What Order Should You Read the Bible In?
By Dom · · 10 min read
You have decided to read the Bible. Then you went looking for a plan and found four of them, each sure it is the right way. Front to back. In the order things happened. New Testament first. A little of everything each day.
Now you are worried about choosing wrong and stalling in Leviticus again. Here is the plain version: what each order is, what it is good at, and how to pick.
Key takeaways
- There is no required order. The order of the books is an arrangement. It groups books by kind, not by date.
- People use four orders: canonical (Genesis to Revelation), chronological, New Testament first, and mixed (several parts each day).
- The Jewish Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament are arranged in different orders: one ends with 2 Chronicles, the other with Malachi.
- Front to back in a year is about nine minutes a day for the Protestant canon, at 220 words a minute.
- In State of the Bible 2026, 17% of U.S. adults said they have read the Bible in its entirety. An order you finish beats a better one you drop.
The short answer: there is no required order
No verse tells you which book to read first, and no order is more spiritual than another. You are free to choose by fit.
If this is your first time, starting with a Gospel is a sound first step. We explain why in where to start reading the Bible. This page is about the next question: once you want to read the whole thing, what path do you take through it?
We are app builders, not pastors. So we will describe each order and who it tends to suit. We will not rank them spiritually. If your church reads together on a plan, that is a good reason to use theirs.
Why the Bible is in the order it is in
Many readers assume the Bible runs in time order, like a history book. It does not, and knowing that takes a lot of pressure off.
Grace Theological Seminary puts it this way: “The standard order of the books of the Bible does not reflect the chronological sequence of events; rather, it groups the books into sections such as the Pentateuch and the Gospels.” Books are shelved by kind. Law sits with law, history with history, poetry with poetry, prophets with prophets, letters with letters.
The Scriptures have even been arranged more than one way. The Boston College Center for Christian-Jewish Learning notes that the Jewish Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament “have different orders”: the church’s Old Testament ends with the prophet Malachi, and the synagogue’s canon ends with Second Chronicles. We mention that only as a fact about arrangement. What each community means by its order is theirs to explain.
Jesus speaks of the Scriptures in three parts: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44, NIV). And Luke opens his Gospel by saying he decided “to write an orderly account” so that his reader could be certain of what he had been taught (Luke 1:3–4, NIV). From the start, order was there to help the reader understand.
The four orders people actually use
Nearly every reading plan is one of these four, or a blend of two.
| Order | How it runs | Best at | Where readers tend to stall (our observation) | Who it suits | Minutes a day, in a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical | Genesis to Revelation, as printed | Simplicity. You always know where you are. | Leviticus and the long lists in Numbers | Readers who like one clear line and a bookmark | 9.0 Protestant, 10.3 Catholic, 10.9 Orthodox |
| Chronological | Passages in the order the events happened | Seeing how the story connects | The long run of Old Testament before any Gospel | Readers who know the main stories and want the timeline | Depends on the plan |
| New Testament first | Gospels and letters, then back to Genesis | Meeting Jesus early | The turn back into the Old Testament | First-time readers and people coming back | Depends on the plan |
| Mixed | Readings from several parts of the Bible each day | Variety. A hard book is never the whole day. | Days with several readings to keep track of | Readers who stalled in one hard book before | Depends on the plan |
We give minutes only for the canonical year, because that is the one we have word counts for. The sums are in how long it takes to read the Bible in a year. For the other three orders, the time depends on the plan you choose, and we would be guessing.
Canonical and chronological: the same books, two different trips
Canonical means the order in your Bible’s table of contents. Its strength is that there is nothing to manage. You read, you move the ribbon, you read again. Ligonier’s list of Bible reading plans includes a plan that reads “straight through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation” in one year.
Its known hard stretch comes early. Genesis and Exodus move quickly. Then Leviticus arrives, and many straight-through readers slow down there. That is common, and it says nothing about you. If your Bible is Catholic or Orthodox, the canonical order also includes more books, which we lay out in Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Bibles compared.
Chronological plans rearrange the passages into the order of historical events. Grace Theological Seminary says this kind of plan “is excellent for people who want to see the connections between events as they happened in sequence,” and lists among its benefits “seeing the correlation between the Psalms and David’s life” and “seeing how the prophets worked in the midst of the kingdom split.”
The cost is that you need a printed or digital plan to follow, since your Bible is not bound that way. You will also spend a long time in the Old Testament before you reach a Gospel.
New Testament first and mixed plans: built for staying in
New Testament first starts with the Gospels and the letters, then goes back to Genesis. It suits a newcomer because the shortest books and the center of the Christian story come first. When you return to the Old Testament, you know what it is leading toward. One route, the one we suggest for a first read, is a Gospel, then Acts, then Genesis, the Psalms and a letter.
Mixed plans give you readings from more than one part of the Bible each day. Ligonier’s list includes plans with two readings a day, one from the Old Testament and one from the New. It also includes the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan, which it describes this way: “Read the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once.”
The case for mixing is put well by Glenna Marshall, writing for Crossway: “You’re less likely to get bogged down in a challenging book like Leviticus when you’re also reading Psalms, Proverbs, and Colossians.” That is one author’s advice, and it matches what many readers report.
The cost is more to keep track of. Several bookmarks, several threads.
How to choose: three questions about you
You can settle this in a minute with three questions.
- Have you read a Gospel all the way through? If not, read one first, or choose New Testament first.
- What stopped you last time? If it was a single hard book, choose mixed. If it was the bother of looking up each day’s reading, choose canonical.
- What do you want this time? If you want to see how the story fits together in time, choose chronological. If you want the Bible as it is printed in your own copy, choose canonical.
If two orders both seem fine, take the simpler one. Our guide to a Bible reading plan for beginners goes through plan shapes and paces in more detail. And if you would rather read alongside other people, the church finder lists churches by city.
Once you have chosen, stop choosing
Many people get a long way into the Bible, and fewer reach the last page. The American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2026 drew on 2,649 interviews with U.S. adults in January 2026. One-third said they have read all or most of the Bible, including 17% who said they have read it in its entirety. Only 10% said they have read none. These are people’s own reports, and the survey did not ask what order anyone read in.
Order can be why a reader stalls. The table above says where, and reading front to back with no help is where many first attempts end. That is the reason to choose with care. But once you have an order that fits, a second thing can end a plan, and this part is our own observation: the next reading stops being decided. You sit down, you are not sure where you are, you wonder if another plan would be better, and the ten minutes go to choosing.
If working out today’s passage is the part that wears you down, let that part be done for you. BlessUp’s year plan runs in the canonical order: day one is Genesis 1 to 3, about nine minutes for the Protestant canon, and each day’s reading is already waiting. Read the chapter and your apps open. Start at Genesis 1 to 3
So make the choice once. Write it down, or print the plan, or use something that holds your place. Then give it a fair run before you judge it. You can change orders later and nothing is lost. A chapter you have read stays read. What helps people stay in, in any order, is covered in how to finish a Bible reading plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best order to read the Bible for the first time?
There is no single best order, and none is more spiritual than another. For a first read, starting with a Gospel is a sound first step, so a New Testament first order suits many newcomers. If you want one simple line to follow, read canonically, Genesis to Revelation. Your pastor or church may suggest a plan they read together.
Should I read the Bible in chronological order?
It suits readers who already know the main stories and want to see how they connect in time. Grace Theological Seminary notes that chronological reading helps you see the Psalms alongside David's life and the prophets within the divided kingdom. The cost is that you need a plan to follow, and you spend a long time in the Old Testament before reaching a Gospel.
Is it wrong to read the New Testament before the Old Testament?
No. The order of the books is an arrangement, not a command, and no verse requires a starting point. Reading the Gospels first means you meet Jesus early and return to the Old Testament knowing what it leads toward. Many churches suggest exactly this for new readers.
Is the Bible in chronological order?
No. As Grace Theological Seminary puts it, the standard order does not reflect the chronological sequence of events; it groups the books into sections such as the Pentateuch and the Gospels. Books are arranged by kind: law, history, poetry, prophets, Gospels and letters.
Can I change the order partway through?
Yes. Nothing you have read is lost when you switch, and a chapter read in one order still counts in another. If a plan has stopped working, change to one that fits, then settle on it so that each day's reading is already decided when you sit down.
Pick the order that fits you, then let tomorrow's reading already be decided.
No guilt. Ever. Grace is built in. Funded by readers, never by ads.
