Organised into six major sections in all, the book covers from the period of the patriarchs and the Exodus to the Babylonian captivity in the Old Testament, and from the 12 apostles to the epistles of Paul in the New Testament. Information about such biblical events as the ten plagues and the revolt of the Maccabees is enhanced by discussions of the festivals that now commemorate these events, and information about such key people of the Bibleas Joseph is complemented by an excersus, a fuller treatment. Peter Delius, the creator of the enormously successful Essential Visual History of the World, has enhanced the book's value as a reference work by including, in addition to sidebars and timelines, such elements as numbered picture references within the text that match each image with its historical context and cross references to related topics at the bottom of the page.