In Him Only: Bible Reading Plan (revised Sept 2016)

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Bible Reading Plan (revised Sept 2016)

A Bible Reading Plan

(Revised September 2016)

Start Anytime During the Year

From time to time I am asked to suggest a pattern for daily Bible reading. I read at least two chapters each morning from the Old Testament (OT) and two each evening from the New Testament (NT). Each sitting takes about 15 minutes, or 30 minutes/day. That pattern gets me through the OT once a year (maybe 13 months if I am slow), and the NT three times in a year. I place a check mark in my Bible’s table of contents to help me keep track of what I’ve read and what I need to read.

For new readers, I recommend only partial readings of books such as Exodus, Numbers, and 1 Chronicles because the chapters that I don't list (below) contain pages of laws and family genealogies, etc, that can become tedious to read – and possibly discourage continuation. I deleted Leviticus from the list for the same reason. (There are many other similarly ‘tedious lists’ scattered throughout the OT that I did not list below. You can decide when you come to them whether to peruse those sections or examine them).

I am NOT suggesting those chapters/books are not valuable. I have read those entire books many, many times. But for a first-read, I think it more important to first get the “big picture.” On your second and subsequent readings year by year through the Bible, you ought to read the chapters you omitted here.

My Old Testament and New Testament pattern follows below. I suggest you read the books in the order I have listed them. Doing so will help coalesce your understanding of important events and people according to their (loosely grouped) historical context. You might also find it helpful to print the following list and keep it with your Bible.

(Note to Protestants: You will notice extra Old Testament books in the below list. Catholic Bibles include those books and I wrote this plan specifically for my Catholic brethren. However, this plan works equally as well for Protestants. Just omit those extra books from the list if you wish. The basic historical chronology of the remaining books is unchanged.)

(See below for the plan)

The Jewish priest, Ezra, "Set himself to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel" (Ezra 7).

May God help us do likewise.

Old Testament

Genesis
Exodus (chapters 1-24, 32-34)
~~Leviticus~~ (to be read on second and later times through the OT)
Numbers (chapters 11-25, 31-36)
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 & 2 Samuel
Job
Psalms 1-72
1Kings
Psalms (73-150)

Obadiah

Jonah

Joel

2 Kings
Isaiah
Hosea
Micah
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Habakkuk
Zephaniah

Nahum
Daniel

Esther
Ezra
Nehemiah
Haggai
Wisdom
Amos
Proverbs 1-15
Ezekiel 1-40
Proverbs 16-31
Zechariah
Malachi
1 Chronicles 10-21, 28-29
2 Chronicles
Judith
Tobit

Sirach
1&2 Maccabees

New Testament

Luke
Acts
1 & 2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians