Not Wasting Time With the Dishonest
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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.)
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)
Numbers (chapters 11-25, 31-36)
Deuteronomy
(Leviticus) -- to be read on the second and subsequent times through the Old Testament
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
Romans
John
Revelation
Matthew
1 & 2 Peter
James
Philippians
Colossians
Mark
1&2 Thessalonians
1&2 Timothy
Titus
Hebrews
1-3 John
Philemon
Jude
Richard Maffeo was born into a Jewish home in the early 1950s. In 1972 he discovered Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and he dove into his awakened faith with a passion that continues to this present day. He has written three books, writes a blog, and teaches several bible studies each week at 55+ communities. You can find his blog at www.inhimonly.blogspot.com. You can find him on Facebook by searching for his name.
Richard and his wife Nancy are married more than 50 years. They have three grown children.
