Daily Bible reading
On Reading the Bible
We must know the Book, and the only way to know
the Book is to read it front to back again and again.
It takes about 70 hours to read the Bible out loud at "pulpit speed." It takes around 52 hours and 20 minutes to read the Old Testament at that speed, and some 18 hours and 20 minutes to read the New Testament. Psalms, the longest book of the Old Testament, takes 4hours and 28 minutes, and Luke, the longest book of the New Testament, takes 2 hours and 43 minutes. The Bible is a big, formidable book. Many people look at the Bible and think they could never read it all the way through. It is just too big a book.
But in only 12 minutes a day (I5 if you are a slow reader), you can read aloud the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation in one year. If you did that two years, then three,then four, then five, think how well you would know the Bible in five years. Surely anyone can find 12 to 15 minutes a day to read the Bible. I would like to encourage more reading of the Bible. One can be a "daily Bible reader" and still read very little of the Bible. Many people proudly claim to be "daily Bible readers" when they read only a few verses every day. They have the entire New Testament in their life, much less the entire Bible. They are "daily Bible readers" but know virtually nothing about the Bible. Some Bibles have a daily Bible reading chart as a guide. In them, one generally reads a couple of chapters or so from the Old Testament each morning and a shorter amount each evening from the New Testament. Such guides require setting aside time each morning and evening, presumably upon arising and retiring. For some people, this is not always easy to do on a regular basis. It also requires you to read from both Testaments each day. The Narrated Bible is marked for daily Bible reading, and has been used successfully by many (I have used it once myself). It is a chronologically arranged New International Version.
Let me give you another suggestion. Make arrangements to give the the Lord the first hour of each morning. Set your clock to rise an hour earlier than necessary for your normal day, and spend that first hour in Bible reading and prayer and meditation before you begin your day. As to reading, let me suggest you begin by reading five pages of your Bible each morning. Page numbers are much easier to keep up with than chapters and verses. Five pages are always the same length. Take whatever time you need to read five pages. It may take you 15 or 20 minutes, or even 30 minutes. But if you read five pages a day, you will read the Bible in less than one year. If you can, try to read 10 pages a day. I read 10 pages in my Bible in about 30 minutes every morning. The largest Bible I have is a Dickson New Analytical Study Bible, which is the King James Version and has the American Standard Version
by Richard Norman
JANUARY 2007 • GOSPEL ADVOCATE 35
WEEK 1
Gen 1:1 – Gen 16:16
Gen 17:1 – Gen 28:19
Gen 28:20 – Gen 40:11
Gen 40:12 - Gen 50:26
Ex 1:1 – Ex 15:18
Ex 15:19 – Ex 28:43
Ex 29:1 - Ex 40:38
WEEK 1 bookmark questions
How were the plants watered in the Garden of Eden?
How many times did Noah send out a bird from the ark?
How old was Shem when the flood ended?
How many trained men did Abram take with him to rescue Lot?
Who was born first – Esau or Jacob?
Which of Joseph’s sons received the greater blessing from Israel?
What time of day did the Israelites cross the Red Sea?
Who advised Moses to set Judges over the people while in the desert?
How did the people know when to travel and when to stay where they were?