1 Year Bible Plan - Tips for Reading the Bible?

Answer 1

You can download a 1 year Bible reading plan at the bottom middle of http://www.enduringtruth.org

Tips would include praying for the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Scriptures for you and using sound principles of exegesis.

Interpretation of the Bible - Exegesis

In Bible study, exegesis is the process whereby a critical analysis of the given text produces direct, logical conclusions. Often, original texts (Greek and Hebrew) are used, passages must be viewed in context, and time/purpose of writing are taken in to account. This is often accomodated by asking:

Who wrote the text, and who is the intended readership?

What is the context of the text (i.e. how does it fit in the author's larger thought process, purpose, or argument)?

When was the text written? To whom was the writer writing?
Where was the focus of the text (i.e. Jewish settlements vs pagan areas)

Why was the text written (i.e. dispel heresy, church sanctification, recordkeeping)?

What is the cultural, historical context? What was the author's original intended meaning? Why was he saying it?

One interpretation. When the author of a book recorded history, or wrote their letter or gospel, they had a single intended meaning attached to what they wrote. When a person writes a letter, they are not thinking how they can write it so that the receiving person either cannot understand it or comes up with many different interpretations of what the writer meant. One should always be aware of what the authors intended meaning was. This should guide and direct one's studies, and should also safeguard against interpretations that do not fit the thought or flow of the book one is studying.

Regard for genre - Identification

Different literary genres (kinds of literature) are interpreted in different ways, so the first question to ask is: “To which category of literature does the text you are interpreting belong? Below are brief descriptions of the different genres found in the Bible:

Historical Narratives. These describe actual historical events from God’s perspective. They tell us what God is like (His character and nature), what God likes/dislikes, how He deals with people who obey and honour Him, and how he deals with those who disobey and hate Him. Narratives give us principles and lessons, not commands, patterns or laws. Historical Narratives are found in Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. In the New Testament, they can be found in parts of the Gospels, and the book of Acts.

Poetry and Songs. These are expressions of emotion to God. They allow us to express to God our feelings of happiness, joy, trust, hope, security, as well as feelings of discouragement, guilt, suffering, fear, anger, despair and repentance. They also assist us in expressing our love and appreciation for God or our need for forgiveness. Poetry and Songs allow us to relate to God on our own level. They show us how to communicate with God and how to honour and worship Him. In the Old Testament, these writings are found primarily in the Psalms and Song of Songs.

Legal Writings. These writings indicate God’s high moral standard, His idea of justice, principles of common sense government, principles of common sense health and safety, and His pattern and order for acceptable worship. These laws are NOT directly applicable to Christians today i.e. they are not meant to be legalistic instructions and commands to Christians. Such legal writings can be found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Wisdom/Wise Sayings. These writings indicate God’s view of wisdom as opposed to man’s view of wisdom. They contain wise sayings, and practical advice on how to live life and avoid trouble and hardship. Wisdom literature can be found primarily in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job.

Prophecy. Prophecy is God’s message to a particular person, a particular group of people and sometimes to all humanity. It is not necessarily foretelling the future – in fact the vast majority of prophecy in the Bible speaks of the present. Prophecy is found primarily in the Old Testament, from Isaiah to Malachi.

Teachings of Jesus. These are direct statements of truth from Jesus concerning the nature and character of God the kingdom of God/Heaven, what God expects of us, principles of righteous living, and the ways in which Jesus fulfils the OT prophecies. They are not exhaustive ‘DOs and DON’Ts,’ but rather, serve as examples and paradigms (patterns) from which we can derive underlying principles to apply in other situations. These teachings are found in parts of the Gospels i.e. Matthew – John.

Parables. Parables are stories with a punch-line. Parables are not so much illustrative, but rather, provocative. They are designed to draw people in and hit them with something unexpected, in the same way a joke does. Most parables have only one message or central idea, and even if multiple messages are present, one of them will be the chief idea. Note also that they are not perfect analogies! Parables are also found in parts of the Gospels.

Letters. These are generally occasional documents i.e. they were written with a clear purpose to a well identified audience. However, some letters (called epistles) were written to a larger people group. The letter/epistle writer presents arguments to correct, rebuke, defend, instruct, praise and encourage their readers. Letters/epistles form the vast majority of the New Testament from Romans to Jude.

Apocalypse. This includes the book of Revelation, and also large parts of Ezekiel and Daniel. Revelation is a vision of warning and encouragement to the early church as it was going through immense persecution.

Regard for literary devices
"Various forms of Hebrew poetry, simile, metaphor, and hyperbole need to be recognized if the reader is to understand the passage's meaning."

Regard for section of content
Historical Context. The Bible was written over a period of time dating from approximately 2000 BC (Job) to 95 AD (Revelation). It was set in a different country/continent and a vastly different culture and society from our own, therefore we must be careful not to make 20th century “western world” assumptions about the situation. Consult Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks in order to find out about the manners and customs of the various nations at that time in history. Use your imagination and try to put yourself in the shoes of the people involved. Make observations about who? what? when? where? and how?

Literary Context. This is the position of the text you are reading in relation to other texts. What verses come before? What verses come after? What situation, event, statement or argument led up to this passage? What situation, event, statement or argument followed or resulted from this passage? What book is the text in? Whereabouts in the book? What testament is it in? Why is the text in this position? Why is it in the Bible at all? What difference would it make if it was left out?

Answer 2

It depends on how fast you read word for word. The texts and individual verses are information packed throughout the Bible. The Bible usually has about 980 pages, that is nearly 1,000 pages, and it is so information packed, that 100 pages worth compares to an average book of 200 to 300 pages. So the Bible (which some view as like an encyclopedia) is more like 10 books.

On the fast track just read Genesis, and Matthew, and then read a summary of everything else.

A good selection would be Genesis, Exodus, Judges, 1 Samuel, Proverbs, Isaiah, Daniel, Jonah, Matthew, John, Ephesians, 1 and 2nd Theselonians, Hebrews, Revelations.

On my copy of the Masoretic text of the Old Testament the pages are large and the print is very small, and it is still 731 pages long.
That is a lot.

You would have to read a little faster than one book on average per week. Most people can not absorb that fast.

I am not exactly sure how I once divided the Bible into 12 parts by aproximately equal volume, but it was something like this:
1. Genesis, Exodus
2. Leviticus - Deuteronomy
3. Joshua - Ruth
4. 1, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings
5. 2 Kings, 1, 2 Chronicles
6. Ezra - Job
7. Psalms - Song of Solomon
9. Isaiah - Lamentations
10. Ezekiel - Malachi
11. Matthew - Acts
12. Romans - Revelation
Give yourself 4 weeks for each of those 12 areas.

Books Genesis through Nehemiah is sequential, but Ezra and Nehemiah takes place in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

The Wisdom book Job - Song of Solomon is independent but relatively sequential among those.

Then the prophets are sequential.

The NT books are relatively sequential.

There are a total of 66 books, some are long and some are short.

Enjoy!

Answer 3

Go for it! The Bible is the most wonderful book I've ever read! Don't worry if you can't do it every day or if you fall behind- the main thing is to think about and digest what you've read! If you feel you want to meditate on one verse for a whole week, do it. There is no point trying to read the whole Bible as soon as possible, if you are not allowing enough time to enable your soul to absorb it. Get a decent and accurste translation. The NIV (New International Version) is pretty good (just a suggestion). All the very best, the shepherd

Answer 4

1. You can think up any kind of bullshit, but that doesn't make it true or mean that God did it. "Thou shalt not covet" should NOT be enforced anyway. That's what keeps the economy going! 2. It's necessary to quarantine people who are sick because there were no cures back then and they didn't want their entire race dying out from a pandemic. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that a debilitating disease is not something you want to spread around. And handwashing? They probably wanted any unsavory flavors off their hands before they ate. Nothing to do with germs. 3. Good question. 4. They didn't. They thought it was flat. The Bible mentions several times the "ends of the earth." Yes, they probably did think it was a circle but that doesn't mean they thought it was a SPHERE. They thought it was a flat circle, most likely.

Answer 5

Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, has a webiste that lets you receive a a copy of his "read the Bible in a year" plan. Many study Bibles have introductions at each chapter that tell you how much to read in order to read the Bible in a year. My advice- set aside a specific time of each day to read. maybe before you go to bed or right when you wake up. Then read the Bible during this time each day and develope a habit.

Answer 6

Read a few verses then think about what is being said. Many people seem to just read the bible without much thought (and for some reason this seems to be encouraged), however you will get alot more out of it if you think about what is being said and what it means. Also make sure to get a good translation, they are hard to find. KJV is notoriously bad.

Answer 7

Stick to it...
Stick to it...
Stick to it...

It is really just that simple. I am a fast reader so I have done the New Testament in an afternoon bit several times. Old Testament usually takes me about a week to get through. The slower "scheduled" reading is something I have used, but I usually hit a single book and concentrate on it for several weeks (in-depth study, not just reading) then switch to something different.

Answer 8

here is the link to a one-year reading plan that instead of going right from Genesis - Revelation, mixes things up a bit, to make it a little more different and interesting:

http://quietearth.freeyellow.com/page4.html

Answer 9

Hey there,

This is a fantastic 52 week plan that you can go by, it's structured and easy to follow. Good Luck!

Answer 10

First, read the teachings of Buddha, Hinduism, and Islam.
Read the stories of Gilgamesh and the Iliad
Then read the bible.
After that, read the Torah, Martin Luther's protests, and the Book of Mormon.

If you read those philosophies, you'll appreciate the bible for what it is.

Answer 11

Try to find someone to read it with,maby a study group or a one on one study. its more interesting when you can discuss what you are reading with some one as you are reading it.