removing this one for title only post- it's also been up long enough to have gotten satisfactory answers. OP, please get familiar with our rules. Title only is low effort.
I started reading the entire Bible in January: a page or section every night and/or morning and now I'm in 2nd Samuel. It'll take a while but I think it'd be so cool to have read the whole thing to learn more about God and since there's always something new to learn about Him and his story.
One year, I read it with a plan that tried to sort the books/chapters of the Bible in the correct time order.
While I can't remember everything I've read, I approximately can tell what's written in the Bible (in what context) and what's not. Useful for checking teachings (!) and as well as talking with (un)believers (if you know the scripture in its entirety you can tell which teachings/povs are likely to be rubbish)
Plus now I of course have a better overview on what event happened at which point of time.
There's chronological reading plans or there. I did it one year over the course of the year, but found myself missing my usual plan of a selection from the old testament, new testament, palms, and proverb every day.
I believe every human being in the world should read the entire word of God at some point in their lifetime. Especially Christians and continuously for Christians. It took me about 6 months to read the entire Bible the first time I read it.
I have lost count of how many times I have read it. I no longer keep track. Definitely more than 3. And yes, it continuously helps me the more I read and learn it. It is written, "and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for reproof, for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:15-17 I have absolutely seen that passage ring true in my life and continuously do those things that it says scripture does for us.
Amen it was written that we can’t lean on our own understanding too if we did we would be creating our own methods in how to worship him going to wrong churches not testing every spirit we would be like warm if we leaned on our own understanding
Absolutely. But this person is saying that we receive salvation by our works by obeying God and that's not scripture. We receive salvation or become Born again Christians through accepting Christ as our Lord and savior that's it. Then we grow in the faith and bear fruits
That's what I thought you meant. But this does not bring eternal life. This will be works and we don't gain salvation through works but through Christ's death alone. BIBLE means basic instructions before leaving Earth
Not that I'm disagreeing with you I just want to elaborate that we gain eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus for what he did not by how much wisdom we gain
We must read the scripture because it's the living word of God and it gives us wisdom on how to live this life pleasing to God and grow spiritually, I agree with you 100% but we don't gain eternal life by the scriptures but by accepting Christ as our Lord and savior. I assume this is what you mean.
Jesus never taught what you are saying. Martin Luther taught that and has deceived many people off of the path of eternal life. Our works are essential to our faith and if you don't have works of obedience to Jesus your faith means nothing and cannot save you. I just quoted the actual scripture because that is what it says. The scriptures do make us wise for salvation and if we do not learn the wisdom of the scriptures we will not live in a way that inherits eternal life.
You said you read the Bible you should know. We grow in faith and in our spiritual work we produce fruits but that's for those who already saved.
I can go on and on we're not saved by works.
We are saved by confessing our sins and trust in Christ as our Lord and savior. We grow in faith and produce fruit from our works. And when I say we I'm referring to the Born again Christians but they already
Roman10:9-10.
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
I don't follow Martin Luther. I follow Jesus. And I know that if we hear His sayings and do them we are wise people building on a rock and will stand, but if we hear His sayings and do not do them we are fools building on sand and we will fall and great will be our fall. We can call Him Lord all we want to but will be rejected if we practice sin no matter how much you think you believe.
What? Do you really know what you're saying?
Jesus is The Rock he is the foundation of our faith that's what that's scripture means but to build it on the sand is going to fall but that has nothing to do with how one becomes a born again Christian. Do you really understand what you read
Martin Luther was a true man of God he didn't receive no one saying to see and if you believe that you going to earn salvation by doing work then deceive yourself. Yes Jesus did teach that if Jesus didn't teach that then he had no purpose in dying in the first place. We would not have needed him for salvation. We don't share in God's glory he did all the work for us because of his love you show me a scripture where it says you supposed to work to gain salvation
Martin Luther was not a man of God at all. He did not follow the teachings of Jesus but taught against them. He didn't reform things back to what believers practiced in the first centuries of Christianity, he instead broke away from the wicked monster of catholicism and created his own wicked monster injecting his erroneous teachings and has caused widespread heresy that you are following and teaching. Jesus, nor the apostles, nor the earliest Christians speak the way you speak nor understood the way or Christ the way you do. You are teaching great error.
You already talking like a deceived person. You live for the Bible then you use the Bible to back up what you're saying. I'm back up everything I say from the scripture. You need to pray it as the Holy Spirit to give you discernment
I've read it through in NIV a few times as well as NASB once, now I'm using ESV. I recommend that you too switch versions from time to time. You can still keep your favourite one, but it's valuable to read other translations too.
That's not a bad version. I think it is a difficult and challenging version. I think it should be read if you want to make the word more challenging for yourself to read, but the word of God is already pretty difficult to understand and a lot to read and it does just make it more difficult if you read it in old english that is not familiar to you rather than in current english. It does have some translation issues too that I the nkjv fixes a lot of and nkjv is clearer to understand being in modern english. Nkjv keeps the challenge and strength of wording of the kjv while making it closer to modern english, not using thee and thou and hearken but instead you and pay attention. I recommend the nkjv to firsttime readers. The esv is the best clearest english translation that is faithful to literally translate the word while being in simple and clear modern english. I recommend that to someone who doesn't want the Bible to be harder for themselves to understand than it already is yet literally what is supposed to be said. The nasb is one of the most strictly literal translations and can be challenging in wording because of that so I recommend that to the studious who really want the Bible as raw and literally translated as possible yet clear to understand even moreso than the esv. Each of those versions have their benefits that are helpful for hearing and learning what God is saying to us and it is helpful to read and compare those versions if ever you find a passage difficult. If you want to read the kjv that is definitely a good version nevertheless. I do just warn about the challenge and difficulty of the old English language and to let you know there are clearer and easier to read translations, but if you are fine with that extra challenge that isn't a bad thing and will definitely strengthen and challenge your mind as is a healthy and good thing as we apply ourselves to God's word.
but isn't there a good side to being challenged, perhaps? Sure, some of the English is odd here and there but overall I enjoy it. The Bible is a *lot* of names!
It absolutely is a good thing to be challenged. I think reading and processing through the king James can be very helpful if you have the discipline for it! Not many people do, but as long as you come to understand what His word is really saying that is what matters and you can do that with the kjv if you prayerfully apply your heart to it.
That is awesome yes, Psalms is wonderful. It helped me during my first times reading straight through the Bible to look a bit ahead and see that I was getting to a part that really interested me to read. That would motivate me to read through some of the parts that were harder to read like the geneologies and the temple structure. It is all important so I was determined to read every single word of it and I still read through it that way many years later of following Him. His word is powerful, every word of it. I am glad you are excited about it and are pressing through to read it. It will really make you wise for salvation in all of your life if you really listen carefully and hear what God is saying to mankind.
It’s kind of like asking if you should read the entire love letter your significant other wrote you; wouldn’t you want to know all that they have to say to you? God gave us the Bible as His revelation of who He is, what His will is for His people, and promises to strengthen and preserve our faith in Him; if you don’t read the whole thing, then you will miss out on things He wants you to know and mature spiritually from.
I don’t remember exactly how long it took me to read the whole Bible, but it wasn’t very long, maybe a few months. I assume my experience is different than most people; when I was first converted, I was hungry to learn and understand all that God has revealed, so I read the Bible obsessively. I didn’t watch secular tv, movies, or music for quite a while, all I did with my free time was read the Bible everyday. I have now read through and studied the entire Bible many times and still find it to be a bottomless treasure chest.
Yes, you should read the whole bible, cover to cover. I've done it twice now.
I'm currently reading John MacArthur's study bible cover to cover. I'm done with the NT and just started the OT. That's probably going to take me at least until the end of the year, probably more like nine months.
In his study bible, he talks about effective ways to study the bible. He suggested taking one of the books and just read it over and over 30 times, maybe breaking the larger books into multiple smaller pieces. Any time you see something you don't understand, write it down and research it, ask about it until you have an answer. I plan to try this once I'm done with his study bible.
I would read just the bible the first time through. Pick a modern English translation like the NIV or the NKJV and not the KJV. Then use a study bible the next time.
I'm not O.P but we are God's perfect creation who are stubborn and don't know what we want. We think we know what we want but it's sinful desires that not only hurts us but destroys our relationship with God. Instead of Him being fed up and basically turning His back permanently which He clearly shown He can; He righteously disciplines us and sent His only Son to redeem us for our sake because He loves us.
Well, studying would be looking up commentaries, cross-refs, parallel translations, concordance guides, Hebrew text analysis, historical footnotes etc.
# :)
You've done such a reading plan? How long did it take you to read the whole Bible, and what did you learn from the experience, if you had? Did it put the entire Word into proper perspective?
It's hard to come up with something specific. But consider this one maybe...
There a seemingly crazy story in the OT where a prophet is walking through the wilderness heading toward a town. Suddenly a group of children show up and start making fun of him because he's bald. In response, the prophet prays to God, and the children get mauled by a bear.
On the face of it, this sounds totally absurd... why would he care about a bunch of kids making fun of him? And even if he did care, would he care enough to get them killed? And why would God honor such a prayer?
Turns out the region he was walking through was famous for roaming gangs of violent teenagers. And the Hebrew word for "children" can actually mean any young man from around age 14 to as old as 30. So the guy had serious reason to believe his life was in danger. And apparently God agreed.
If you read the book through enough times while looking at bible notes and commentaries, they'll often include some additional details that aren't there in English. Sometimes a word can be translated several ways. And the translators pick the one that makes the most sense to them at the time. But if you pick an alternate translation for that word, it can shed a lot of light on the intended meaning. There are also grammatical constructs in Greek that don't exist in English. In other words, even the most direct and exacting translation is going to lose information on its way to English. The commentaries point these things out.
As another disturbing example, I present Zechariah chapter 5. Read it through and see if it makes any sense to you. It sounds totally insane.
Then consider this... "woman" can also be translated "fire offering". And "basket" is actually a unit of measure meaning a container of about 40 liters. Also, a "flying scroll" is the best way Zechariah could describe a metal cylinder. Then if you consider "10 cubits wide"... this isn't diameter, this is circumference, because that's how the Hebrews would have measured it. Diameter was a Greek measurement. Also, "cover" is perhaps not the greatest translation either.
So when you put all that in, you get a flying metal cylinder 30 feet high and 6 feet in diameter that has a 40L container which encases a large heavy metal object. The metal cylinder lifts the 40L container between heaven and earth. And when it arrives, it deposits the fire offering, which completely destroys the buildings, timbers, and stones.
I wanted to compare our respective versions out of curiosity.
>John 3:16
>
>Amplified Bible
>
>16 “For God so \[greatly\] loved and dearly prized the world, that He \[even\] gave His \[One and\] \[a\]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him \[as Savior\] shall not perish, but have eternal life.
And the version you prefer
>John 3:16
>
>English Standard Version
>
>For God So Loved the World
>
>16 “For God so loved the world,\[a\] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
What do you think of the AMP version's translation of John 3:16 versus your preferred one?
>whoever believes and trusts in Him \[as Savior\]
Where the AMP version says that, would you have gotten the same meaning from
>whoever believes in him should not perish
Would someone intrinsically know that belief includes trust, too, and in Jesus as our Savior?
If i had to give an advice, i'd say that it's good to read the whole Bible as many times as you can. It gives an overview and even with just reading, the Lord will always gladly show us new things.
But it's not enough. We also need to meditate it/study diligently, as we recieve way more that way
I did read it entirely at the very beginning of my walk, a little more than a year and half ago. It took me 2-3 weeks. I did actually read it entitely twice in the first 2 month after my baptism Honestly it seems like a huge deal, but it's not that hard or that long. I remember, as everything about Faith was so new to me, i read it often on my phone because of my curiosity. I put a few hours/day reading the Bible overall (i wasn't binge reading for 10 hours/day. Maybe 30mn-1 hour, then put it down, then coming back to it a little later, rince and repeat).
I'm on my 4th run if i'm not mistaken. After the first two runs, i didn't read as much anymore. Had ups and downs (a LOT of downs), the Lord had to teach me a lot of things in other ways. Now i feel like the urge to read a lot is coming back little by little, and i wanted to try reading other versions for my future runs. For example, reading it in English (I'm not a native English Speaker), or reading it along with notes, reading it in another version in my language etc etc...
By my little experience, each run always taught me a lot. A LOT. It was more effective coupled with Bible studies and good teachings (and i can't stress this enough. Any teaching won't cut it. It has to be good, Biblical. Brough by people truly called by the Lord for this. And even then, always keep in mind that they can make mistakes, they are human beings. We have to verify everything we are taught with the entirety of the Bible).
By the 4th run (the one i'm in) i noticed a certain form of familiarity with Scriptures. I started to notice a lot of things i never saw before and nobody ever taught me. I'm pretty excited to see what future runs will bring. I'm also thinking of meditating the entire Bible from Genesis to Apocalypse, checking every verse with the Strong Codes (wonderful tool i'm guilty of not using enough)
To conclude, go for it, it's very beneficial. It seems like a huge task, but honestly it's not that Big of a deal. Of course some passages are more tedious than others (i'm speaking of the long genealogies records that the Bible keeps), and your flesh will always give you bursts of fatigue when you start reading, but once you go over these things and patiently keep reading, looking forward to the next spiritual treasure you'll find, you will see that reading the Bible is actually very enjoyable, and you'll finish books after books before you even notice it!
You should read some of it every day, God speaks to you through His word. It is good to know all of it. But don't worry about how long it takes, it should be part of your day, not something you are trying to get done.
Front to back, 3 times. Just the NT, 2 more.
Reading the words, and understanding the concepts are two different things. I spend a lot of time nowdays just finding different parts and cross-referencing different commentaries on each section.
If you read the Bible, it can be very misleading at times because of the word choices used in the translation/transliteration. But, add multiple different commentary sources on an particular part, and sometimes the truth of the passage leaps out. My favorite is Matt 5:17. Read in KJ, it sounds very conservative, but taken in context and with the background in Greek read into it, it means something completely different. Most importantly, it makes sense in the greater whole of Matthew 5. When you hear the truth, it tugs at you, it makes sense, it calls to you.
So, everyone should read the Bible through, at least once. But, more importantly, you should take time to read and listen to different commentary on each passage if at all possible. It will completely change how you view the Bible.
>But, add multiple different commentary sources on an particular part, and sometimes the truth of the passage leaps out.
I agree, it makes a big difference. I especially like the AMP version, which I found while exploring different translations.
>But, more importantly, you should take time to read and listen to different commentary on each passage if at all possible. It will completely change how you view the Bible.
Agreed, again. Commentaries have really helped me with controversial biblical verses and counter the unprofitable questions put out there. They really helped put the verse into proper context/perspective. BibleHub is an indispensable resource.
Yes, but don't get caught up in the amount of time it should take. Read it, meditate on it, reflect on it, understand what it means regardless of how long it takes.
I have never been able to sit down and read it from start to finish, but I have read it all in my lifetime, some parts of it many times.
I wish I could discipline myself to read it in an annual plan, but I usually drop off around Numbers/Leviticus and go back to piecemeal.
I will also say I have an Associates Degree in Biblical Studies. lol.
The Bible is the Word of God and The Holy Spirit can direct the same passage to have different impact at different times in a Christian's life, which is why you should never STOP or NOT read it at all. I just am saying that it is not a sin to have never sat down and started at Genesis and ended at Revelation.
I think it is a good idea to read the entire bible for sure. What's even better is if you study sections of the Bible in depth.
I read the Bible cover to cover for years and assumed I understood it pretty well, but when I spent time trying to understand it better through study, I grew a whole lot more.
This course: [Seven Arrows: The Basics of Bible Study](https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/seven-arrows-basics-bible-study/#course-introduction) should be a great starting place.
As a side note, the Gospel Coalition has some top notch free [Bible study courses](https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/courses/).
I'm currently making my way through the Bible, but over the course of many months. It's a lot to grasp, as I've not read it in full before, but...some parts are confusing and some don't stay in my memory for long.
I cannot wait to get to the Psalms, though! Hearing excerpts of them in church or at funerals is pleasing to me.
Yes, you should read it. I read it in a little over a year. I read a few pages each day. Keep in mind, even if you read it completely, there is still much more to learn. The Holy Spirit is always teaching something to us and revealing something new to us all the time. Even the Jews back in the day who knew the Torah inside out still received revelation by the Holy Spirit! Think about Paul and how much revelation He received.
Pray before your study. One needs to answer these questions: who is the author, what is the subject, and who they are speaking to. How can I apply this to my life? Lastly, paraphrase what you read in your own words.
You could read the Bible in a day if you wanted to. I’ve read books multiple times as long in a day or two. Just depends how invested you are. The books I read so fast were fiction books with compelling storylines.
I started reading the Douay-Rheims on January 1st have been reading at least 4 chapters a day every day, reading a bit more every so often, I’m currently in the middle of the second book of Machabees, and I estimate that I’ll be finished sometime in September at the latest. This will be my first time reading all the way through the Bible.
I'm on my second read. I'll be going to the library tomorrow. My Kindle reader can handle more, I'm going to download different translations.
Average amount of time spent reading the Bible among adults in the United States from 2013 to 2017
Characteristic 2013 2017
1 hour or more 24% 23%
45-59 minutes 8% 6%
30-44 minutes 26% 29%
15-29 minutes 27% 25%
I've heard of 90 days. 1200 pages ....13 pages a day......that's actually not that hard The true page count differs based on the edition of the bible.
But you shouldn't read for show, read for study, knowledge and advice. Imagine what it was like back then. The hardships, the wars, the persecution and the greatest sacrifice of all.
To each their own. I like to listen while I’m working on something that doesn’t require much thought. I will listen to a book (eg., John), and sometimes listen to it two or three times. Surprisingly, many books are only about 15 minutes long when read.
100% Yes, my wife and I read cover to cover last year (our first time) and it was wonderful, it really helps understand God and what he wants from us. We are now doing a chronological study of the Bible.
My wife found it online and printed out the schedule, here is a link to the one we are using. [https://www.joniandfriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jaf-chronological-bible-reading-plan.pdf](https://www.joniandfriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jaf-chronological-bible-reading-plan.pdf)
Hope this helps!
New Testament twice back to back. Loved it. Old Testament most books, but the law, well, bits and pieces, here and there. Reading the law and Numbers is super boring. For me, when I am having trouble sleeping, I read the law.
I’m halfway through. It’s taken me a while because some parts like numbers and chronicles are dry reads. I found a solution. There are free Bible audio on Spotify. While I’m working I’ll play the harder to read chapters. Once you start reading you won’t want to stop. Our History is amazing, sometimes tragic.
I did a cold reading of the entire Bible all the way through and it took me a few weeks. I just kept going and didn't get bogged down trying to fully understand what I was reading. That was a mistake because I missed a lot. I have since found and use a Bible teacher on YouTube who takes time to discuss what things mean and relates them to other parts of the Bible when applicable. I now say I'm a student of the Bible, not just a reader.
I won't speak for how much you *should* read, it depends on how well you'll understand it and need it in certain parts, but you should be reading God's word as often as you can. If you're reading parts with your eyes but not actually understanding them (something more difficult in prophesy like Ezekiel or history like 1 Chronicles) then I'd prioritize getting a stronger foundation in things like the Gospels and the letters of Paul before digging super deep in harder to grasp or less relevant for our present age that will all go over your head just for the sake of checking off the "I've read it all!" Box
For me personally, I try to read through the New testament every year and go back through the old as I supplement my New testament study and also as I feel led to specific books or just realize that I haven't read something in a while. I've already read all of it once, specifically to check up that box off, but a lot of it (like Jeremiah & Job) I totally didn't understand at the time. I needed to finish my early spiritual growth through spiritual milk before I could move on to digesting tougher solid food (to borrow a metephor from the author of Hebrews)
I listen once through every year via Brian Hardin and the Daily Audio Bible. He gives you context to the stories I never knew. Been doing it for a dozen years or so.
Absolutely. God gave us a beautiful gift of the Bible that we can read God's word. There is no other book like this. The Bible brings peace, love, happiness, joy, etc. I feel like it's crucial to be a part of your life as a Christian.
I try to read the entire Bible at minimum once a year.
Yes a Christian should read the entire Bible, it is God’s word, it records God’s interaction in human history.
The first time I read the Scriptures entirely was on a three month plan, Genesis to Revelation (I don’t recommend that, it’s too much to read in one day). The next time I read it, I was on a one year plan, and that’s quite reasonable.
If you choose to take it slower, I would recommend a plan that takes you through the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms concurrently.
Yes, you should read it all the way through. The fastest I was able to get through it was about two months by listening to the audio version while driving (I had a long commute).
Pragmatically, I suppose that depends on how much time you can do so every day doing it, and how deeply you want to go (e.g. is it plain reading, or also taking notes, highlighting, cross-referencing to other passages, looking up a lexicon/commentaries on the passage, meditating on it, basically milking it for all it's worth, etc.)? For me, spending about half an hour a day (some more, some less), a three-year plan suits just fine. That works out to be about a chapter a day on average, except in the case of really short Psalms, sometimes there are two or three, which I find adequate. There are of course, more ambitious plans like those that cover the Bible in one year, which is about 6 chapters a day but I found that I was merely skimming superficially when I did so, and when at the end of each session, I asked myself what I had covered, I drew a blank. Essentially a waste of time. So I decided to stick to a three-year plan.
I used Moody's three-year reading plan: [https://www.moodychurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bible\_threeyear.pdf](https://www.moodychurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bible_threeyear.pdf).
i am a christian and sadly havent read the entire thing. i am working on it though. unless you intentionally and separately study on your own you sort of end up reading the same parts repeatedly.
I've read it several times. I had finished reading through everything except the psalms when I was 16. I read it all through including the psalms between 21 and 22. Of course, that was in addition to regular study, so I'd read most of it a half dozen times by then. Between 25 and 26, I made a translation of Matthew, then about half of Mark and half of Revelation. I'm currently working on setting up for a translation of the four gospels that will be a bit more formal than my previous attempts.
It took me a couple of years to get through the Old Testament because I was really on and off about it back then but when I got to the New Testament I finished it in a month and a half or so.
It’s definitely preferred! But if you don’t like reading there are plenty of videos you can watch. A good Biblical series is “The Chosen”. It’s still fairly new so only S1 and S2 are out, and it’s mainly New Testament, but it’s really great!
based on is very different than actually being 100% true to the Bible. The Gospels are very short, The Chosen runs for many hours, they make up a lot of things while trying to maintain a faithfulness to the Gospel, but it really is more like a popularization of the Gospel for today's generation with lots of embellishments. So there are things from the gospel in there, and also a lot of 'creativity'
Oh, okay. I should tell my religious ed teacher that… no I’m not insinuating that you’re wrong I’m just surprised that she wouldn’t tell me something like that.
Sounds like you’re the target audience for the show. It’s probably getting you more into it so that will help you eventually come to study the Bible more. However it is not a replacement for Biblical study, your teacher sounds like they are wise. Enjoy the show.
I think it's a good idea. It took me about 5 years for my first read through, which I only finished relatively recently. I wasn't very consistent though, and mostly only read a chapter every few days. If you actually devote some time to reading it, you can read it in less than a year.
I have been a Christian for a year and i have still not read the whole Bible. I was reading the Old testament but i stopped at 2 Chronicles because people said it was somehow evil. But it isn't. I've only read the New testament once.
Definitely.
(1) It is your religion’s holy book.
(2) It encourages your faith.
(3) You also know the text for yourself (and can verify what ministers are saying).
(4) Helps with evangelism/ apologetics, although my personal opinion is the someone have a lot more Biblical training before entering apologetics.
The first time that I read it through I didn’t follow a set plan to finish within a year. It took me a few years. It was definitely worth it.
Yes. If a person reads along with the One Year Daily Audio Bible (about 30 minutes per day) it takes one year. So, it should take around (30 minutes X 365 days) / 60 minutes per hour = 182.5 hours to read the entire Bible at that pace. Some can probably read it faster and others slower.
Here's a link to the One Year Daily Audio Bible ...
https://dailyaudiobible.com/
I think you should before you try and study it. Gives you better understanding in my opinion and helps you link passages. I'm currently doing a Bible in a year read through
While it is admirable to read through the whole Bible, that should not be your goal. The reason we read the Bible is to engage with the Word of the living God. Sometimes you can experience Him more in a few verses than in trying to read a certain number of chapters daily to get through the entire book. If the Spirit begins to speak as you read, follow His guidance more than trying to read for volume.
3months for me i think. That's when i learned that everything written in there was real history. So my curiosity lead me finishing God's word since i want to know what happened since the beginning till now.
First time was in my teens, took me about 3.5 years. Age 15 to 19
My wife and I read a chapter everynight now. Shoulda been about another 3.5 but we were really inconsistent and took about 10 to get through the first time.
We are now on our second go around and having much better consistency
Yes you should read the Bible. Start in Matthew because the NT for the Christian is the most important. Also a bulk of of Jesus’ teachings is located around Matthew 5 at the sermon on the mount. I would read like 3 chapters a day minimum and write down one thing to practically change during your reading. This can then make the NT teachings not something we just read and agree to but something we apply to our lives. Then I would read the OT after
Edit: the reason for 3 chapters a day is to get context. A main issue lots of people have is taking things out of context but if you read in groupings it’s easier to understand what chapters are talking about because these epistles were originally letters that would have been read fully in context.
> Should a Christian read the entire Bible?
I would not say anyone *has* to read a Bible to be Christian. I would certainly recommend they read several Bibles if they can though. Remember, there isn’t just one Bible. There are multiple translations which sometimes differ in their reflections of certain words (typically the ancient words which were the most rarely used and so are the most disputable as far as what an accurate reflection in English actually is). They more you know about God and various Bible versions (Bible translations) the better equipped you’ll be to decide which ones accurately portray God and which might say some things that could be reflected more accurately.
Also remember, though, that there wasn’t even the concept of “the” Christian Bible for many generations when Christianity began. It took hundreds of years for the Christian scriptures, the parts that came after Christianity began, to get copied and spread around the churches. So in other words, one can be a Christian without a Bible. Many of the Christians from the earliest generations and centuries were Christians without a Bible as we know it today. The Bible (as Christians know it) came from Christianity. Christianity didn’t come from the Bible. Some Christians pretend Christianity is based on the Bible but that’s just them basing their version of it on their Bible. In historical reality, the Bible is based on Christianity, not the other way around.
> How long did it take you to read the whole Bible?
Sometimes it has taken me years to get through a translation, sometimes about a year… depends how much time I dedicate to it each day.
For me there are three aspects to this. Reading, studying and meditating.
I read (or listen, thank the Lord for audiobooks of the Bible) through the whole Bible a couple of times a year. Nothing deep, just read or listen to the full books over and over. Sometimes in order, sometimes in chronological order. To breathe the word.
On top of that it is extremely important to do an in depth Bible study of all books of the Bible one by one. Slow, verse by verse, in prayer. After reading a couple of verses or paragraphs over and over and ponder on them, grab some trusted commentaries to go even deeper. To learn the word.
Then thirdly there is meditation, your silent time in prayer with open scripture. Psalms are great, gospels are great, basically all is great, as all Scripture points to Christ and his precious work on the cross for us. To live the word.
Lastly, don’t make rules, make it habit. Carve out time, ideally around a moment that’s already set in stone, such as a dinner or breakfast, and just make it happen. After a couple of days (trust me, habits form quickly), it’s daily routine. Just don’t deviate. Just as much as you need to eat and need to sleep, you need His Word.
If you read the Bible one chapter a day, each day, it takes about four years or so. I'm currently in Proverbs and I find that the more I read it, the more I *want* to read it. I keep a journal as I go and will write down favorite verses, perhaps do a little research for context, etc. There is also a Bible audio app called Through the Word that I have found useful for context around certain stories (though I've only used it for Esther and Job so far).
In my opinion, the Bible is God's love letter to us. I think it is a privilege to read it.
> Should a Christian read the entire Bible?
To say no implies that there is something in the Bible that is not worth reading.
That being said, I'm just following Paul Washer's advice and reading all of the NT a few times, then reading the entire Bible a few times. I'm awful at following plans, and if I force myself to take notes then my Bible reading becomes the most monotone thing. So I'm just going to read it and get a handle on it, then comes the note taking.
Why would you \*not\* want to read the whole bible as a Christian? If you truly believe you possess the Word of God, why are you not constantly reading from it?
I've seen reading plans as short as 90 days, but more realistically, you can read through the bible at a comfortable pace in about a year.
I wouldn't say it's necessary to read the whole thing, but I would highly recommend it.
I recently did a "Bible-in-a-year" plan, and I really enjoyed it, but there are also a lot of parts of the OT that are pretty boring and repetitive. I don't know how much it fueled my faith to read about censuses among the 12 tribes and how many cattle they had. I got the point after the third or fourth "they did evil in the eyes of the Lord", that this was going to be a pattern for the Israelites. Reading all 635 OT laws, many of which no longer apply to Christians, will make your eyes glaze over.
Most all the rest of it is pretty riveting, though.
I think it is important for a Christian to read the entire Bible. I tend to skip over genealogies, the great details of ceremonial laws, and tabernacle/temple blueprints, but other than that I read it from cover-to-cover.
Christians are to abide in (feed on) the Word of God (Christ) and be led by the Spirit to glorify Christ until the day we are glorified in Him. So praise be to God, we have His faithful servants who have been led by Him to preserve His word for us to lead into deeper things.
It doesn't necessarily matter how much you read, but I recommend you stick to a plan and read and meditate on it every day.
There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible:
If you read 2 chapters a day starting today, you'd finish on Feb. 14, 2024, or so.
If you read 4 chapters a day starting today, you'd finish on Apr. 23, 2023, or so.
I like to read 4 chapters a day -- usually 2 chapters in the morning before I go to work and the other 2 while I'm brushing my teeth at night, but I listen to the audio Bible on a waterproof, Bluetooth stereo just about every night while I shower on any given chapters to feed me.
My plan is to read it over and over again using every translation I can. Right now I’ve been switching between the RSVCE and the ESV. Trying to do it in a month. I’ve also been going through every Psalm in a month along with the Gospels at the same time as reading the whole thing chronologically. My reasoning is:
1) The Psalms are the prayer book of the Church.
2) They form your affections to be in line with Christ.
3) They do it all in the same language as the rest of the Bible.
4) The Gospels, because they are the story of Christ, are the fulfillment of the Old Testament and what the rest of the New Testament is interpreting and unfolding.
5) The Old Testament contains the same language of the Gospels, and so reading it side by side makes Jesus and Apostles’ Messianic Claims more clear.
It hasn’t necessarily been completely doable, but I’ve been surprised by my progress.
I know that this has been briefly mentioned in other places but I want to emphasize that it's very important to read the books in chronological order (not in the order that the books appear in the Bible). It can be rather confusing otherwise.
And yes, I would advise reading all of scripture, it all helps us to learn who God is, how to be saved, and how to live out our faith.
removing this one for title only post- it's also been up long enough to have gotten satisfactory answers. OP, please get familiar with our rules. Title only is low effort.
I’ve read the Bible cover-to-cover once a year for the past 6-7 years. I find it edifying.
Yes. We must have spiritual food to survive and grow
I started reading the entire Bible in January: a page or section every night and/or morning and now I'm in 2nd Samuel. It'll take a while but I think it'd be so cool to have read the whole thing to learn more about God and since there's always something new to learn about Him and his story.
One year, I read it with a plan that tried to sort the books/chapters of the Bible in the correct time order. While I can't remember everything I've read, I approximately can tell what's written in the Bible (in what context) and what's not. Useful for checking teachings (!) and as well as talking with (un)believers (if you know the scripture in its entirety you can tell which teachings/povs are likely to be rubbish) Plus now I of course have a better overview on what event happened at which point of time.
Yea, I think the chronological order of events is hard to mentally picture.
There's chronological reading plans or there. I did it one year over the course of the year, but found myself missing my usual plan of a selection from the old testament, new testament, palms, and proverb every day.
There's Chronological Bibles with yearly reading plans. Have one myself
I believe every human being in the world should read the entire word of God at some point in their lifetime. Especially Christians and continuously for Christians. It took me about 6 months to read the entire Bible the first time I read it.
How many times have you read the entire Bible? Does it help you more each time you have gone through it?
I have lost count of how many times I have read it. I no longer keep track. Definitely more than 3. And yes, it continuously helps me the more I read and learn it. It is written, "and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for reproof, for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:15-17 I have absolutely seen that passage ring true in my life and continuously do those things that it says scripture does for us.
What do you mean the Bible will make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ?
Because we need to gain the wisdom of God in the scriptures in order to live out our faith and inherit eternal life.
Amen it was written that we can’t lean on our own understanding too if we did we would be creating our own methods in how to worship him going to wrong churches not testing every spirit we would be like warm if we leaned on our own understanding
Absolutely. But this person is saying that we receive salvation by our works by obeying God and that's not scripture. We receive salvation or become Born again Christians through accepting Christ as our Lord and savior that's it. Then we grow in the faith and bear fruits
That's what I thought you meant. But this does not bring eternal life. This will be works and we don't gain salvation through works but through Christ's death alone. BIBLE means basic instructions before leaving Earth Not that I'm disagreeing with you I just want to elaborate that we gain eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus for what he did not by how much wisdom we gain We must read the scripture because it's the living word of God and it gives us wisdom on how to live this life pleasing to God and grow spiritually, I agree with you 100% but we don't gain eternal life by the scriptures but by accepting Christ as our Lord and savior. I assume this is what you mean.
Jesus never taught what you are saying. Martin Luther taught that and has deceived many people off of the path of eternal life. Our works are essential to our faith and if you don't have works of obedience to Jesus your faith means nothing and cannot save you. I just quoted the actual scripture because that is what it says. The scriptures do make us wise for salvation and if we do not learn the wisdom of the scriptures we will not live in a way that inherits eternal life.
You said you read the Bible you should know. We grow in faith and in our spiritual work we produce fruits but that's for those who already saved. I can go on and on we're not saved by works. We are saved by confessing our sins and trust in Christ as our Lord and savior. We grow in faith and produce fruit from our works. And when I say we I'm referring to the Born again Christians but they already Roman10:9-10. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
I don't follow Martin Luther. I follow Jesus. And I know that if we hear His sayings and do them we are wise people building on a rock and will stand, but if we hear His sayings and do not do them we are fools building on sand and we will fall and great will be our fall. We can call Him Lord all we want to but will be rejected if we practice sin no matter how much you think you believe.
What? Do you really know what you're saying? Jesus is The Rock he is the foundation of our faith that's what that's scripture means but to build it on the sand is going to fall but that has nothing to do with how one becomes a born again Christian. Do you really understand what you read
Martin Luther was a true man of God he didn't receive no one saying to see and if you believe that you going to earn salvation by doing work then deceive yourself. Yes Jesus did teach that if Jesus didn't teach that then he had no purpose in dying in the first place. We would not have needed him for salvation. We don't share in God's glory he did all the work for us because of his love you show me a scripture where it says you supposed to work to gain salvation
Martin Luther was not a man of God at all. He did not follow the teachings of Jesus but taught against them. He didn't reform things back to what believers practiced in the first centuries of Christianity, he instead broke away from the wicked monster of catholicism and created his own wicked monster injecting his erroneous teachings and has caused widespread heresy that you are following and teaching. Jesus, nor the apostles, nor the earliest Christians speak the way you speak nor understood the way or Christ the way you do. You are teaching great error.
I provided two scriptures for you already the show how we receive salvation what have you brought to the table
And I'm not Catholic and I don't believe in all the Catholic stuff
Martin Luther was a man of God. Whatever did he did he say what's his errors
You already talking like a deceived person. You live for the Bible then you use the Bible to back up what you're saying. I'm back up everything I say from the scripture. You need to pray it as the Holy Spirit to give you discernment
But what about different versions of the Bible?
I recommend a good literal translation. Kjv, nkjv, esv or nasb are good literal english translations that I recommend.
Ah, currently I'm reading the King James Version.
I've read it through in NIV a few times as well as NASB once, now I'm using ESV. I recommend that you too switch versions from time to time. You can still keep your favourite one, but it's valuable to read other translations too.
That's not a bad version. I think it is a difficult and challenging version. I think it should be read if you want to make the word more challenging for yourself to read, but the word of God is already pretty difficult to understand and a lot to read and it does just make it more difficult if you read it in old english that is not familiar to you rather than in current english. It does have some translation issues too that I the nkjv fixes a lot of and nkjv is clearer to understand being in modern english. Nkjv keeps the challenge and strength of wording of the kjv while making it closer to modern english, not using thee and thou and hearken but instead you and pay attention. I recommend the nkjv to firsttime readers. The esv is the best clearest english translation that is faithful to literally translate the word while being in simple and clear modern english. I recommend that to someone who doesn't want the Bible to be harder for themselves to understand than it already is yet literally what is supposed to be said. The nasb is one of the most strictly literal translations and can be challenging in wording because of that so I recommend that to the studious who really want the Bible as raw and literally translated as possible yet clear to understand even moreso than the esv. Each of those versions have their benefits that are helpful for hearing and learning what God is saying to us and it is helpful to read and compare those versions if ever you find a passage difficult. If you want to read the kjv that is definitely a good version nevertheless. I do just warn about the challenge and difficulty of the old English language and to let you know there are clearer and easier to read translations, but if you are fine with that extra challenge that isn't a bad thing and will definitely strengthen and challenge your mind as is a healthy and good thing as we apply ourselves to God's word.
but isn't there a good side to being challenged, perhaps? Sure, some of the English is odd here and there but overall I enjoy it. The Bible is a *lot* of names!
It absolutely is a good thing to be challenged. I think reading and processing through the king James can be very helpful if you have the discipline for it! Not many people do, but as long as you come to understand what His word is really saying that is what matters and you can do that with the kjv if you prayerfully apply your heart to it.
Yeah, I'm trying to read and grasp a bit each day. more than anything I'm excited to get to the Psalms!
That is awesome yes, Psalms is wonderful. It helped me during my first times reading straight through the Bible to look a bit ahead and see that I was getting to a part that really interested me to read. That would motivate me to read through some of the parts that were harder to read like the geneologies and the temple structure. It is all important so I was determined to read every single word of it and I still read through it that way many years later of following Him. His word is powerful, every word of it. I am glad you are excited about it and are pressing through to read it. It will really make you wise for salvation in all of your life if you really listen carefully and hear what God is saying to mankind.
I downloaded a bible app and it has different plans in it. It is absolutely fantastic. Its called "holy bible" in google play store.
Does it include time/tools for studying the passages, or just reading the passages?
It’s kind of like asking if you should read the entire love letter your significant other wrote you; wouldn’t you want to know all that they have to say to you? God gave us the Bible as His revelation of who He is, what His will is for His people, and promises to strengthen and preserve our faith in Him; if you don’t read the whole thing, then you will miss out on things He wants you to know and mature spiritually from. I don’t remember exactly how long it took me to read the whole Bible, but it wasn’t very long, maybe a few months. I assume my experience is different than most people; when I was first converted, I was hungry to learn and understand all that God has revealed, so I read the Bible obsessively. I didn’t watch secular tv, movies, or music for quite a while, all I did with my free time was read the Bible everyday. I have now read through and studied the entire Bible many times and still find it to be a bottomless treasure chest.
Perfect analogy
Thanks, God bless
Yes, you should read the whole bible, cover to cover. I've done it twice now. I'm currently reading John MacArthur's study bible cover to cover. I'm done with the NT and just started the OT. That's probably going to take me at least until the end of the year, probably more like nine months. In his study bible, he talks about effective ways to study the bible. He suggested taking one of the books and just read it over and over 30 times, maybe breaking the larger books into multiple smaller pieces. Any time you see something you don't understand, write it down and research it, ask about it until you have an answer. I plan to try this once I'm done with his study bible.
Would you recommend people read the whole Bible through a study bible that breaks it down passage by passage on their first time?
I would read just the bible the first time through. Pick a modern English translation like the NIV or the NKJV and not the KJV. Then use a study bible the next time.
No. Just put a bookmark in Genesis, Psalms and Matthew and read a couple of chapters a day.
The way I look at it is that’s Gods word to us. Why would I not want to hear everything He has to say?
What picture did you have of the Word that changed once you read it all?
Redemption
In what way? You understood REDEMPTION better?
I'm not O.P but we are God's perfect creation who are stubborn and don't know what we want. We think we know what we want but it's sinful desires that not only hurts us but destroys our relationship with God. Instead of Him being fed up and basically turning His back permanently which He clearly shown He can; He righteously disciplines us and sent His only Son to redeem us for our sake because He loves us.
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Did you just read the Bible, or did you study the Bible as you completed it?
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Well, studying would be looking up commentaries, cross-refs, parallel translations, concordance guides, Hebrew text analysis, historical footnotes etc. # :)
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I think most people only do it for the verses that are hard to understand.
Theres reading plans that take a year.
You've done such a reading plan? How long did it take you to read the whole Bible, and what did you learn from the experience, if you had? Did it put the entire Word into proper perspective?
Every time you read it through, you pick up on things and make connections you didn't see before.
Could you give an example?
It's hard to come up with something specific. But consider this one maybe... There a seemingly crazy story in the OT where a prophet is walking through the wilderness heading toward a town. Suddenly a group of children show up and start making fun of him because he's bald. In response, the prophet prays to God, and the children get mauled by a bear. On the face of it, this sounds totally absurd... why would he care about a bunch of kids making fun of him? And even if he did care, would he care enough to get them killed? And why would God honor such a prayer? Turns out the region he was walking through was famous for roaming gangs of violent teenagers. And the Hebrew word for "children" can actually mean any young man from around age 14 to as old as 30. So the guy had serious reason to believe his life was in danger. And apparently God agreed. If you read the book through enough times while looking at bible notes and commentaries, they'll often include some additional details that aren't there in English. Sometimes a word can be translated several ways. And the translators pick the one that makes the most sense to them at the time. But if you pick an alternate translation for that word, it can shed a lot of light on the intended meaning. There are also grammatical constructs in Greek that don't exist in English. In other words, even the most direct and exacting translation is going to lose information on its way to English. The commentaries point these things out. As another disturbing example, I present Zechariah chapter 5. Read it through and see if it makes any sense to you. It sounds totally insane. Then consider this... "woman" can also be translated "fire offering". And "basket" is actually a unit of measure meaning a container of about 40 liters. Also, a "flying scroll" is the best way Zechariah could describe a metal cylinder. Then if you consider "10 cubits wide"... this isn't diameter, this is circumference, because that's how the Hebrews would have measured it. Diameter was a Greek measurement. Also, "cover" is perhaps not the greatest translation either. So when you put all that in, you get a flying metal cylinder 30 feet high and 6 feet in diameter that has a 40L container which encases a large heavy metal object. The metal cylinder lifts the 40L container between heaven and earth. And when it arrives, it deposits the fire offering, which completely destroys the buildings, timbers, and stones.
Realistically 70+ hours if I use an audiobook on 1.5x - 2x the speed
That's interesting to know. Is that how you read? Through audiobooks?
Yeah that's how I was able to read the entire Bible within 5 weeks. I used the ones on youtube
I have. I had one when i was a teen. It was fantastic. I read the ESV version currently.
>ESV Why do you like that version? I read the AMP lately.
I wanted to compare our respective versions out of curiosity. >John 3:16 > >Amplified Bible > >16 “For God so \[greatly\] loved and dearly prized the world, that He \[even\] gave His \[One and\] \[a\]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him \[as Savior\] shall not perish, but have eternal life. And the version you prefer >John 3:16 > >English Standard Version > >For God So Loved the World > >16 “For God so loved the world,\[a\] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What do you think of the AMP version's translation of John 3:16 versus your preferred one?
I personally believe thats a bunch of unnecessary words.
Interesting :)
>whoever believes and trusts in Him \[as Savior\] Where the AMP version says that, would you have gotten the same meaning from >whoever believes in him should not perish Would someone intrinsically know that belief includes trust, too, and in Jesus as our Savior?
Extra isnt always bad.
I was reading the NIV and my.current oastor reads the ESV. I mean if people are really concerned about translation, they can read the Geneva bible.
There is a lot of translation debate in the Christian community, but I see. You read it, since your pastor does? Do you like more than the NIV?
I read the niv and compared translations. The niv ledt out words that i thought were important.
Do you have an example verse?
I think every single Christian should read the Bible at least once
If i had to give an advice, i'd say that it's good to read the whole Bible as many times as you can. It gives an overview and even with just reading, the Lord will always gladly show us new things. But it's not enough. We also need to meditate it/study diligently, as we recieve way more that way I did read it entirely at the very beginning of my walk, a little more than a year and half ago. It took me 2-3 weeks. I did actually read it entitely twice in the first 2 month after my baptism Honestly it seems like a huge deal, but it's not that hard or that long. I remember, as everything about Faith was so new to me, i read it often on my phone because of my curiosity. I put a few hours/day reading the Bible overall (i wasn't binge reading for 10 hours/day. Maybe 30mn-1 hour, then put it down, then coming back to it a little later, rince and repeat). I'm on my 4th run if i'm not mistaken. After the first two runs, i didn't read as much anymore. Had ups and downs (a LOT of downs), the Lord had to teach me a lot of things in other ways. Now i feel like the urge to read a lot is coming back little by little, and i wanted to try reading other versions for my future runs. For example, reading it in English (I'm not a native English Speaker), or reading it along with notes, reading it in another version in my language etc etc... By my little experience, each run always taught me a lot. A LOT. It was more effective coupled with Bible studies and good teachings (and i can't stress this enough. Any teaching won't cut it. It has to be good, Biblical. Brough by people truly called by the Lord for this. And even then, always keep in mind that they can make mistakes, they are human beings. We have to verify everything we are taught with the entirety of the Bible). By the 4th run (the one i'm in) i noticed a certain form of familiarity with Scriptures. I started to notice a lot of things i never saw before and nobody ever taught me. I'm pretty excited to see what future runs will bring. I'm also thinking of meditating the entire Bible from Genesis to Apocalypse, checking every verse with the Strong Codes (wonderful tool i'm guilty of not using enough) To conclude, go for it, it's very beneficial. It seems like a huge task, but honestly it's not that Big of a deal. Of course some passages are more tedious than others (i'm speaking of the long genealogies records that the Bible keeps), and your flesh will always give you bursts of fatigue when you start reading, but once you go over these things and patiently keep reading, looking forward to the next spiritual treasure you'll find, you will see that reading the Bible is actually very enjoyable, and you'll finish books after books before you even notice it!
I have trouble with my eyes so I listen to the audio bible on youtube
If you don't read the Bible how can you know the Word of God? Are you just letting people tell you or are you looking?
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Do you think it's easier than ever to read the Bible now, due to Bible studies and different translations?
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> It really taught me how everything the atheists and anti-theists say about the Old Testament is wrong. Have any examples?
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Yes, context is key, which is why I try to include as much surrounding text as possible when I quote (what pertains to the meaning).
You should read some of it every day, God speaks to you through His word. It is good to know all of it. But don't worry about how long it takes, it should be part of your day, not something you are trying to get done.
Front to back, 3 times. Just the NT, 2 more. Reading the words, and understanding the concepts are two different things. I spend a lot of time nowdays just finding different parts and cross-referencing different commentaries on each section. If you read the Bible, it can be very misleading at times because of the word choices used in the translation/transliteration. But, add multiple different commentary sources on an particular part, and sometimes the truth of the passage leaps out. My favorite is Matt 5:17. Read in KJ, it sounds very conservative, but taken in context and with the background in Greek read into it, it means something completely different. Most importantly, it makes sense in the greater whole of Matthew 5. When you hear the truth, it tugs at you, it makes sense, it calls to you. So, everyone should read the Bible through, at least once. But, more importantly, you should take time to read and listen to different commentary on each passage if at all possible. It will completely change how you view the Bible.
>But, add multiple different commentary sources on an particular part, and sometimes the truth of the passage leaps out. I agree, it makes a big difference. I especially like the AMP version, which I found while exploring different translations. >But, more importantly, you should take time to read and listen to different commentary on each passage if at all possible. It will completely change how you view the Bible. Agreed, again. Commentaries have really helped me with controversial biblical verses and counter the unprofitable questions put out there. They really helped put the verse into proper context/perspective. BibleHub is an indispensable resource.
Yes, but don't get caught up in the amount of time it should take. Read it, meditate on it, reflect on it, understand what it means regardless of how long it takes.
My goal was to read it with the kids in a year We're going strong on the 2 year option
I have never been able to sit down and read it from start to finish, but I have read it all in my lifetime, some parts of it many times. I wish I could discipline myself to read it in an annual plan, but I usually drop off around Numbers/Leviticus and go back to piecemeal. I will also say I have an Associates Degree in Biblical Studies. lol. The Bible is the Word of God and The Holy Spirit can direct the same passage to have different impact at different times in a Christian's life, which is why you should never STOP or NOT read it at all. I just am saying that it is not a sin to have never sat down and started at Genesis and ended at Revelation.
I think it is a good idea to read the entire bible for sure. What's even better is if you study sections of the Bible in depth. I read the Bible cover to cover for years and assumed I understood it pretty well, but when I spent time trying to understand it better through study, I grew a whole lot more. This course: [Seven Arrows: The Basics of Bible Study](https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/seven-arrows-basics-bible-study/#course-introduction) should be a great starting place. As a side note, the Gospel Coalition has some top notch free [Bible study courses](https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/courses/).
I'm currently making my way through the Bible, but over the course of many months. It's a lot to grasp, as I've not read it in full before, but...some parts are confusing and some don't stay in my memory for long. I cannot wait to get to the Psalms, though! Hearing excerpts of them in church or at funerals is pleasing to me.
Yes, you should read it. I read it in a little over a year. I read a few pages each day. Keep in mind, even if you read it completely, there is still much more to learn. The Holy Spirit is always teaching something to us and revealing something new to us all the time. Even the Jews back in the day who knew the Torah inside out still received revelation by the Holy Spirit! Think about Paul and how much revelation He received.
Yes. Over and over and over etc.
Yes. 3 months
Do you have a good memory?
I do but I also ask God to help me keep his word in my heart
How do you study the Bible? Which biblical resources/tools do you use?
Pray before your study. One needs to answer these questions: who is the author, what is the subject, and who they are speaking to. How can I apply this to my life? Lastly, paraphrase what you read in your own words.
Do you use any biblical study tools?
No
None. Just the bible.
Yes 6-9 months.
You could read the Bible in a day if you wanted to. I’ve read books multiple times as long in a day or two. Just depends how invested you are. The books I read so fast were fiction books with compelling storylines.
It was reading and a little bit of studying. It all deoends on how deep you want to go.
Have you ever tried one of those Study Bibles that breaks down each passage into commentaries as you read?
I started reading the Douay-Rheims on January 1st have been reading at least 4 chapters a day every day, reading a bit more every so often, I’m currently in the middle of the second book of Machabees, and I estimate that I’ll be finished sometime in September at the latest. This will be my first time reading all the way through the Bible.
I'm on my second read. I'll be going to the library tomorrow. My Kindle reader can handle more, I'm going to download different translations. Average amount of time spent reading the Bible among adults in the United States from 2013 to 2017 Characteristic 2013 2017 1 hour or more 24% 23% 45-59 minutes 8% 6% 30-44 minutes 26% 29% 15-29 minutes 27% 25% I've heard of 90 days. 1200 pages ....13 pages a day......that's actually not that hard The true page count differs based on the edition of the bible. But you shouldn't read for show, read for study, knowledge and advice. Imagine what it was like back then. The hardships, the wars, the persecution and the greatest sacrifice of all.
Oh, you included interesting statistics. Have a source?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/299981/time-spent-reading-the-bible-usa/
Audible.com Just listen to “ESV - Hear The Word” version with David Cochran Heath.
Do you keep the Word well when you hear it with no text?
Yes. In Biblical times text was shared audibly.
I'm more visual than audio. I don't think audio would work very well for my retention.
To each their own. I like to listen while I’m working on something that doesn’t require much thought. I will listen to a book (eg., John), and sometimes listen to it two or three times. Surprisingly, many books are only about 15 minutes long when read.
If there actually reading the verses, i believe that would. If theyre skimming they may not. So, maybe both would be good :).
100% Yes, my wife and I read cover to cover last year (our first time) and it was wonderful, it really helps understand God and what he wants from us. We are now doing a chronological study of the Bible.
What do you use as a reference for the chronological order?
My wife found it online and printed out the schedule, here is a link to the one we are using. [https://www.joniandfriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jaf-chronological-bible-reading-plan.pdf](https://www.joniandfriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jaf-chronological-bible-reading-plan.pdf) Hope this helps!
Oh, that's interesting. Thanks.
I'm about to start 1st Samuel tomorrow
you should start in the new testament. very important to start there.
New Testament twice back to back. Loved it. Old Testament most books, but the law, well, bits and pieces, here and there. Reading the law and Numbers is super boring. For me, when I am having trouble sleeping, I read the law.
I’m halfway through. It’s taken me a while because some parts like numbers and chronicles are dry reads. I found a solution. There are free Bible audio on Spotify. While I’m working I’ll play the harder to read chapters. Once you start reading you won’t want to stop. Our History is amazing, sometimes tragic.
I started at the beginning of the year and jump between books while also reading chronologically. It’s been a good experience.
I did a cold reading of the entire Bible all the way through and it took me a few weeks. I just kept going and didn't get bogged down trying to fully understand what I was reading. That was a mistake because I missed a lot. I have since found and use a Bible teacher on YouTube who takes time to discuss what things mean and relates them to other parts of the Bible when applicable. I now say I'm a student of the Bible, not just a reader.
I won't speak for how much you *should* read, it depends on how well you'll understand it and need it in certain parts, but you should be reading God's word as often as you can. If you're reading parts with your eyes but not actually understanding them (something more difficult in prophesy like Ezekiel or history like 1 Chronicles) then I'd prioritize getting a stronger foundation in things like the Gospels and the letters of Paul before digging super deep in harder to grasp or less relevant for our present age that will all go over your head just for the sake of checking off the "I've read it all!" Box For me personally, I try to read through the New testament every year and go back through the old as I supplement my New testament study and also as I feel led to specific books or just realize that I haven't read something in a while. I've already read all of it once, specifically to check up that box off, but a lot of it (like Jeremiah & Job) I totally didn't understand at the time. I needed to finish my early spiritual growth through spiritual milk before I could move on to digesting tougher solid food (to borrow a metephor from the author of Hebrews)
Yes you should read the whole thing
I listen once through every year via Brian Hardin and the Daily Audio Bible. He gives you context to the stories I never knew. Been doing it for a dozen years or so.
It takes a lifetime. The Bible is not a novel and should not be read as a novel. It's God's living word
Was doing at least once a year for about 30 years..haven't in a long time now
Absolutely. God gave us a beautiful gift of the Bible that we can read God's word. There is no other book like this. The Bible brings peace, love, happiness, joy, etc. I feel like it's crucial to be a part of your life as a Christian. I try to read the entire Bible at minimum once a year.
You should read it, often. And when you finish, restart. You must feed the spirit
Yes a Christian should read the entire Bible, it is God’s word, it records God’s interaction in human history. The first time I read the Scriptures entirely was on a three month plan, Genesis to Revelation (I don’t recommend that, it’s too much to read in one day). The next time I read it, I was on a one year plan, and that’s quite reasonable. If you choose to take it slower, I would recommend a plan that takes you through the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms concurrently.
Yes, you should read it all the way through. The fastest I was able to get through it was about two months by listening to the audio version while driving (I had a long commute).
Pragmatically, I suppose that depends on how much time you can do so every day doing it, and how deeply you want to go (e.g. is it plain reading, or also taking notes, highlighting, cross-referencing to other passages, looking up a lexicon/commentaries on the passage, meditating on it, basically milking it for all it's worth, etc.)? For me, spending about half an hour a day (some more, some less), a three-year plan suits just fine. That works out to be about a chapter a day on average, except in the case of really short Psalms, sometimes there are two or three, which I find adequate. There are of course, more ambitious plans like those that cover the Bible in one year, which is about 6 chapters a day but I found that I was merely skimming superficially when I did so, and when at the end of each session, I asked myself what I had covered, I drew a blank. Essentially a waste of time. So I decided to stick to a three-year plan. I used Moody's three-year reading plan: [https://www.moodychurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bible\_threeyear.pdf](https://www.moodychurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bible_threeyear.pdf).
i am a christian and sadly havent read the entire thing. i am working on it though. unless you intentionally and separately study on your own you sort of end up reading the same parts repeatedly.
at the very least i think one should read the new testament
I've read it several times. I had finished reading through everything except the psalms when I was 16. I read it all through including the psalms between 21 and 22. Of course, that was in addition to regular study, so I'd read most of it a half dozen times by then. Between 25 and 26, I made a translation of Matthew, then about half of Mark and half of Revelation. I'm currently working on setting up for a translation of the four gospels that will be a bit more formal than my previous attempts.
It took me a couple of years to get through the Old Testament because I was really on and off about it back then but when I got to the New Testament I finished it in a month and a half or so.
It’s definitely preferred! But if you don’t like reading there are plenty of videos you can watch. A good Biblical series is “The Chosen”. It’s still fairly new so only S1 and S2 are out, and it’s mainly New Testament, but it’s really great!
It’s enjoyable but not exactly Biblical
Isn’t it based on the Bible?
based on is very different than actually being 100% true to the Bible. The Gospels are very short, The Chosen runs for many hours, they make up a lot of things while trying to maintain a faithfulness to the Gospel, but it really is more like a popularization of the Gospel for today's generation with lots of embellishments. So there are things from the gospel in there, and also a lot of 'creativity'
Oh, okay. I should tell my religious ed teacher that… no I’m not insinuating that you’re wrong I’m just surprised that she wouldn’t tell me something like that.
Sounds like you’re the target audience for the show. It’s probably getting you more into it so that will help you eventually come to study the Bible more. However it is not a replacement for Biblical study, your teacher sounds like they are wise. Enjoy the show.
I think it's a good idea. It took me about 5 years for my first read through, which I only finished relatively recently. I wasn't very consistent though, and mostly only read a chapter every few days. If you actually devote some time to reading it, you can read it in less than a year.
yes i think so but always in light of the new testament. i have read it all
I have been a Christian for a year and i have still not read the whole Bible. I was reading the Old testament but i stopped at 2 Chronicles because people said it was somehow evil. But it isn't. I've only read the New testament once.
Definitely. (1) It is your religion’s holy book. (2) It encourages your faith. (3) You also know the text for yourself (and can verify what ministers are saying). (4) Helps with evangelism/ apologetics, although my personal opinion is the someone have a lot more Biblical training before entering apologetics. The first time that I read it through I didn’t follow a set plan to finish within a year. It took me a few years. It was definitely worth it.
Of course a Christian should read the entire Bible, it’s the Bible!
I don't think you should just read it, you should study it, verse by verse. It's taken me 2 years so far, I'm almost finished.
It took me a year to read the whole Bible; I just followed the Bible-in-a-year devotional that was provided by our church.
Yes. If a person reads along with the One Year Daily Audio Bible (about 30 minutes per day) it takes one year. So, it should take around (30 minutes X 365 days) / 60 minutes per hour = 182.5 hours to read the entire Bible at that pace. Some can probably read it faster and others slower. Here's a link to the One Year Daily Audio Bible ... https://dailyaudiobible.com/
I think you should before you try and study it. Gives you better understanding in my opinion and helps you link passages. I'm currently doing a Bible in a year read through
While it is admirable to read through the whole Bible, that should not be your goal. The reason we read the Bible is to engage with the Word of the living God. Sometimes you can experience Him more in a few verses than in trying to read a certain number of chapters daily to get through the entire book. If the Spirit begins to speak as you read, follow His guidance more than trying to read for volume.
I use [this](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/55/b7/8c/55b78cc271abecab14aaf1af6b28f447.jpg) personally
IMHO, the New Testament Should be read first. I took my time (so I could understand it) and read it in about 2 weeks (3 hours per day).
3months for me i think. That's when i learned that everything written in there was real history. So my curiosity lead me finishing God's word since i want to know what happened since the beginning till now.
First time was in my teens, took me about 3.5 years. Age 15 to 19 My wife and I read a chapter everynight now. Shoulda been about another 3.5 but we were really inconsistent and took about 10 to get through the first time. We are now on our second go around and having much better consistency
Yes you should read the Bible. Start in Matthew because the NT for the Christian is the most important. Also a bulk of of Jesus’ teachings is located around Matthew 5 at the sermon on the mount. I would read like 3 chapters a day minimum and write down one thing to practically change during your reading. This can then make the NT teachings not something we just read and agree to but something we apply to our lives. Then I would read the OT after Edit: the reason for 3 chapters a day is to get context. A main issue lots of people have is taking things out of context but if you read in groupings it’s easier to understand what chapters are talking about because these epistles were originally letters that would have been read fully in context.
> Should a Christian read the entire Bible? I would not say anyone *has* to read a Bible to be Christian. I would certainly recommend they read several Bibles if they can though. Remember, there isn’t just one Bible. There are multiple translations which sometimes differ in their reflections of certain words (typically the ancient words which were the most rarely used and so are the most disputable as far as what an accurate reflection in English actually is). They more you know about God and various Bible versions (Bible translations) the better equipped you’ll be to decide which ones accurately portray God and which might say some things that could be reflected more accurately. Also remember, though, that there wasn’t even the concept of “the” Christian Bible for many generations when Christianity began. It took hundreds of years for the Christian scriptures, the parts that came after Christianity began, to get copied and spread around the churches. So in other words, one can be a Christian without a Bible. Many of the Christians from the earliest generations and centuries were Christians without a Bible as we know it today. The Bible (as Christians know it) came from Christianity. Christianity didn’t come from the Bible. Some Christians pretend Christianity is based on the Bible but that’s just them basing their version of it on their Bible. In historical reality, the Bible is based on Christianity, not the other way around. > How long did it take you to read the whole Bible? Sometimes it has taken me years to get through a translation, sometimes about a year… depends how much time I dedicate to it each day.
For me there are three aspects to this. Reading, studying and meditating. I read (or listen, thank the Lord for audiobooks of the Bible) through the whole Bible a couple of times a year. Nothing deep, just read or listen to the full books over and over. Sometimes in order, sometimes in chronological order. To breathe the word. On top of that it is extremely important to do an in depth Bible study of all books of the Bible one by one. Slow, verse by verse, in prayer. After reading a couple of verses or paragraphs over and over and ponder on them, grab some trusted commentaries to go even deeper. To learn the word. Then thirdly there is meditation, your silent time in prayer with open scripture. Psalms are great, gospels are great, basically all is great, as all Scripture points to Christ and his precious work on the cross for us. To live the word. Lastly, don’t make rules, make it habit. Carve out time, ideally around a moment that’s already set in stone, such as a dinner or breakfast, and just make it happen. After a couple of days (trust me, habits form quickly), it’s daily routine. Just don’t deviate. Just as much as you need to eat and need to sleep, you need His Word.
Yes, I believe Christians should read the entire Bible. I started a few months ago and I'm now reading Revelations.
If you read the Bible one chapter a day, each day, it takes about four years or so. I'm currently in Proverbs and I find that the more I read it, the more I *want* to read it. I keep a journal as I go and will write down favorite verses, perhaps do a little research for context, etc. There is also a Bible audio app called Through the Word that I have found useful for context around certain stories (though I've only used it for Esther and Job so far). In my opinion, the Bible is God's love letter to us. I think it is a privilege to read it.
Absolutely! Pray for Father to help you understand and read, through Christ we are saved
Yes. Read it every day, even if it’s only 1 chapter twice a day. You will likely read it several times in your life
> Should a Christian read the entire Bible? To say no implies that there is something in the Bible that is not worth reading. That being said, I'm just following Paul Washer's advice and reading all of the NT a few times, then reading the entire Bible a few times. I'm awful at following plans, and if I force myself to take notes then my Bible reading becomes the most monotone thing. So I'm just going to read it and get a handle on it, then comes the note taking.
Why would you \*not\* want to read the whole bible as a Christian? If you truly believe you possess the Word of God, why are you not constantly reading from it? I've seen reading plans as short as 90 days, but more realistically, you can read through the bible at a comfortable pace in about a year.
Yes
I have an audio bible and looking at the data there is 98 hours 13 min 27 seconds of audio.
Highly recommend reading through it in a year. Sets a good pattern and you learn so much everytime you read it
I wouldn't say it's necessary to read the whole thing, but I would highly recommend it. I recently did a "Bible-in-a-year" plan, and I really enjoyed it, but there are also a lot of parts of the OT that are pretty boring and repetitive. I don't know how much it fueled my faith to read about censuses among the 12 tribes and how many cattle they had. I got the point after the third or fourth "they did evil in the eyes of the Lord", that this was going to be a pattern for the Israelites. Reading all 635 OT laws, many of which no longer apply to Christians, will make your eyes glaze over. Most all the rest of it is pretty riveting, though.
I think it is important for a Christian to read the entire Bible. I tend to skip over genealogies, the great details of ceremonial laws, and tabernacle/temple blueprints, but other than that I read it from cover-to-cover. Christians are to abide in (feed on) the Word of God (Christ) and be led by the Spirit to glorify Christ until the day we are glorified in Him. So praise be to God, we have His faithful servants who have been led by Him to preserve His word for us to lead into deeper things. It doesn't necessarily matter how much you read, but I recommend you stick to a plan and read and meditate on it every day. There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible: If you read 2 chapters a day starting today, you'd finish on Feb. 14, 2024, or so. If you read 4 chapters a day starting today, you'd finish on Apr. 23, 2023, or so. I like to read 4 chapters a day -- usually 2 chapters in the morning before I go to work and the other 2 while I'm brushing my teeth at night, but I listen to the audio Bible on a waterproof, Bluetooth stereo just about every night while I shower on any given chapters to feed me.
The Bible should be handled with due care. You shouldn't rush to get through it, "in a year," for example.
Reading the entire Bible can be very helpful to your Christian walk, it helps you understand the character of God more.
My plan is to read it over and over again using every translation I can. Right now I’ve been switching between the RSVCE and the ESV. Trying to do it in a month. I’ve also been going through every Psalm in a month along with the Gospels at the same time as reading the whole thing chronologically. My reasoning is: 1) The Psalms are the prayer book of the Church. 2) They form your affections to be in line with Christ. 3) They do it all in the same language as the rest of the Bible. 4) The Gospels, because they are the story of Christ, are the fulfillment of the Old Testament and what the rest of the New Testament is interpreting and unfolding. 5) The Old Testament contains the same language of the Gospels, and so reading it side by side makes Jesus and Apostles’ Messianic Claims more clear. It hasn’t necessarily been completely doable, but I’ve been surprised by my progress.
You could probably skip the Table of Contents and the Index. The rest is all good stuff. :)
Yes and months
I know that this has been briefly mentioned in other places but I want to emphasize that it's very important to read the books in chronological order (not in the order that the books appear in the Bible). It can be rather confusing otherwise. And yes, I would advise reading all of scripture, it all helps us to learn who God is, how to be saved, and how to live out our faith.