Reading the Bible in a Year
A long but worthwhile journey
Reading the entire Bible can be daunting but I was inspired to do it after reading how Derek Sivers did it. I started in May 2024 and just finished it at the end of April 2025.
This will not be a preachy or theological overview but I wanted to share my thoughts on the journey at a high level.
It is a worthwhile experience even if you are not Christian or religious at all.
The Bible is a bedrock for the culture and value system of Western society for millenia. Even though modern society is secular, there are still a TON of references.
The Bible has set an underlying basis of stories and principles that have influenced how society is structured. From art to architecture to law to worship.
If you were raised in the West you have likely at least heard of various Bible stories. Adam and Eve. Noah’s flood. Abraham. Issac. Jacob. Joseph. Moses. The ten commandments. Israel. David and Goliath. King Solomon. Jesus and the Apostles. The crucifixion on the cross. St. Paul. Satan / The Devil. The apocalypse. Heaven and Hell.
As of this writing, the year is 2025. Where did that number come from? It is a reference to the number of approximate years since the birth of Christ.
The Bible has lasted millenia and, because of the Lindy effect, it will continue to last for millenia more.
Reading the Bible not only gives deeper context to all these references, but it is a huge well of wisdom to understanding humanity. Love, hate, loyalty, betrayal, joy, anguish, wisdom, folly, moderation, desires, sins, morals, and on and on.
The Bible is an amazing collection of narrative, poetry, and discourse on everything about being human and the relationship to the Divine. Reading the Bible is going to make you a deeper and more rounded person. You will see, when it comes to people and how they act, there really is nothing new under the sun.
Using a Bible app made all the difference.
I attempted twice in the past to read the entire Bible and I failed. For my third attempt, I used a free app called YouVersion, and it made a HUGE difference.
YouVersion has loads of reading plans built-in, including ones that split up the Bible over a year. It is literally as easy as opening the app and reading the day’s entry.
A nice feature is that the app includes professional narration and verse by verse selection. It is like having someone sit next to you and read it aloud and pointing their finger verse by verse for you to follow along.
The BibleProject is an awesome resource.
I learned about it from Derek Sivers' post. They make helpful, short, well-made animations that explain how the Bible is structured, and its themes, plots, characters, and much more. Theologically, it seemed like it was middle-of-the-road Protestant Christian.
At first it was annoying to try to juggle both the BibleProject and YouVersion but then I found BibleProject had created reading plans available in YouVersion. Their videos are included along with the reading plan and make the experience seamless and straightforward.
Pick a translation that works for you.
The Bible’s original manuscripts are in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. There are many different translations in English of the Bible and it can be confusing to choose which one.
Broadly, translations vary on a spectrum between literalness and “thought-for-thought”. The literal translations are more strict even if it creates a stilted, awkward reading. Whereas, the thought-for-thought flexes it slightly to make it grammatically smoother while maintaining integrity to the original intent as close as possible.
The King James Version is the most famous English translation. It was a massive translation project under King James of England and published in 1611. This is the version with all the “thy” and “thou”. (Shakespeare was not involved in the translation as far as historians know, but the version did publish during his lifetime. This is why the language between the two sounds so similar.).
I tried the KJV translation among several others before starting on the YouVersion plan with the one I favored. The version I settled on was New Living Translation (NLT). This was my first time going through the Bible and wanted something that was as smooth and understandable for me as possible.
Another great feature of YouVersion is that it has many different translations available for download and can easily switch or even compare verses between versions.
Reading through the Bible takes persistence but it pays off.
On average, reading the Bible including the BibleProject video took about 30 minutes a day. There was not a video every single day, it was more like 60% of the days had a video.
Occasionally I would miss a day or two and then catchup. YouVersion does have a handy feature that will shift the entire readling plan if you miss a bunch of days and need to realign it.
There were parts of the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, that felt like running a marathon in the desert. There are stretches that feel tedious or repetitive.
On the other hand there were surprises too. I did not know the Old Testament was three-quarters of the entire Bible and is loaded with so much sex and violence. Even the Psalms are occasionally violent. There were all sorts of narratives and poetry I had no idea existed until I read through it. Like the story of Jael impaling a tent peg in a king’s head while he sleeps, or the story of Esther outwitting a Persian king, or Solomon’s love poetry in Song of Songs. These are just a handful of examples I recall off the top of my head.
The New Testament is one-quarter of the Bible and focuses on the life, teachings, and resurrection of Christ, the acts of his followers, and the epistles (letters) written by the early leaders and evangelizers. The NT is less sex and violence than OT and more about love and fulfillment of God’s law through Christ. Broadly speaking, the OT is about endless downfalls and the NT is about how Christ transcends and lifts us from our failures. I will stop at this point because I do not want to turn this into a theology lesson.
Reading through the Bible showed me how all the different pieces fit together. I was raised Catholic, but I do not remember having a Bible in my religion classes. We usually had textbooks we hardly touched and the teachers would go on bizarre political or personal tangents. Catholic churches usually do not have Bibles in the pews. Rather they have a missal that includes short excerpts used in three readings during the mass: one from the Old Testament, one from the Acts or epistles in the New Testament, and a Gospel reading.
Reading the Bible has given me a lot more perspective on Christianity than anything else I have experienced. While I do not have plans to keep reading the Bible currently I may return to it another time to try a different translation. I am sure a second reading would be just as meaningful, if not more, than my initial reading.
I can see why people turn to the Bible for solace, guidance, and wisdom. It can feel like the eternal rock of stability in our hectic, messy existence. It tells us, yes there is a purpose to all of this, there is a greater power that cares, and what we do and say really do matter in the grand scheme of things.
Along my journey, I used these resources for added context and learning.
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. He has a rambling, disorganized style of writing yet it is also somehow profound and thought provoking. He is a master of paradoxes and one of the finest modern Christian apologists alongside C.S. Lewis.
Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney. A short and sweet guide that teaches how to use the Psalms as a basis for daily prayer.
A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible: Seeing and Knowing God's Word by Tim Challies. A quick and straightforward graphical read that gives a high-level view of how the Bible is structured and what it all means.
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Not a religious book per se but the author was a Christian minister and references the Bible many times.
Ancient Christianity by Hillsdale College. A free online course that teaches the early history and challenges of the Christian church. It gave more historical context to the New Testament and what the early believers had to do for survival.
Paradise Lost by Hillsdale College. Another free online course. Paradise Lost is actually a long poem published by John Milton in 1667 and is considered one of the greatest works of literature in the English language. It is based on the fall of Adam and Eve and it makes heavy use of Christian theology and allegory. The course was well-made and helped explain the intricate plot and writing. I hope to try reading the poem in full someday.