What order do I read the books of the Bible in?
The Bible is a collection of 66 smaller books written over hundreds and hundreds of years. It’s organized into a Old and New Testament. The Old Testament contains 39 books written before the earthly ministry of Jesus, and the 27 books of the New Testament details the earthly ministry of Jesus and earliest inspired teachings of the apostles. For new believers or new Bible readers, it can be intimidating to get started as you’ll quickly realize that the order the books of the Bible are organized is not necessarily the best order to read them all. To be clear - a Christian should absolutely read the entire Bible and not simply pick and choose their favorite parts. But for a first-time or novice reader, there are better and worse ways to go about this endeavor. Let’s break down some options - cover to cover, New Testament first, and then my recommended order for new readers.
Read cover to cover, all books in order
This reading plan is very common, starting at Genesis 1:1 and ending at Revelation 22:21. Reading this way means opening the front cover and reading every page in order (or your digital app’s equivalent).
This is a good way of removing the mental load associated with figuring out what you should read in what order, but it’s not necessarily the best way for a new Christian to read the Bible. Most readers get through Genesis and most of Exodus no problem since it is written to present a compelling narrative, but start to feel their enthusiasm wane as the legal system for the ancient Israelites is established. It’s sometimes hard for a modern Christian to feel connected to this text. To be clear, this text should be read and is valuable, God-breathed like all scripture, and a deeper study will reveal how the entire body of scripture points to the need of a savior. But for a first-time reader, that’s maybe not exactly what you’re looking for.
New Testament first, then Old Testament
This reading plan is also pretty common, starting at Matthew (the first of the 27 books in the New Testament), finishing Revelation (the last book of the Bible), going back to Genesis (the first book of the Bible) and finishing with Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament). Optionally, a reader might continue from Malachi and read the rest of the New Testament again.
Reading the Bible this way is worthwhile in that it gets a new reader familiar with Jesus’ earthly ministry and some of the most urgently critical teachings for a new believer captured in the other New Testament books. However, this reading plan places less emphasis on the inspired content in the Old Testament that every believer must internalize and understand to build their relationship with God.
My recommendation
My suggested reading plan involves a bit more jumping around for reasons I’ll explain. Here’s the order I think a brand new Bible reader should dig into scripture.
- Matthew
- Genesis
- John
- Psalm
- Proverbs
- Romans
- Malachi
- Rest of the New Testament
- Rest of the Old Testament
This reading order does a good job of making sure you know who God is, his character, his incarnation in Jesus, how to be saved, how the Old Testament really does wholly point to Jesus, and then sets you on your way reading the remaining books.