“Thoughts to Keep in Mind: Reading the Old Testament,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Old Testament 2026 (2026)
“Reading the Old Testament,” Come, Follow Me: 2026
Thoughts to Keep in Mind
Reading the Old Testament
When Nephi wanted to inspire his brothers to trust the Lord, he shared stories about Moses and teachings from Isaiah. When the Apostle Paul wanted to encourage the early Christians to have faith in God’s promises, he reminded them about the faith of Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Rahab, and others. And when Jesus Christ told the leaders of the Jews to “search the scriptures,” explaining that they “testify of me” (John 5:39), the scriptures He was talking about are the writings we call the Old Testament.
In other words, when you read the Old Testament, you’re reading words that have inspired, comforted, and encouraged people of God for literally thousands of years.
But can something that was written so long ago really help you find solutions to today’s problems? Yes, it can! Especially if you remember who the Old Testament is truly about.
A Testament of Jesus Christ
Whatever challenges you and your family might be facing, the answer is always Jesus Christ. So to find answers in the Old Testament, look for Him. It won’t always be easy. You may need to ponder patiently and seek spiritual guidance. Sometimes the references to Him seem very direct, as in Isaiah’s declaration, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: … and his name shall be called … The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). In other places, the Savior is represented more subtly, through symbols and similarities—for example, through the descriptions of animal sacrifices or the account of Joseph forgiving his brothers and saving them from famine.
Light of the World, by Scott Sumner
If you seek greater faith in the Savior as you study the Old Testament, you will find it. Perhaps this could be the goal of your study this year. Pray that the Spirit will guide you to find and focus on passages, stories, and prophecies that will bring you closer to Jesus Christ.
Divinely Preserved
Don’t expect the Old Testament to present a thorough and precise history of humankind. That’s not what the original authors and compilers were trying to create. Their larger concern was to teach something about God—about His plan for His children, about what it means to be His covenant people, and about how to find redemption when we fall short. Sometimes they did it by relating historical events as they understood them, including stories from the lives of great prophets. Genesis is an example of this, and so are books like Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 Kings. But other Old Testament writers did not aim to be historical at all. Instead, they taught through works of art like poetry and literature. The Psalms and the Proverbs fit in this category. And then there are the precious words of prophets, such as Isaiah and Malachi, who spoke the word of God to ancient Israel—and, through the miracle of the Bible, still speak to us today.
Did all of these prophets, poets, and compilers know that their words would be read by people all over the world thousands of years later? We don’t know. But we marvel that this is exactly what has happened. Nations rose and fell, cities were conquered, kings lived and died, but the Old Testament outlasted them all, from generation to generation, from scribe to scribe, from translation to translation. Of course some things were lost or modified, and yet somehow so much was miraculously preserved.
Old Testament Prophet, by Judith A. Mehr (detail)
These are just a few things to keep in mind as you read the Old Testament this year. God preserved these ancient writings because He knows you and what you are going through. He has prepared a spiritual message for you in these words, which will draw you closer to Him and build your faith in His plan and His Beloved Son. Perhaps He will lead you to a passage or an insight that will bless someone you know—a message you can share with a friend, a family member, or a fellow Saint. There are so many possibilities. Isn’t that exciting to think about?
Nephi said, “My soul delighteth in the scriptures” (2 Nephi 4:15). Maybe you’ll feel the same way as you read many of the same words Nephi read—what we now call the Old Testament.
Books in the Old Testament
In most Christian versions of the Old Testament, the books are organized differently from how they were arranged when they were first compiled into one collection. So while the Hebrew Bible groups the books into three categories—the law, prophets, and writings—most Christian Bibles arrange the books into four categories: law (Genesis–Deuteronomy), history (Joshua–Esther), poetic books (Job–Song of Solomon), and prophets (Isaiah–Malachi).
Why are these categories important? Because knowing what kind of book you are studying can help you understand how to study it.
Here’s something to keep in mind as you begin reading “the law,” or the first five books of the Old Testament. These books, which are traditionally attributed to Moses, probably passed through the hands of numerous scribes and compilers over time. And we know that, over the centuries, “many parts which are plain and most precious” were taken away from the Bible (see 1 Nephi 13:23–26). Still, the books of Moses are the inspired word of God, even though they are—like any work of God transmitted through mortals—subject to human imperfections (see Moses 1:41; Articles of Faith 1:8). The words of Moroni, referring to the sacred Book of Mormon record that he helped compile, are helpful here: “If there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God” (title page of the Book of Mormon). In other words, a book of scripture doesn’t need to be free from human error to be the word of God.