Most Bible reading plans fail in February. Not because people lack discipline, but because they picked a plan sized for a different life than the one they have.
Below are five complete plans, written out in full so you can print this page or copy the table you want into a notebook. Pick by how much time you actually have on a bad day, not a good one.
Which plan fits you
| Plan | Daily time | Covers | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-day New Testament | 5–8 min | Highlights of the New Testament | Restarting after a long gap |
| 52-week whole Bible | 12–15 min | Genesis to Revelation in a year | Weekly planners; catch-up days built in |
| 365-day chronological | 15–20 min | The whole Bible in event order | People who want the storyline |
| Kids 4-week | 5 min | Core narratives | Ages 5–11, read aloud |
| Catholic 52-week | 12–15 min | All 73 books | Readers who want the deuterocanonical books included |
One rule that applies to all five: pick a smaller plan than you think you need. Finishing a 30-day plan builds more momentum than abandoning a 365-day one in week six.
The 30-day New Testament plan
Short readings, mostly narrative, ending on the resurrection. Five to eight minutes a day.
| Day | Read | Day | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark 1 | 16 | John 11 |
| 2 | Mark 2 | 17 | John 14 |
| 3 | Mark 4 | 18 | John 15 |
| 4 | Mark 5 | 19 | John 17 |
| 5 | Mark 8 | 20 | Acts 1 |
| 6 | Mark 10 | 21 | Acts 2 |
| 7 | Mark 15 | 22 | Acts 9 |
| 8 | Mark 16 | 23 | Romans 5 |
| 9 | Matthew 5 | 24 | Romans 8 |
| 10 | Matthew 6 | 25 | Romans 12 |
| 11 | Matthew 7 | 26 | 1 Corinthians 13 |
| 12 | Luke 10 | 27 | Ephesians 2 |
| 13 | Luke 15 | 28 | Philippians 2 |
| 14 | John 1 | 29 | James 1 |
| 15 | John 3 | 30 | Revelation 21 |
The 52-week whole-Bible plan
One block per week. Read five days a week and you have two catch-up days built in, which is the single feature that keeps year-long plans alive.
| Wk | Read | Wk | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 1–16 | 27 | Psalms 1–30 |
| 2 | Genesis 17–31 | 28 | Psalms 31–60 |
| 3 | Genesis 32–50 | 29 | Psalms 61–90 |
| 4 | Exodus 1–20 | 30 | Psalms 91–118 |
| 5 | Exodus 21–40 | 31 | Psalms 119–150 |
| 6 | Leviticus 1–27 | 32 | Proverbs 1–16 |
| 7 | Numbers 1–20 | 33 | Proverbs 17–31 |
| 8 | Numbers 21–36 | 34 | Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs |
| 9 | Deuteronomy 1–20 | 35 | Isaiah 1–22 |
| 10 | Deuteronomy 21–34 | 36 | Isaiah 23–44 |
| 11 | Joshua 1–24 | 37 | Isaiah 45–66 |
| 12 | Judges 1–21 | 38 | Jeremiah 1–25 |
| 13 | Ruth; 1 Samuel 1–15 | 39 | Jeremiah 26–52 |
| 14 | 1 Samuel 16–31 | 40 | Lamentations; Ezekiel 1–16 |
| 15 | 2 Samuel 1–24 | 41 | Ezekiel 17–48 |
| 16 | 1 Kings 1–22 | 42 | Daniel 1–12 |
| 17 | 2 Kings 1–25 | 43 | Hosea; Joel; Amos |
| 18 | 1 Chronicles 1–29 | 44 | Obadiah through Zephaniah |
| 19 | 2 Chronicles 1–36 | 45 | Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi |
| 20 | Ezra; Nehemiah | 46 | Matthew 1–28 |
| 21 | Esther; Job 1–14 | 47 | Mark 1–16 |
| 22 | Job 15–42 | 48 | Luke 1–24 |
| 23 | Review week | 49 | John 1–21 |
| 24 | Review week | 50 | Acts 1–28 |
| 25 | Catch-up week | 51 | Romans through Philemon |
| 26 | Catch-up week | 52 | Hebrews through Revelation |
Weeks 23 to 26 are deliberate. Everyone falls behind by midsummer, and a plan with slack in it gets finished.
The 365-day plan, by month
Chronological, so the prophets land inside the history they were written into and the Gospels run in parallel. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day.
| Month | Read |
|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis; Job |
| 2 | Exodus; Leviticus |
| 3 | Numbers; Deuteronomy |
| 4 | Joshua; Judges; Ruth |
| 5 | 1–2 Samuel with the early Psalms |
| 6 | 1 Kings; 2 Chronicles; Proverbs |
| 7 | Isaiah; Hosea; Amos; Micah |
| 8 | 2 Kings; Jeremiah; Zephaniah; Nahum |
| 9 | Ezekiel; Daniel; the return under Ezra and Nehemiah |
| 10 | Matthew; Mark |
| 11 | Luke; John |
| 12 | Acts with the letters in the order they were written |
The kids 4-week plan
Read aloud, five minutes, five days a week. One question after each: what does this show about God?
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 1 | Genesis 2 | Genesis 3 | Genesis 6 | Genesis 8 |
| 2 | Exodus 3 | Exodus 14 | Joshua 6 | 1 Samuel 3 | 1 Samuel 17 |
| 3 | Daniel 3 | Daniel 6 | Jonah 1 | Jonah 3 | Psalm 23 |
| 4 | Luke 2 | Mark 4:35–41 | Luke 15:11–32 | Luke 23 | Luke 24 |
If you want a full routine around this rather than just the readings, the 20-minute weekly kids Bible study lays out the five steps.
The Catholic 52-week plan
The 52-week plan above covers 66 books. To read all 73, keep that structure and insert the deuterocanonical books where they belong historically.
| Insert after week | Read |
|---|---|
| 15 | Tobit |
| 19 | Judith |
| 21 | Esther (including the Greek additions) |
| 22 | 1 Maccabees |
| 23 | 2 Maccabees |
| 33 | Wisdom |
| 34 | Sirach |
| 39 | Baruch |
| 42 | Daniel (including chapters 13 and 14) |
That uses the two review weeks, so plan on reading six days a week rather than five, or extend to 56 weeks. A Catholic edition such as the NABRE or the RSV-CE keeps all of this in one volume in the right order.
Making the plan survive past week three
Attach it to something that already happens. Coffee, the commute, the ten minutes after the kids are in bed. A plan with no anchor competes with everything else in the day and loses.
Never make up missed days. Jump to today’s date. Catch-up debt is the single most common reason people quit — four days behind feels like failure, and failure feels like a reason to stop.
Mark it where you can see it. A checkbox next to each day, on paper, in the same place. Streaks work, but only if they are visible.
Write one line a day. Not a study, not a paragraph. One sentence about what you read. Six months in, that notebook is the reason you keep going. If you want a method rather than freeform notes, the SOAP method takes about four extra minutes, and the four-step beginner guide is a good place to start if you have never studied a passage on your own.
Tab the books you will read most. Ten seconds of flipping per day is not the problem; the small friction of it is. Laminated Bible tabs take five minutes to apply and last the life of the Bible.
Common questions
Which plan should a first-time reader pick? The 30-day New Testament plan. Start in Mark, not Genesis. Starting in Genesis is how most people end up stuck in Leviticus in March.
Is chronological better? Better for understanding the storyline, harder for daily reading, because a chronological plan cuts back and forth between books mid-chapter. Choose it for a second or third pass, not a first.
Can I read these out of order? Yes. The 52-week blocks are self-contained. Skipping to the Gospels in a hard season is not cheating.
What if I miss a whole month? Resume on today’s date. Every one of these plans is designed to be joinable at any point.
Print the plan you picked, put it where you will read, and start today rather than on the first of the month. The date you start matters far less than whether the paper is somewhere you will see it tomorrow.