A SUGGESTED PLAN FOR BIBLE READING (adapted from If God Already Knows Why Pray? By Douglas F. Kelly)
This plan has been helpful to many since Puritan times and was designed to cover the Scriptures in exactly 365 days. Its special value is that it gives you a varied diet by exposing you to different parts of Scripture each day while providing continuity by causing you to return to the same section on the same day of the week all through the year. There is a further advantage in that it also helps you see the wonderful unity and remarkable interconnections of various sections of Scripture. For instance, a quotation that you read on Sunday in Psalms, may be picked up on Saturday in Hebrews.
• Sunday: read 5 chapters in Psalms (and then go on to the following books: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon)
• Monday: read 3 chapters in Genesis (and the following books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
• Tuesday: read 3 chapters in Joshua (and the following books: Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings).
• Wednesday: read 3 chapters in Job (after finishing Job, then go to the following books: 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther).
• Thursday: read 3 chapters in Isaiah (and the following books: Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).
• Friday: read 3 chapters in Matthew (and the following books: Mark, Luke, John, Acts).
• Saturday: read 3 chapters in Romans (and the following books: 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John,
Jude, Revelation).
In order to keep up with where you are from week to week, you will need to have a marker for each section. Keep your place with these in each of the seven sections. Then each day when you come to the end of the section that you read, make some kind of mark in your Bible, so that you will know exactly where to begin when you come back to it on the same day the following week.
Toward the end of the year, you will find that you complete some of the sections before others, because they are not all exactly the same length. Then just transfer your marker to one of the longer sections, and read from that section on two or more days a week until you are through.
