The Wonder Book of Bible Stories by Compiled by Logan Marshall

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[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES--The daughter of Pharaoh comes
to the water's edge and finds the child. By chance the child's mother is
called as nurse, and it grew and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter and
became her son--(Exodus 2; 5-10.)]

THE WONDER BOOK
OF BIBLE STORIES

EDITED AND ARRANGED BY
LOGAN MARSHALL

[Illustration: The baby in the manger]

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO

TORONTO--THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, LIMITED
Copyright, 1925, by
THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.

Copyright, 1925,
in the Philippine Islands.

Copyright, 1904, by
THE J.C.W. CO.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
AT THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, PROPRIETORS, PHILADELPHIA

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1

THE STORY OF ADAM AND EVE 3

THE STORY OF NOAH AND THE ARK 7

THE STORY OF HAGAR AND ISHMAEL 16

THE STORY OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC 22

THE STORY OF JACOB 28

THE SALE OF A BIRTHRIGHT 29

THE STORY OF THE LADDER THAT REACHED TO HEAVEN 37

THE STORY OF JOSEPH

THE COAT OF MANY COLORS 42

THE DREAMS OF A KING 49

THE STORY OF THE MONEY IN THE SACKS 58

THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST BROTHER 65

THE STORY OF MOSES, THE CHILD WHO WAS FOUND IN THE RIVER 73

THE STORY OF THE GRAPES FROM CANAAN 82

THE STORY OF GIDEON AND HIS THREE HUNDRED SOLDIERS 88

THE STORY OF SAMSON, THE STRONG MAN 98

THE STORY OF RUTH, THE GLEANER 111

THE STORY OF DAVID

THE SHEPHERD BOY 117

THE STORY OF THE FIGHT WITH THE GIANT 125

THE STORY OF THE CAVE OF ADULLAM 131

THE STORY OF SOLOMON AND HIS TEMPLE 133

THE STORY OF ELIJAH, THE PROPHET 138

THE STORY OF JONAH AND THE WHALE 142

THE STORY OF THE FIERY FURNACE 147

THE STORY OF DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN 155

THE STORY OF THE ANGEL BY THE ALTAR 160

THE STORY OF JESUS

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM 167

THE STORY OF THE STAR AND THE WISE MEN 172

THE STORY OF THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE 179

THE STORY OF THE WATER THAT WAS TURNED INTO WINE 184

THE STORY OF THE STRANGER AT THE WELL 189

THE STORY OF THE FISHERMEN 195

THE STORY OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 199

THE STORY OF THE MIRACLE WORKER 206

THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE GOOD SAMARITAN 215

THE STORY OF THE PALM BRANCHES 221

THE STORY OF THE BETRAYAL 228

THE STORY OF THE EMPTY TOMB 235

THE STORY OF THE MAN AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE 243

THE STORY OF STEPHEN, THE FIRST MARTYR 249

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
The Finding of Moses i

Title Plate ii

They were driven forth by an angel 3

Cain and Abel 5

The water rose higher and higher 12

So Noah opened the door of the ark 14

In some way she lost the road 19

Learned to shoot with the bow and arrow 20

For two days they walked 24

"God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering" 25

"Sell me your birthright" 29

"Now, my son, do what I tell you" 32

"May nations bow down to you" 34

Angels were upon the stairs 38

Jacob went onward in his long journey 40

Back to the Land of Canaan 43

Walking northward over the mountains 45

For twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph 47

"The two dreams have the same meaning" 56

"What wicked thing is this that you have done?" 70

They made the Israelites work hard 75

She placed her baby in the ark 76

Moses became a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian 79

God fed them day by day with manna 81

A cluster of grapes so large that two men carried it 83

The angel touched the offering with his staff 89

The men blew their trumpets with a mighty noise 95

He carried off the gates of the city 105

He bowed forward with all his might and pulled
the pillars with him 109

Ruth went out into the fields to glean the grain 114

Then Samuel poured oil on David's head 122

The giant looked down on the youth and despised him 128

David drew out the giant's own sword 129

Solomon on his throne 136

Supposed form of Solomon's Temple 137

Ship in Solomon's time 137

Denounced Ahab and Jezebel 139

Made king when he was only seven years old 140

"This is the arrow of victory" 141

To shade Jonah from the sun 145

Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage 150

An angel befriended them 152

Thrown into the den of lions 157

Daniel's Answer to the King 158

"Do not be afraid, Zacharias" 162

They were filled with fear 169

The baby in the manger 170

The Shepherds in the Field 171

The wise men went their way 173

He took his wife and baby and went down to Egypt 176

Sitting in a company of the doctors of the law 181

"Fill the jars with water" 185

"Take these things away" 187

The net caught so many fishes they could not pull it up 196

"I came not to call those who think themselves to be good" 201

Then, on the mountain, he preached 203

"Speak the word and my servant shall be cured" 207

The children loved to gather around him 210

Then he lifted him up 219

Came to Bethany where his friends Martha and Mary lived 221

She wiped his feet with her hair 223

They threw their garments upon the ground for Jesus to ride upon 225

The great city was deaf to his pleadings 227

Peter Denies Christ 232

He heard their complaints 235

INTRODUCTION

The Bible is one of the two or three oldest books in the world, but
unlike most of the ancient books, it is found not only in great
libraries, but in almost every home of the civilized world; and it is
not only studied by learned scholars, but read by the common people; and
its many stories grasp and hold the attention of little children. Happy
is that child who has heard, over and over again, the Bible stories
until they have become fixed in his mind and memory, to become the
foundations of a noble life.

It is with the desire of aiding parents and teachers in telling these
stories, and aiding children to understand them, also in the hope that
they may be read in many schools, that a few among the many interesting
stories in the Bible have been chosen, brought together and as far as
necessary simplified to meet the minds of the young.

[Signature: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut]

THE STORY OF ADAM AND EVE

The first man's name was Adam and his wife he called Eve. They lived in
a beautiful Garden away in the East Country which was called Eden,
filled with beautiful trees and flowers of all kinds. But they did not
live in Eden long for they did not obey God's command, but ate the fruit
of a tree which had been forbidden them. They were driven forth by an
angel and had to give up their beautiful home.

[Illustration: _They were driven forth by an angel_]

So Adam and his wife went out into the world to live and to work. For a
time they were all alone, but after a while God gave them a little child
of their own, the first baby that ever came into the world. Eve named
him Cain; and after a time another baby came, whom she named Abel.

When the two boys grew up, they worked, as their father worked before
them. Cain, the older brother, chose to work in the fields, and to raise
grain and fruits. Abel, the younger brother, had a flock of sheep and
became a shepherd.

While Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden, they could talk
with God and hear God's voice speaking to them. But now that they were
out in the world, they could no longer talk with God freely, as before.
So when they came to God, they built an altar of stones heaped up, and
upon it, they laid something as a gift to God, and burned it, to show
that it was not their own, but was given to God, whom they could not
see. Then before the altar they made their prayer to God, and asked God
to forgive their sins, all that they had done was wrong; and prayed God
to bless them and do good to them.

Each of these brothers, Cain and Abel, offered upon the altar to God his
own gift. Cain brought the fruits and the grain which he had grown; and
Abel brought a sheep from his flock, and killed it and burned it upon
the altar. For some reason God was pleased with Abel and his offering,
but was not pleased with Cain and his offering. Perhaps God wished Cain
to offer something that had life, as Abel offered; perhaps Cain's heart
was not right when he came before God.

And God showed that He was not pleased with Cain; and Cain, instead of
being sorry for his sin, and asking God to forgive him, was very angry
with God, and angry also toward his brother Abel. When they were out in
the field together Cain struck his brother Abel and killed him. So the
first baby in the world grew up to be the murderer of his own brother.

And the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?"

[Illustration: _Cain and Abel_]

And Cain answered, "I do not know; why should I take care of my
brother?"

Then the Lord said to Cain, "What is this that you have done? Your
brother's blood is like a voice crying to me from the ground. Do you see
how the ground has opened, like a mouth, to drink your brother's blood?
As long as you live, you shall be under God's curse for the murder of
your brother. You shall wander over the earth, and shall never find a
home, because you have done this wicked deed."

And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Thou hast driven me out from among men; and thou hast hid thy face from
me. If any man finds me he will kill me, because I shall be alone, and
no one will be my friend."

And God said to Cain, "If any one harms Cain, he shall be punished for
it." And the Lord God placed a mark on Cain, so that whoever met him
should know him and should know also that God had forbidden any man to
harm him. Then Cain and his wife went away from Adam's home to live in a
place by themselves, and there they had children. And Cain's family
built a city in that land; and Cain named the city after his first
child, whom he had called Enoch.

THE STORY OF NOAH AND THE ARK

After Abel was slain, and his brother Cain had gone into another land,
again God gave a child to Adam and Eve. This child they named Seth; and
other sons and daughters were given to them; for Adam and Eve lived many
years. But at last they died, as God had said they must die, because
they had eaten of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat.

By the time that Adam died, there were many people on the earth; for the
children of Adam and Eve had many other children; and when these grew up
they had other children; and these had children also. These men and
women and children lived in tents. They owned sheep and cattle, and they
moved about with them, wherever they could find pasture. The children
played around the tent doors, and sat beside the camp-fires in the
evenings, where they all sang together, and the older people told them
stories. And after a time this land where Adam's sons lived began to be
full of people.

It is sad to tell that as time went on more and more of these people
became wicked, and fewer and fewer of them grew up to become good men
and women. All the people lived near together, and few went away to
other lands; so it came to pass that even the children of good men and
women learned to be bad, like the people around them, and no longer did
what was right and good.

And as God looked down on the world that he had made, he saw how wicked
the men in it had become, and that every thought and every act of man
was evil and only evil continually.

But while most of the people in the world were very wicked, there were
some good people also, though they were very few. The best of all the
men who lived at that time was a man whose name was Enoch. He was not
the son of Cain, but another Enoch, who came from the family of Seth,
the son of Adam, who was born after the death of Abel. While so many
around Enoch were doing evil, this man did only what was right. He
walked with God and God walked with him, and talked with him. And at
last, when Enoch was a very old man and weary with life, God took him
away from earth to heaven. He did not die, as all the people have since
Adam disobeyed God, but "he was not, for God took him." This means that
Enoch was taken up from earth without dying.

All the people in the time of Enoch were not shepherds. Some of them had
learned how to make rude bows and arrows and axes and plows. And after a
long time they melted iron, and they made knives and swords and dishes
to use in their homes. They sowed grain in the fields and reaped
harvests, and they planted vines and fruit trees. But God looked down on
the earth and said:

"I will take away all men from the earth that I have made; because the
men of the world are evil, and do evil continually."

But even in those bad times God saw one good man. His name was Noah.
Noah tried to do right in the sight of God. As Enoch had walked with
God, so Noah walked with God, and talked with him. And Noah had three
sons; their names were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth.

God said to Noah, "The time has come when all the men and women on the
earth are to be destroyed. Every one must die, because they are all
wicked. But you and your family shall be saved, because you alone are
trying to do right."

Then God told Noah how he might save his life and the lives of his sons.
He was to build a very large boat, as large as the largest ships that
are made in our time; very long, and very wide and very deep; with a
roof over it; and made like a long, wide house in three stories; but so
built that it would float on the water. Such a ship as this was called
"an ark." God told Noah to build this ark, and to have it ready for the
time when he would need it.

"For," said God to Noah, "I am going to bring a great flood of water on
the earth to cover all the land and to drown all the people on the
earth. And as the animals on the earth will be drowned with the people,
you must make the ark large enough to hold a pair of each kind of
animals and several pairs of some animals that are needed by men, like
sheep and goats and oxen; so that there will be animals as well as men
to live upon the earth after the flood has passed away. And you must
take in the ark food for yourself and your family, and for all the
animals with you; enough food to last for a year, while the flood shall
stay on the earth."

And Noah did what God told him to do, although it must have seemed very
strange to all the people around, to build this great ark where there
was no water for it to sail upon. And it was a long time, because this
ship was so big, that Noah and his sons were at work building the ark,
which God had told them to build, while the wicked people around
wondered, and no doubt laughed at Noah for building a great ship where
there was no sea.

At last the ark was finished, and stood like a great house on the land.
There was a door on one side, and a window on the roof, to let in the
light. Then God said to Noah:

"Come into the ark, you and your wife, and your three sons, and their
wives with them; for the flood of waters will come very soon. And take
with you animals of all kinds, and birds, and things that creep; seven
pairs of these that will be needed by men, and one pair of all the rest,
so that all kinds of animals may be kept alive upon the earth."

So Noah and his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, with
their wives, went into the ark. And God brought to the door of the ark
the animals, and the birds, and the creeping things of all kinds; and
they went into the ark. And Noah and his sons put them in their places,
and brought in food enough to feed them all for many days. And then the
door of the ark was shut and no more people and no more animals could
come in.

In a few days the rain began to fall, as it had never rained before. It
seemed as though the heavens were opened to pour great floods upon the
earth. The streams filled, and the rivers rose higher and higher, and
the ark began to float on the water. The people left their houses and
ran up to the hills; but soon the hills were covered, and all the people
on them were drowned.

Some had climbed up to the tops of higher mountains, but the water rose
higher and higher, until even the mountains were covered and all the
people, wicked as they had been, were drowned in the great sea that now
rolled over all the earth where man had lived. And all the animals, the
tame animals, cattle, and sheep, and oxen, were drowned; and the wild
animals, lions, and tigers, and all the rest were drowned also. Even the
birds were drowned, for their nests in the trees were swept away, and
there was no place where they could fly from the terrible storm. For
forty days and nights the rain kept on, until there was no breath of
life remaining outside of the ark.

[Illustration: _The water rose higher and higher_]

After forty days the rain stopped, but the water stayed upon the earth
for more than six months, and the ark with all that were in it floated
over the great sea that covered the land. Then God sent a wind to blow
over the waters, and to dry them up; so by degrees the waters grew less
and less. First mountains rose above the waters, then the hills rose
up, and finally the ark ceased to float and lay aground on a mountain
which is called Mount Ararat.

But Noah could not see what had happened on the earth, because the door
was shut, and the only window was up in the roof. But he felt that the
ark was no longer moving, and he knew that the water must have gone
down. So, after waiting for a time, Noah opened a window, and let loose
a bird called a raven. Now the raven has strong wings; and this raven
flew round and round until the waters had gone down, and it could find a
place to rest, and it did not come back to the ark.

After Noah had waited for it awhile, he sent out a dove; but the dove
could not find any place to rest, so it flew back to the ark, and Noah
took it into the ark again. Then Noah waited a week longer, and
afterward he sent out the dove again. And at the evening, the dove came
back to the ark, which was its home; and in its bill was a fresh leaf
which it had picked off from an olive tree.

So Noah knew that the water had gone down enough to let the trees grow
again. He waited another week, and sent out the dove again; but this
time the dove flew away and never came back. And Noah knew that the
earth was becoming dry again. So he took off a part of the roof, and
looked out, and saw that there was dry land all around the ark, and the
waters were no longer everywhere.

Noah had now lived in the ark a little more than a year, and he was glad
to see the green land and the trees once more. And God said to Noah:

"Come out of the ark, with your wife, and your sons, and their wives,
and all the living things that are with you in the ark."

[Illustration: _So Noah opened the door of the Ark_]

So Noah opened the door of the ark, and with his family came out, and
stood once more on the ground. And the animals, and birds, and creeping
things in the ark, came out also, and began again to bring life to the
earth.

The first thing that Noah did when he came out of the ark, was to give
thanks to God for saving all his family when the rest of the people on
the earth were destroyed. He built an altar, and laid upon it an
offering to the Lord, and gave himself and his family to God and
promised to do God's will.

And God was pleased with Noah's offering, and God said:

"I will not again destroy the earth on account of men, no matter how bad
they may be. From this time no flood shall again cover the earth; but
the seasons of spring and summer and fall and winter, shall remain
without change. I give to you the earth; you shall be the rulers of the
ground and of every living thing upon it."

Then God caused a rainbow to appear in the sky, and he told Noah and his
sons that whenever they or the people after them should see the rainbow,
they should remember that God had placed it in the sky and over the
clouds as a sign of his promise, that he would always remember the
earth, and the people upon it, and would never again send a flood to
destroy man from the earth.

So as often as we see the beautiful rainbow, we are to remember that it
is the sign of God's promise to the world.

THE STORY OF HAGAR AND ISHMAEL

After the great flood the family of Noah and those who came after him
grew in number, until, as the years went on, the earth began to be full
of people once more. But there was one great difference between the
people who had lived before the flood and those who lived after it.
Before the flood, all the people stayed close together, so that very
many lived in one land, and no one lived in other lands. After the flood
families began to move from one place to another, seeking for themselves
new homes. Some went one way, and some another, so that as the number of
people grew, they covered much more of the earth than those who had
lived before the flood.

Part of the people went up to the north and built a city called Nineveh,
which became the ruling city of a great land called Assyria, whose
people were called Assyrians.

Another company went away to the west and settled by the great river
Nile, and founded the land of Egypt, with its strange temples and
pyramids, its sphinx and its monuments.

Another company wandered northwest until they came to the shore of the
great sea which they called the Mediterranean Sea. There they founded
the cities of Sidon and Tyre, where the people were sailors, sailing to
countries far away, and bringing home many things from other lands to
sell to the people of Babylon, and Assyria, and Egypt, and other
countries.

Among the many cities which the people built were two called Sodom and
Gomorrah. The people in these cities were very wicked and were nearly
all destroyed. One good man named Lot and his family escaped. There was
another good man named Abraham who did not live in these cities. He
tried to do God's will and was promised a son to bring joy into his
family.

After Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Abraham moved his tent and his
camp away from that part of the land, and went to live near a place
called Gerar, in the southwest, not far from the Great Sea. And there at
last, the child whom God had promised to Abraham and Sarah, his wife,
was born, when Abraham, his father, was a very old man.

They named this child Isaac, as the angel had told them he should be
named. And Abraham and Sarah were so happy to have a little boy, that
after a time they gave a great feast and invited all the people to come
and rejoice with them, and all in honor of the little Isaac.

Now Sarah had a maid named Hagar, an Egyptian woman, who ran away from
her mistress, and saw an angel by a well, and afterward came back to
Sarah. She, too, had a child and his name was Ishmael. So now there were
two boys in Abraham's tent, the older boy, Ishmael, the son of Hagar,
and the younger boy, Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah.

Ishmael did not like the little Isaac, and did not treat him kindly.
This made his mother Sarah very angry, and she said to her husband:

"I do not wish to have this boy Ishmael growing up with my son Isaac.
Send away Hagar and her boy, for they are a trouble to me."

And Abraham felt very sorry to have trouble come between Sarah and
Hagar, and between Isaac and Ishmael; for Abraham was a kind and good
man, and he was friendly to them all.

But the Lord said to Abraham, "Do not be troubled about Ishmael and his
mother. Do as Sarah has asked you to do, and send them away. It is best
that Isaac should be left alone in your tent, for he is to receive
everything that is yours. I the Lord will take care of Ishmael, and will
make a great people of his descendants, those who shall come from him."

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