Balanced Bible Reading Plan

[Logan]

This might seem random but I've been thinking for years (decades, really) that many Bible plans have the fault that they usually divide by number of chapters or verses. This makes for situations where you end up reading gigantic chapters in one sitting. I think a better method would be to divide by words, it just takes a lot of work to get there and make a division in an area where it makes sense to pause.

I finally sat down to work on it but then realized it might be nice to break up books like Proverbs into a daily reading (three chapters of Proverbs in one day doesn't make much sense to me, I can't process that much Proverbs).

So right now I'm thinking of creating a plan that breaks up readings into roughly 2,000 words a day: 1500 from the Old Testament, and 500 from the New Testament. Then break up Proverbs into 365 similarly sized chunks. Divisions would be made when it makes sense: i.e., +/- 200 words when it would interrupt the middle of a narrative. I was also thinking it might make sense to do a daily Psalm reading, but since they can't all be broken up naturally, perhaps it makes sense to go through them twice in a year.

So I'm thinking of:
a) dividing the OT up into 365 even portions (by word count)
b) dividing the NT up into 365 even portions (by word count)
c) dividing Proverbs up into 365 even portions (by word count)
d) dividing the Psalms up into 365/2 evenish portions, which would then be gone through twice.

In case I missed it somewhere, are there any plans that already do something like this and would save me the work? I think regular-sized chunks in Ecclesiastes or Song of Solomon would be manageable but can anyone think of other special considerations (like Proverbs)? Are there any issues with Bible plans that you've wished were different?

 

[Scottish Presbyterian]

I divide by verses since it's better than dividing by chapters. It gets close enough to evenly sized chunks without being too minute with working out divisions.

 

[beloved7]

My dearest friend and I have been reading a chapter a day together for over 4 years now. We both read the same chapter, then share each other’s thoughts and finally reply to the other’s comments via text. It’s a great pace for us.

 

[Logan]

I divide by verses since it's better than dividing by chapters. It gets close enough to evenly sized chunks without being too minute with working out divisions.

I've done that in the past. I'm fairly adept at editing ebooks so I took the Bible and divided it by verses and went straight through from Genesis to Revelation, portioned it out by days (March 3, March 4, March 5, etc.) and stripped all the verse numbers out to make for nicer, cleaner reading (like it was originally written). Still ended up with the problem in Proverbs and there are sections in the prophets where the word count per verse is significantly higher than others.

For example, in Job, the average word count per verse is about 17. In Esther it is about double at 34. So I thought I'd try it this way but before I put several hours work into it I wanted to think about it thoroughly

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Pro-Tip: If you read from the NIV (1978/84), it is easier to read large portions of scripture in one sitting.

 

[Logan]

Pro-Tip: If you read from the NIV (1978/84), it is easier to read large portions of scripture in one sitting.

I was planning on creating this with the CSB

 

[Jake]

Pro-Tip: If you read from the NIV (1978/84), it is easier to read large portions of scripture in one sitting.

This is my go to for reading large portions of Scripture, though I don't say it too loudly on the PB. I usually go to the NKJV or NASB for deeper study.

 

[iainduguid]

three chapters of Proverbs in one day doesn't make much sense to me, I can't process that much Proverbs.

This is exactly right. The reading pattern should take account of the genre. It's a plus to read large chunks of narrative, just like you would a regular book. But Proverbs are really designed to be memorized and pondered. It would be better to have a single proverb or small group of proverbs that you studied for a week or a month than to take a chapter a day that you read through without much reflection. (Of course, here I'm thinking especially of chapters 10-30; the longer wisdom poems in 1-9 and 31 form larger units that make sense to ponder together).

 

[ZackF]

I've found it easier to set a time amount for reading rather than chapters. That allows for speeding up and slowing down where appropriate.

 

[C4MERON]

This is an interesting thread with a very interesting bible-reading plan proposal. I would very much like to benefit from this endeavour as I have often found it harder on some days to read the proposed portion my plan has in store for me on a particular day if my shift work has detained me for longer. Plus, indeed, multiple chapters of Proverbs just is too much for me to handle. I would much rather one or two per day to meditate on.

Just a side-note: Has anyone else heard Paul Washer describe bible reading in two different forms..? one as ‘reading with your boots on’, and the other as ‘reading with your boots off’. I know exactly what he means. I like to use 2 different translations for each….

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

though I don't say it too loudly on the PB.

I will help you out here:

EVERYONE OUGHT TO READ THE NIV ​

 

[Logan]

This is an interesting thread with a very interesting bible-reading plan proposal. I would very much like to benefit from this endeavour as I have often found it harder on some days to read the proposed portion my plan has in store for me on a particular day if my shift work has detained me for longer. Plus, indeed, multiple chapters of Proverbs just is too much for me to handle. I would much rather one or two per day to meditate on.

Just a side-note: Has anyone else heard Paul Washer describe bible reading in two different forms..? one as ‘reading with your boots on’, and the other as ‘reading with your boots off’. I know exactly what he means. I like to use 2 different translations for each….

Thanks! I'll be sure to post my results. Are there any other portions similar to Proverbs where you felt like a plan's assigned reading was too much to handle?

 

[toledomudhen]

You might try www.biblereadingplangenerator.com for assistance with your idea. Best of luck to you.

 

[Taylor]

You might try www.biblereadingplangenerator.com for assistance with your idea. Best of luck to you.

This is what I use.

 

[No Other Name]

You might try www.biblereadingplangenerator.com for assistance with your idea. Best of luck to you.

This is amazing. Thanks.

As to OP: I agree. I felt like I could not go fast enough through Leviticus and large portions of early Chronicles with genealogies but then Job and Psalms and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes I wished I could linger more but the pacing guide was a tyrant and I did not want to fail on the readthrough achievement.

Now, I want to structure a plan that breaks all the Wisdom books of the OT out for a whole year and now reading this thread - I think memorization of Proverbs and Psalms seems extremely and deeply edifying.

 

[Logan]

That website has a lot of nice features, thanks for sharing! It still suffers from not being very "intelligent" (e.g., you can't break Proverbs into less than a chapter at a time and the word count per day varies wildly).

However I found exactly what I was looking for
The One Year Bible reading plan is basically exactly what I described in my OP:

https://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan/oneyearbiblereadingplan.pdf

I'd seen the One Year Bible for sale before but didn't realize that's how it was done. Daily OT and NT reading, daily Proverbs reading, and through the Psalms twice. It looks like it is intelligently broken at points in the narrative and not necessarily at chapter breaks. Sweet!

 

[toledomudhen]

That website has a lot of nice features, thanks for sharing! It still suffers from not being very "intelligent" (e.g., you can't break Proverbs into less than a chapter at a time and the word count per day varies wildly).

However I found exactly what I was looking for
The One Year Bible reading plan is basically exactly what I described in my OP:

https://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan/oneyearbiblereadingplan.pdf

I'd seen the One Year Bible for sale before but didn't realize that's how it was done. Daily OT and NT reading, daily Proverbs reading, and through the Psalms twice. It looks like it is intelligently broken at points in the narrative and not necessarily at chapter breaks. Sweet!

I'm glad you found what you were after. For others using the generator, it does offer the ability to divide by pericope, rather than by chapter.

 

[Logan]

I'm glad you found what you were after. For others using the generator, it does offer the ability to divide by pericope, rather than by chapter.

Thanks, I did try that (I exercised all the options) but it still divides things like Proverbs into chapters and the variation between number of verses per day (with the stats option) varied widely.

Example: Divide by pericopes, daily psalm, daily proverb, OT/NT overlap and March 2 shows:
Numbers 5:11-7:89
Mark 6:45-7:23
Psalm 61
Proverbs 30

March 3 shows:
Number 8:1-4 (significantly less than the previous day's!)
Mark 7:24-30 (also significantly less)
Psalm 62
Proverbs 31

There's not much difference in the length of the Psalm or the chapter in Proverbs but there is a drastic difference between the Numbers and Mark portions. When dividing by words per chapter, it gives one day's time estimate as 14.34 minutes and another's as 2.5 minutes. So not quite as balanced as I was hoping for

 

[No Other Name]

That website has a lot of nice features, thanks for sharing! It still suffers from not being very "intelligent" (e.g., you can't break Proverbs into less than a chapter at a time and the word count per day varies wildly).

However I found exactly what I was looking for
The One Year Bible reading plan is basically exactly what I described in my OP:

https://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan/oneyearbiblereadingplan.pdf

I'd seen the One Year Bible for sale before but didn't realize that's how it was done. Daily OT and NT reading, daily Proverbs reading, and through the Psalms twice. It looks like it is intelligently broken at points in the narrative and not necessarily at chapter breaks. Sweet!

I am on a chronological reading (probably in 6 months not 12) but have noticed a drastic word count differential. I am looking forward to implementing this plan for my next cycle.

Thank you very much, brother.