Reading and Understanding the Bible
The Bible is at the heart of our faith: we read it to learn more about God, Jesus, the world and ourselves. But there’s always more to read, and more to learn!
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Reading Plans for the Bible
Study Guides for every book in the Bible, for Small Groups and Individuals (typically about 10 studies for each book of the Bible)
Day by Day Guides for every book in the Bible (typically 1 or 2 studies for each chapter in each book of the Bible)
Daily Reading Guides for the Bible
Further Material for studying the Bible
Reading Plans for the Bible
1 Year introductory reading plan from the New Zealand Bible Society
Easy going - typically about 5 verses a day and only doing 52 chapters in a year. But it's a decent survey of the entire Bible story.
1 Year reading plan from the Bible Project
The complete Bible in a year - often 2-4 chapters. Quite hard going, but an excellent scheme if you're serious - and loads of links to superb teaching videos etc.
Lectionary Readings 2024-25
The complete Bible in 2 years - usually about 1.5 chapters a day. This is the standard Bible-reading plan followed in churches throughout the world, including the Cathedral.
Study Guides for every book in the Bible, for small groups and individuals
Typically these offer about 10 studies covering the entire book - so some do a few chapters at a time.
Old Testament
New Testament
Matthew
Mark
Luke’
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Day-By-Day Guides for every book in the Bible, matching a typical Lectionary or Daily Readings sequence
These offer a study for every day in the lectionary, so it’s usually 1, 2 or 3 studies for each chapter. It covers the whole Bible except for the bits like long genealogies that the Lectionary skips over.
Old Testament
Genesis 1-11 Genesis 12-36 Genesis 37-50
Exodus 1-15 Exodus 16-40
Leviticus
Numbers 1-25 Numbers 26-36
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job 1-21 Job 22-44
Psalms 1-20
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah 1-20 Isaiah 21-39 Isaiah 40-55 Isaiah 56-66
Jeremiah 1-10 Jeremiah 11-25 Jeremiah 26-45 Jeremiah 46-52
Lamentations
Ezekiel 1-24 Ezekiel 25-48
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
New Testament
Matthew 1-11 Matthew 12-19 Matthew 20-28
Mark 1-8 Mark 9-16
Luke 1-9.50 Luke 9.51-19.27 Luke 19.28-24.53
John 1-6 John 7-12 John 13-17 John 18-21
Acts 1-12 Acts 13-28
Romans
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
Daily READING Guides for the bible
As well as simple plans for reading the Bible many Christians use simple guides or aids to help them in reading the Bible every day. Usually these tell us a passage to read and then give us some explanation and thoughts about it. Some guides also suggest prayer topics or other ideas to get us thinking. They’re available in a variety of formats such as:
Printed notes such as Daily Bread and Encounter with God (Scripture Union)
Downloaded notes such as Journey (Bible Reading Fellowship)
Phone Apps such as Lectio 365 , Tuia , Every Day with Jesus
Daily emails such as Word Live (Scripture Union)
Podcasts such as Discovery (Scripture Union)
Most of these run continuously and are available for every day of the year; there are also lots of books for shorter periods with titles like 40 days with C S Lewis, 40 days in the Psalms, etc.
Some good sources are listed below:
Scripture Union UK (www.scriptureunion.org.uk)
Word Live (email, online, download) (free)
Encounter with God (printed notes, PDF Download, Kindle) ($14)
Daily Bread (printed notes, PDF download, Kindle) ($14)
Bible in a Year (email, online, download) (free)
Scripture Union USA (www.scriptureunion.org)
Encounter with God (printed notes, email, online, podcast) (free)
Discovery (printed notes, email, online, podcast) ($14)
Bible Reading Fellowship (https://www.biblereading.org/journey)
Journey (PDF download) (free)
Waverley Abbey (https://www.waverleyabbey.org)
Every Day With Jesus (App) (free)
Available on mobile phone app stores
Lectio 365 (App, podcast) (free)
Tuia (NZ’s own!) (App) (free)
40-day Bible reading plans etc
Lots of these … visit a Christian bookstore or Google ‘40 day bible reading plan’ etc
Further Material for Studying the Bible
Lots more Study Material
We have a growing collection of our own material at Lots more Study Material.
Yale Divinity School
Thoughtful educated studies (videos and printed material) on Bible books and related topics from the world-class Yale Divinity School.
The Bible Project
Fantastic videos, studies and summaries from the Bible Project.