The MacArthur Bible Handbook treats every book of the Bible in turn, supplying the author and date, the historical setting, the occasion and purpose, the principal themes, an outline of the contents, and notes on interpretive challenges particular to that book. It is designed to orient a reader before study rather than to comment on individual verses, and draws on MacArthur's decades of expository preaching through the Scriptures.

This is the book to reach for when beginning a new book of the Bible and wanting the lay of the land first. It suits small group leaders preparing a series, Sunday school teachers, new believers working through the canon for the first time, and anyone whose Bible reading has suffered from not knowing why a given book was written.