Going Through The Bible

[Rippon2]

Since December 25th of 2019 I have been disciplining myself to do systematic reading of the Bible. I started with one schedule doing portions of Psalms, Proverbs and a New Testament book. That got to be too tedious. So I began reading all of the book of Psalms (or Palms, as Joe Biden has said). Then I began reading Genesis up through Job which I finished yesterday. It looks like this will be a three year plan. I intend to finish Malachi by the end of October 2021. All of my plans of course should be conditioned with Lord willing.

I will start Matthew by November 2021 and conclude the book of Revelation by December 25, 2022. I wanted to slow the pace of reading and meditating when going through the New Testament.

Aside from Bible reading I usually have several books that I pour through. I haven't learned the art of finishing one and going to the next. I own just two Dale Ralph Davis commentaries. My pastor lets me borrow other Davis commentaries. Davis is an excellent communicator of biblical truths. But I am a bit behind in reading his commentaries. I have yet to read his work on 1 Kings. He didn't issue any commentaries on 1 and 2 Chronicles. I do own T.V. Moore's books on three Old Testament prophets which I never got to. And I am enjoying Michael P.V. Barrett's book : "The Next To Last Word : Service, Hope, And Revival In The Postexilic Prophets." I just got that last month. I have two other books by him. I listen to him on Sermonaudio.com. And I had the pleasure of hearing him speak personally when he lived, taught and co-pastored in South Carolina. I used to own a book by James Boice on the Minor Prophets, which I read with great satisfaction but somewhere along the way it got misplaced (I can't bring myself to say it got lost.)

I have loads of Bible study helps for the New Testament. And I pull out the NIV Compact Dictionary Of The Bible constantly. To save my eyes I prefer to read old-fashioned books rather than electronic forms.

Other believers I have spoken with suggest that I should memorize one verse per chapter which I have yet to do. When I conclude a chapter or two it doesn't mean I can tick that off as complete. A sermon I heard a long time ago was entitled "When Is The Message Really Over?" When we hear a sermon and it ends at 12:15, is it really over? Of course not. It should continue to be with us as we meditate on it --give it a good chew.

It's amazing to me that some are able to read the Bible in one year. That requires speed reading. When it comes to the Word of God I have to go slower. But each to their own method. I think that a five year plan is the most ideal to really get the most out of Scripture.

In the future which is not guaranteed to me --I would like to go through the Scriptures with a chronological Bible. That would set things in better perspective for me.

So do y-o-u (plural as Hendrickson would do) folks think? How are you going about your Bible reading? Do you have the desire to read the entire canon regularly? Please give me your thoughts.

 

[Lodic]

Periodically I read through the entire Bible - sometimes in one year, sometimes in two or three years. I've read it through in the chronological order of events, and I've read it through in the order the books were written. Whatever plan or schedule God lays on your heart is obviously the one to follow. I would admonish you to be careful that you don't overload yourself with commentaries and other Christian books. The main focus of reading through the Bible is for a deeper understanding of God's Word. Keep your eyes open for whatever new things the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Be open to fresh interpretations, but test any new interpretations against other passages. Congratulations on this goal.

 

[rlvaughn]

Just an opinion, and this probably works differently for different people. If someone has never read through the Bible, I think a one-year plan is good in order to go ahead and get an idea of what the entire Bible is about. After that then probably better to slow down and spend more time in each book. I think it is good to vary the plans also, such as try a chronological reading one time, then something else the next time, etc.

 

[Marooncat79]

One of my fav ways to read thru a book is today, I read chapter 1

Tomorrow 1-2

Next day 1-2-3

Next day 2-3-4

Next dat 3-4-5

That way I read each chapter 3 times

 

[Scripture More Accurately]

I have read through the Bible every year of my life as a Christian. I believe that doing so is an essential discipline.

Some years, I have read through in canonical order from Gen. to Rev. Other years, I have followed a plan, such as the McCheyne Bible reading plan.

Many other years, I simply have read through the books in various orders, keeping track each year that I have read through all 66 books.

I have also read through the Bible in Spanish more than once and have read the Bible through in biblical Greek (Septuagint [canonical books only] + Gk. NT) twice.

 

[Rippon2]

If I counted correctly, there are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. It breaks down to 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 in the New Testament. To get through the entire canon in 365 days one would have to read an average of slightly more than 4 chapters per day.
For me that's too fast of a clip each and every day. To get to where I am currently I have sometimes read 9 or so chapters in one day. But since I achieved my goal of sorts, I am glad to be reading just a chapter per day and re-reading too. Four chapters per day is too much volume for me. I have to do it it in smaller chunks to get much out of it.

The Evelyn Wood style is not appropriate for a Bible reading plan. I prefer to do my reading and meditating early in the morning. If someone has the time, several periods of the day or night to do it then perhaps that would work.

Do any of you vary your translations for your one, two or three year plans?

 

[Lodic]

Do any of you vary your translations for your one, two or three year plans?

Yes, I often switch which translation I use when I read through the Bible. (I've even tried to read through the Geneva Bible, but the language was too archaic.) This has helped me determine my favorite translations (NASB & NKJV). I've also read it through with multiple translations at the same time, which is pretty interesting.
While I have read the Bible through in one year (several times), I prefer not to give myself a time limit anymore. To me, that put too much emphasis on the "time goal" and not enough on the "learn the Bible" goal.