Their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.

Psalm 1:2

I developed my own Bible reading plan last year because I could not find one that met all of my needs. I used my plan throughout 2021, adjusting it here and there along the way, and now I am ready to share it with you. There are several features of this plan that are important to me. 

First, this plan is weekly, not daily, simply because that works better for me. With a weekly plan, I don’t get anxious when I fall behind. If I am too busy one day, I can simply make up for it the next, or even later in the week. On the other hand, if I am really enjoying my reading, I don’t feel the need to stop with that particular day’s passage.

Second, I wanted to keep the spirit of reading the Bible straight through, but I also did not want to wait until later in the year to read the New Testament. You might say that I wanted my reading plan to “reward” me by letting me spend time in the New Testament, even as I continue reading through some of the more challenging books in the Old Testament. I know that there are plans that have Old Testament and New Testament readings assigned for each day, but I find those confusing. Instead my reading plan spends a week or two in the New Testament after three or four weeks in the Old Testament. This way, too, I don’t read the gospels all at the same time. I do read each gospel straight through, but I don’t read all four consecutively. So, I read all of Matthew before returning to the Old Testament for a while, then all of Mark, etc.

Third, because I believe it is important to pray the Psalms daily, I have included Psalms to be read/prayed each week, and have not included them in the other part of the reading plan. I typically have six psalms a week (one a day, with one to come back to and repeat). The exception, of course, is Psalm 119, which because of its length, I have given its own week. Reading/praying the psalms in this way leads one to pray the psalter straight through twice a year. 

My plan aims to have approximately the same amount of reading each week, but I have made some adjustments so that books are not broken up any more than necessary. As it is, I like that by the end of the first half of the year I have read through the Pentateuch and the historical books of the Old Testament, along with all four gospels. The second half of the year begins with the Acts of the Apostles and the wisdom books of the Old Testament (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon). And I also like that my plan has me reading the Minor Prophets during Advent, before closing the year with the Letters of John, Jude, and especially Revelation.

If you have not read the Bible in a year before (or even if you have), a resource that I would recommend is “How to Read the Bible Book by Book” by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart. It offers an overview of each book, specific advice for reading each of the books, and then a walk through each book. It is great to have alongside your Bible as you read through the Bible book by book.

So, with all of that in mind, here is my plan. (I will also include a pdf of this plan for you to download, if you would like).

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Week	Dates	Readings	Psalms	Completed
1	January 1 – 7	Genesis 1 – 27	Psalms 1-6
2	January 8 – 14	Genesis 28 – 50	Psalms 7-12
3	January 15 – 21	Exodus 1 – 22	Psalms 13-18
4	January 22 – 28	Exodus 23 – 40	Psalms 19-24
5	January 29 – Feb. 4	Matthew 1 – 14	Psalms 25-30
6	February 5 – 11	Matthew 15 – 28	Psalms 31-36
7	February 12 – 18	Leviticus	Psalms 37-42
8	February 19 – 25	Numbers 1 – 18	Psalms 43-48
9	February 26 – March 4	Numbers 19 – 36	Psalms 49-54
10	March 5 – 11	Mark	Psalms 55-60
11	March 12 – 18	Deuteronomy 1 – 17	Psalms 61-66
12	March 19 – 25	Deuteronomy 18 – 34	Psalms 67-72
13	March 26 – April 1	Joshua	Psalms 73-78
14	April 2 – 8	Judges – Ruth	Psalms 79-84
15	April 9 – 15	Luke 1 – 11	Psalms 85-90
16	April 16 – 22	Luke 12 – 24	Psalms 91-96
17	April 23 – 29	1 Samuel 1 – 23	Psalms 97-102
18	April 30 – May 6	1 Samuel 24 – 2 Samuel 17	Psalms 103-108
19	May 7 – May 13	2 Samuel 18 – 1 Kings 9	Psalms 109-114
20	May 14 – 20	1 Kings 10 – 2 Kings 5	Psalms 115-118
21	May 21 – 27	2 Kings 6 – 25	Psalm 119
22	May 28 – June 3	John	Psalms 120-125
23	June 4- 10	1 Chronicles	Psalms 126-131
24	June 11 – 17	2 Chronicles 1 – 28	Psalms 132-137
25	June 18 – 24	2 Chronicles 29 – Ezra	Psalms 138-143
26	June 25 – July 1	Nehemiah – Esther	Psalms 144-150
27	July 2 – 8	Acts 1 – 14	Psalms 1-6
28	July 9 – 15	Acts 15 – 28	Psalms 7-12
29	July 16 – 22	Job 1 – 22	Psalms 13-18
30	July 23 – 29	Job 23 – 42	Psalms 19-24
31	July 30 – August 5	Romans	Psalms 25-30
32	August 6 – 12	Proverbs	Psalms 31-36
33	August 13 – 19	Eccles. – Song of Solomon	Psalms 37-42
34	August 20 – 26	1 and 2 Corinthians	Psalms 43-48
35	August 27 – Sep. 2	Isaiah 1 – 23	Psalms 49-54
36	September 3 – 9	Isaiah 24 – 43	Psalms 55-60
37	September 10 – 16	Isaiah 44 – 66	Psalms 61-66
38	September 17 – 23	Galatians – Colossians	Psalms 67-72
39	September 24 – 30	Jeremiah 1 – 13	Psalms 73-78
40	October 1 – 7	Jeremiah 14 – 29	Psalms 79-84
41	October 8 – 14	Jeremiah 30 – 47	Psalms 85-90
42	October 15 – 21	Jer. 48 – Lamentations	Psalms 91-96
43	October 22 – 28	1 Thessalonians – Philemon	Psalms 97-102
44	October 29 – Nov. 4	Ezekiel 1 – 19	Psalms 103-108
45	November 5 – 11	Ezekiel 20 – 33	Psalms 109-114
46	November 12 – 18	Ezekiel 33 – 48	Psalms 115-118
47	November 19 – 25	Hebrews – 2 Peter	Psalm 119
48	November 26 – Dec. 2	Daniel	Psalms 120-125
49	December 3 – 9	Hosea – Amos	Psalms 126-131
50	December 10 – 16	Obadiah – Habakkuk	Psalms 132-137
51	December 17 – 23	Zephaniah – Malachi	Psalms 138-143
52	December 24 – 30	1 John – Revelation	Psalms 144-150

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Here is the pdf copy: A Weekly Bible Reading Plan.

Let me know what you think, and blessings as you spend a new year with God’s Word!

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P.S. I have now posted a New Testament and Psalms Reading Plan as well, which I recommend you start with if you’ve never read the Bible straight through. With this plan you will read the New Testament and Psalms in six months. You can find my blog post here. And here is the pdf copy: New Testament and Psalms Bible Reading Plan.