Reading the Bible in 2013

Do you want to read the whole Bible?

If the average person reads 200 to 250 words per minute, and if there are about 775,000 words in the Bible, then it would take less than 10 minutes a day to read the whole Bible in a year.

Audio Bibles are usually about 75 hours long, so you can listen to it in just over 12 minutes a day.

But a simple resolution to do this is often an insufficient. Most of us need a more proactive plan.

Stephen Witmer explains the weaknesses of typical plans and offers some advice on reading the Bible together with others—as well as offering his own new two-year plan. (“In my opinion, it is better to read the whole Bible through carefully one time in two years than hastily in one year.”) His plan has you read through one book of the Bible at a time (along with a daily reading from the Psalms or Proverbs). At the end of two years you will have read through the Psalms and Proverbs four times and the rest of the Bible once.

The Gospel Coalition’s For the Love of God Blog (which you can subscribe to via email) takes you through the M’Cheyne reading plan, with a meditation each day by D. A. Carson related to one of the readings. M’Cheyne’s plan has you read shorter selections from four different places in the Bible each day.

George Guthrie’s “Read the Bible for Life Chronological Bible Reading Plan” is a semi-chronological plan, placing the prophets and the NT letters in basic chronological order. You read in four different places each day, along with a daily psalm (so you end up reading the Psalter twice in a year). You can also download a printable booklet.

For those who would benefit from a realistic “discipline + grace” approach, consider “The Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers.” As Andy Perry explains, it takes away the pressure (and guilt) of “keeping up” with the entire Bible in one year. You get variety within the week by alternating genres by day, but also continuity by sticking with one genre each day. Here’s the basic idea:

Sundays: Poetry

Mondays: Penteteuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy)

Tuesdays: Old Testament history

Wednesdays: Old Testament history

Thursdays: Old Testament prophets

Fridays: New Testament history

Saturdays: New Testament epistles (letters)

There are a number of Reading Plans for ESV Editions. Crossway has made them accessible in multiple formats:

web (a new reading each day appears online at the same link)
RSS (subscribe to receive by RSS)
podcast (subscribe to get your daily reading in audio)
iCal (download an iCalendar file)
mobile (view a new reading each day on your mobile device)
print (download a PDF of the whole plan)




Reading Plan
Format


Chronological

Through the Bible chronologically (from Back to the Bible)
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Daily Light on the Daily Path

Daily Light on the Daily Path – the ESV version of Samuel Bagster’s classic
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Daily Office Lectionary

Daily Psalms, Old Testament, New Testament, and Gospels
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Daily Reading Bible

Daily Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


ESV Study Bible

Daily Psalms or Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch or the History of Israel; Chronicles or Prophets; and Gospels or Epistles
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Every Day in the Word

Daily Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Literary Study Bible

Daily Psalms or Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch or the History of Israel; Chronicles or Prophets; and Gospels or Epistles
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan

Daily Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Outreach

Daily Old Testament, Psalms, and New Testament
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Outreach New Testament

Daily New Testament. Read through the New Testament in 6 months
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email


Through the Bible in a Year

Daily Old Testament and New Testament
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email

You can also access each of these Reading Plans as podcasts:

Right-click (Ctrl-click on a Mac) the “RSS” link of the feed you want from the above list.
Choose “Copy Link Location” or “Copy Shortcut.”
Start iTunes.
Under File, choose “Subscribe to Podcast.”
Paste the URL into the box.
Click OK.