1. When the Lord made the earth by his loving plan he made everything lovely when the world first began, and to Adam and Eve he spoke his clear word but they lived as if they'd never heard. So they both took from the tree and believed the serpent's lies and God sent them away from his Paradise; and the good turned to bad, and bad turned to worse: all our race was not under his curse. 2. So these two had two sons, Cain and Abel their names, until Cain killed his brother and he shouldered the blame; and the murders went on, till violence and hate left the world in a terrible state. But then old Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, built an ark, and he summoned the creatures aboard; and the flood brought and end to the rest of the race: just eight people were saved by his grace. 3. Later on, the Lord spoke, telling Abram to go to a land he would live in, which he did not yet know; he obeyed God's command, God's word he believed, and his covenant-promise received. And then came Isaac and Jacob and all of Jacob's sons; it was Joseph who ruled all the older ones! For they all came to Egypt when they needed food and the Lord turned the bad into good. 4. Years went by and the people were cruelly oppressed until Moses was born - he was the boy God had blessed; he was fished from the Nile, brought up in the court, but he had to run off when he fought. But then God called him to lead, to set his people free; he said ' I am their God - they belong to me!' And the wonders and signs of God's mighty hand brought them out through the sea on dry land. 5. Moses, Aaron and Miriam and all the pioneers pitched their tents in the desert for the next forty years; but in God's promised land they never arrived - only Caleb and Joshua survived. Across the Jordan they went, when God had stopped the flow; and with Rahab to help, captured Jericho; but their claim to the land was never complete and too often they suffered defeat. 6. With the judges in charge, the good mixed with the bad; and with Deborah, Gideon and Samson, they had such a mixture of times, of lies and of truth; but in dark days the light shone for Ruth. And it was Hannah who prayed, and God who quickly heard, so when Samuel was born she gave her son to the Lord; when God spoke, Samuel spoke; he did not hide a thing- till the people demanded a king. 6 (a) So the king Saul was the first, until he too went bad, and the kingdom was given to a Bethlehem lad: for King David, God has promise in store, of a son who'd be King evermore! 7. But the next in the line was King Solomon; very wise, very foolish, so that after he'd gone this proud kingdom broke up and split in two halves, and the north worshiped two golden calves! The sorry tale of the kings is very sad to tell- so few good ones in Judah or Israel! Hezekiah and Josiah were two of the best, with Manasseh the worst of the rest. 8. Meanwhile prophets announced what God had to say, with Elijah and then Elisha leading the way; Amos, Joel and Hosea foretold a great fall, but Isaiah was chief of them all. And as the exile began it was down to Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and Daniel and the three in the fire; even Esther had come for such as time as these - but God's people were not refugees. 9. In our song of the saints we've made such a list! What about Sarah, Naomi, and more that we've missed such as Job who serviced distress and disease? What of Jonah's short trip overseas? And when the exiles returned with Ezra as their scribe, Nehemiah led the building workers tribe by tribe; 'God is with you!' said Haggai, and like Zechariah Malachi preached the coming Messiah 9 (a) So in the Bible we find each story, every name; how they lived, how they died, how they overcame, till at last came the One who said 'I am the Way!' and this book leads us to him today.