I have often wanted to read the Bible through again. They ask officer candidates in my church whether they have read the whole book. I think they leave it at that, not asking how many times they’ve read it through, just whether they have.
I have never read the Bible cover to cover in a systematic way. I can only say I’ve read all of it because I had to read through the Old Testament for a survey class in college. I’ve read the whole New Testament in the course of many studies, but I think if we could look at the data, I’d be surprised to see how little I’ve read of some books (I may have read 2 Corinthians only once).
This year I wanted to read all of it, and here at the end of August I’m probably far more behind than I realize. I’ve read from Genesis to 2 Samuel 1, most of Psalms, Matthew, half of Mark, Galatians, and Ephesians, I think. I don’t like skipping around as some reading schedules recommend, but after getting through the Pentateuch, I needed to change the pace.
Reading long passages of the Bible has always been a problem for me. I tend to read slowly, and when reading the Bible, I can barely stop reviewing what I just read prayerfully or studiously. A passage spelling out geographical details can get me thinking I need to remember what’s north and what’s east. And the weeds are just too deep most of the time.
My greatest reading aid has been listening to David Suchet read from the NIVUK on BibleGateway.com. He has a marvelous voice and delivers passages more smoothly than other readers I’ve listened to, but the main benefit is that he doesn’t stop. He reads one paragraph of land rights for a tribe and moves on to the next. When I read that paragraph and find that I starting thinking of something else, I go back to the beginning and read it again, and consequently do not get through a day’s reading. But because I take in so much by listening, I still hope to finish the book by the end of the year.
Listening to Suchet reading Judges in two sittings drove home the darkness of that history. Samson wasn’t a detailed story plucked out of context. It was a noir tale told in an alley with a hint in the air of burning homes. It may have been when Samson was praying for final vengeance against the Philistines that I thought, “This isn’t about to let up. It’s only getting darker.” Had I been reading, I may have stopped at that point, but I was listening and kept on to the end.
What ways have you found helpful for reading long passages of the Bible, or do you recommend it?
My father encouraged me to read the Bible every day when I was a teenager. I found a reading plan that went straight through, Genesis to Revelation. I’ve since switched to a plan that takes goes straight through, but you’re reading both Old and New Testaments every day. I’m also reading through Proverbs every month, a chapter a day. It has become such a part of my daily schedule that I tend to have a bad day if I don’t read the Bible and have coffee every morning. This approach may not work for everyone, but it does work for me.
My habit from my teens has been to read 1 chapter (at one point it was 2 chapters, but I got lazy) each night before going to sleep. I don’t worry about speed, and if I miss a night (I often do), I don’t worry about it. That’s for the Old Testament. I read the New Testament, one section (a heading in my study Bible) during my daily devotions in the morning.
There was a time when I thought I had grown spiritually slothful, because I found it harder and harder to read the Bible at bedtime. I then discovered that it was because my Bible had small print, and I needed reading glasses. With the glasses, it got a lot easier.
I recently discovered the David Suchet audio of NIV and am really loving it for all the reasons you mention. I am now at the beginning of my second time of reading chronologically through the Bible. Getting the salvation history in the order it happened really opened up my Bible study. If you’re interested — https://happycatholic.blogspot.com/2017/10/chronological-bible-reading-update.html