The Navarre Bible - Chronicles to Maccabees

1 & 2 Chronicles • Ezra • Nehemiah • Tobit • Judith • Esther • 1 & 2 Maccabees

The historical books of the Old Testament recount the fortunes of the people of Israel from the conquest of the promised land onwards. The First Book of Chronicles gives the background of the chosen people of God and the families that made up the twelve tribes, and records the career of David. Second Chronicles begins with Solomon in all his glory and ends with Israel’s ignominious deportation to Babylon. Ezra–Nehemiah records the epic rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple after the seventy-year Babylonian exile. The final books, Maccabees, give vivid accounts of the Jewish experience at a time when Greek successors of Alexander the Great sought to stamp out all traces of the religion of Moses and replace it with a cosmopolitan pagan ethic. This, the second of two volumes of “historical books” in the Navarre Bible edition, also contains the three picturesque narratives of Tobit, Judith and Esther.

Like the other volumes in the standard edition of the Navarre Bible, prepared by Navarre University’s theology faculty, this book contains the full biblical text in the Revised Standard Version and the New Vulgate together with extensive commentaries. The commentaries, or notes, help to explain the doctrinal and practical meaning of the scriptural text, drawing on a rich variety of sources, Church documents, the exegesis of Fathers and Doctors, and the works of prominent spiritual writers, particularly St. Josemariá Escrivá, who initiated the Navarre Bible project.