Many people find that first thing in the morning is their best time for reading God’s Word. But that doesn’t work for everyone, or for every season of life. The more important thing is not when you read but that you read. Use lunchtime, break time or bedtime depending on what works best for you. In any case, develop a consistent habit of reading God’s holy, inspired, infallible and inerrant Word, so that it becomes part of the rhythm of your life, for the rest of your life. 

If you are a newcomer to this particular Bible reading plan, the biggest difference from the usual plans is that it schedules readings on only 5 days a week, rather than 7 days a week. This provides a little breathing room and may encourage you to press on and finish. Reading the Bible all through in a year is not for the faint of heart, BUT, it is actually easier than you think if you’ve never tried it. You’ll need to rely on the grace of God, and be quite self-disciplined, but the rewards are immense.

What’s New in the 2026 Bible Reading Plan?

This is not a total overhaul of the usual Bible reading plan, but there have been a few major shake-ups this year:

• Job has been moved from the end of the year after Malachi to a more chronological placement, slotted between Genesis and Exodus, since Job is set in the general period of the patriarchs. So if you have read through the Bible using the 2025 plan you are just now finishing Job, and you’ll have the blessing of reading it again in just a month!
• The letters written in the period of ‘Early Paul’ (Quarter 2), have been rearranged according to their probable order of composition[i], so are now read in the order 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans. This enables the reader to experience the unfolding understanding of the Christian faith as the early Christians would have experienced it.
• Proverbs 1-9 are an introduction to the wisdom literature of Proverbs and are read over a period of four days. But since Proverbs 10-31 are quite dense, they are spread out so that you read just one chapter a day alongside Solomon’s other writings (Song of Songs/Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes) and the historical records of Solomon’s life.

And now, after those brief comments, here is the proper introduction explaining the rationale for the way the readings have been ordered.

5 Days per week Bible Reading Program

Most Christians would agree that it would be a great blessing and very desirable to read the whole Bible through every year. But saying is easier than doing. How many of us have begun on January 1 full of good intentions, and by January 18 we have given up?

There are many reasons why we fail, but we should not forget that we are all involved in high stakes spiritual warfare. Satan does not want believers to regularly be listening to, and being transformed by, the living word of the living God. The Bible reading plan that follows is offered to you as an encouragement not to give up, but to try again.

1. 5 days per week

Unlike many Bible-in-a-year reading plans, this one schedules only five days per week rather than seven. So, although each day’s readings are a little longer, it provides a way of catching up for those who fall behind in their readings. Or if you get ahead, you can take time out for a deeper study of some part of scripture without getting behind.

2. A Redemptive-historical approach.

Instead of reading the Old Testament from beginning to end in the order in which the books appear in our Bibles, these readings are arranged in such a way that the reader can follow the unfolding story of God’s redemption of his people.

3. Chronological order

The readings are arranged as much as possible in chronological order. For example, parallel readings in Kings and Chronicles are read alongside one another.

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