the layout and the writing for yourself.
Because the Kindle edition is in Kindle Unlimited, members can also borrow the whole book and read it at no extra cost. When you finish Leviticus, Book Two picks up in Numbers, with the people of Israel still camped in the wilderness of Sinai.