Reading the Bible in 2021

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bookslover

Puritan Board Doctor
Yes, it's that time of the year already. Time to reveal our Bible-reading plans for the new year.

This year, I've read through the Scriptures using Robert Murray M'Cheyne's famous Bible-reading schedule, and have enjoyed it very much. Next year, however, I've decided to do something different. Next year, I'll read through the Bible at a rate of 6 chapters per day - 3 from the OT and 3 from the NT. It'll be interesting to see how many times I read the NT while I'm reading the OT.

I have also decided on my accompanying devotional reading. I will finish reading through Day by Day by Vance Havner (Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953), which I started on September 1 of this year. To that, I will add the writings of two 19th-century evangelical Anglicans who were contemporaries: J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) and H. P. Liddon (1829-1890). I have 7 of Ryle's books (as republished by Banner of Truth) and I have 9 volumes of Liddon's sermons (which should be republished, but haven't) at the ready. So: 1 chapter from Ryle, and 1 sermon by Liddon per day.

You?
 
It should work out to you reading the entire NT 4 times. At 3 chapters a day it will take you 86.67 days to read all 260 chapters of the NT.
 
Following up from last year: https://www.puritanboard.com/threads/bible-reading-in-2020.100365/post-1225254)

I plan to study Leviticus, Romans, and Psalms for 2021 in private and family worship. Using Matthew Henry as my primary guide.

Outside of Scripture I plan to continue my reading in Brakel’s TCRS (currently on Vol. 3), Burroughs’s Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Watson’s Heaven Taken by Storm, The Original Westminster Standards. If time allows I will also plan to read Durham’s Sermons on the book of Job:detective:

That’s my goal and a special thanks to Richard for this type of thread as I always enjoy it.
 
My habit for private prayer follows a "morning and evening" pattern. Morning prayer is the first thing in my day; and evening prayer is the last thing. I read through the Psalms each month. For this, I use the schedule provided in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Morning Prayer:
  • Psalms for that morning
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the OT (Gen.-Job)
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the NT (Matt.-Acts)
Evening Prayer:
  • Psalms for that evening
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the OT (Prov.-Mal.)
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the NT (Matt.-Acts)

In conjunction with these readings I may sing a hymn that corresponds to what I've read (but not always). And my time is always ended with a season of prayer. If for some providential reason I miss a morning, or evening, or whatever, I simply pickup where I left off in the Old and/or New Testament next time.
 
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C. M. Sheffield said:
My habit for private prayer follows a "morning and evening" pattern. Morning prayer is the first thing in my day; and evening prayer is the last thing. I read through the Psalms each month. For this, I use the schedule provided in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Morning Prayer:
  • Psalms for that morning
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the OT (Gen.-Job)
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the NT (Matt.-Acts)
Evening Prayer:
  • Psalms for that evening
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the OT (Prov.-Mal.)
  • 1 Chapter read Consecutively from the NT (Matt.-Acts)

In conjunction with these readings I may sing a hymn that corresponds to what I've read (but not always). And my time is always ended with a season of prayer. If for some providential reason I miss a morning, or evening, or whatever, I simply pickup where I left off in the Old and/or New Testament next time.
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Very interesting. I'm a morning and evening prayer type myself. Can you reproduce that Psalm-reading schedule from the Book of Common Prayer here on the Board? I'd love to see it, if possible.
 
py3ak said:
It should work out to you reading the entire NT 4 times. At 3 chapters a day it will take you 86.67 days to read all 260 chapters of the NT.
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Thanks for figuring that out for me. I probably could have done that if my brain were less fuzzy.
 
You are consistent.. I see similar threads popping up below this of back to 2007 at least!

I will continue reading using a modified version of Professor Horner's plan, as I've done off and on for over a decade (though on daily for at least 3 years straight now). I read 5-10 chapters a day out of different books, and keep track in a spreadsheet instead of with bookmarks. I like keeping a diversity of parts of redemptive history in view at one time.

One disadvantage of Horner's plan is that it doesn't get you through the entire Bible in one year if you follow it exactly, though I usually do the way I use it. While the unmodified plan puts you at 10 chapters a day, you end up reading less of the Bible in a year than most Christians set out to. How do you figure that? :)
 
I will be new-ish to M'Cheyne, and because I'm a mom of young children and am tired all the time and would rather be read to than read in the morning... :-D an ESV app has the plan on audio all ready to go for me. :)
 
We’re doing a chronological plan. We started already—with two boys, we’ll probably finish right at the end of next year.
 
I listen to a podcast that Crossway distributes, that does the M'Cheyne reading. I have been doing that for several years, and will continue that next year. (I tried my hand with the Horner plan, but it was too intense for me.)

I also regularly read through smaller sections of scripture that are used in coordination for family worship. I usually use Matthew Henry as my commentary.
 
LilyG said:
I will be new-ish to M'Cheyne, and because I'm a mom of young children and am tired all the time and would rather be read to than read in the morning... :-D an ESV app has the plan on audio all ready to go for me. :)
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No shame in that. I have been using Crossway's RSS feed for M'Cheyne (see above post). I figure, we do what works best. I enjoy listening to podcast, so use that to advantage in what I listen to, mostly at least.
 
Kinghezy said:
No shame in that. I have been using Crossway's RSS feed for M'Cheyne (see above post). I figure, we do what works best. I enjoy listening to podcast, so use that to advantage in what I listen to, mostly at least.
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Oh nice.

Yeah I've been listening in the quiet mornings anyway at esv.org. While sipping my coffee. It's quite nice!
 
I admire and encourage people to read large sections of Scripture, to gain the sweep of the whole of Redemptive History. All of the plans seem well suited for that goal. Might I suggest that there is one book of the Bible that is not so well suited to that approach, however: the Book of Proverbs. Especially in chapters 10-30, largely made up of sentence proverbs, the practice of trying to read through a chapter at a time seems to me not the best. It might be better to take a single proverb (or small group of proverbs, where they are linked) and study it for a week, memorizing it and contemplating where it is and is not applicable, and so on. Perhaps if your plan has you reading through Proverbs once a month, instead of trying to cover each chapter in one day, just take a single proverb from the chapter for that day and really ponder it.

The reason I recommend this is because proverbs, like parables, take considerable thought to extract their meaning, and especially to know how to relate them to Christ and the gospel. Ed Clowney used to say, "You have heard of the milk of the Word and the meat of the Word; Proverbs is the hard candy of the Word; you need to slip it into your cheek or under your tongue and suck on it to get all of the sweetness"

I don't mean to derail anyone's reading plan, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has tried a different approach with Proverbs. If so, what did you do and how did it go?
 
iainduguid said:
I admire and encourage people to read large sections of Scripture, to gain the sweep of the whole of Redemptive History.
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I try to follow this approach. Not that I always do that but, I remember reading a Gospel or two in one sitting awhile ago and was amazed at how saturated they were in justification by faith alone.
 
I have 2 more days of reading my bible in 90 days...this time, I'm not sure if I attempt it every 90 days, or six months. I do know, for 90 days, it's a big commitment. 10 - 12 chapters per day.
 
I am completing my 6th consecutive year of the M'Cheyne plan, with a different English translation each of those years, and an alternate to check on the main one in some books/chapters. The past few years I've also used D.A. Carson's 2 vol companion to M'Cheyne, 'For The Love Of God.' I intend to continue this regimen through 2021 ... Lord willing.
 
M'Cheyne, it ain’t broke so not going to fix it.
Slowly reading through Mysterium & medulla Bibliorum the mysterie and marrow of the Bible by Robert Francis, which will probably take me through the year. Other books I’ll be reading will be a random selection of whatever I come across and am in the mood for, most likely Covenanters.
 
Several people have mentioned using Matthew Henry along with the Bible. I have Henry but have only read around in it. Hmmm. Pondering. . .
 
I'm going to be using the 5 day reading plan next year. It goes through the whole Bible once, unlike others that cover the NT twice. This will help me to keep going reading steadily through the Bible and then gives me two days, which will most likely be the weekend, to study individual books more in-depth.

I've started making a personal study Bible for my daughter when she is older. I'm making notes to eventually fill that.
 
For 2021 (within the home)...

Private Bible Plan -- M'Cheyne's Bible Reading plan (2nd year now)
Family Bible Plan -- read through the NT and Psalms during family worship

Ad hoc Bible Plan #1 -- read & listen to one book of the Bible in the King James Version w/ my children each month. The KJV is my personal translation of choice, but it's not my children's. I commenced "Operation Expose My Children to the KJV" (OEMC-KJV) in November this year and will continue indefinitely until they are grown and gone. I usually do this in the afternoon on the Lord's Day.

Ad hoc Bible Plan #2 -- continue reading through the OT with my children and working through these NKJV activity worksheets together. I usually do this in the afternoon on the Lord's Day.

Ad hoc Bible Plan #3 -- my children will continue to go through David Murray's Meeting with Jesus: A Daily Bible Reading Plan for Kids when they wake up each day to cultivate the habit of reading God's word first thing in the morning.

Ad hoc Bible Plan #4 -- continue going through the WSC (one question per week) with my children and reading the proof texts together while incorporating Starr Meade's excellent family devotions book Training Hearts Teaching Minds.

----

"Other" Reading Plans -- I've got stacks of books with bookmarks hanging out of them begging to be finished so they can join their other friends on my bookshelves. A mix of commentaries on confessional documents, apologetic stuff, various theological pretzels, different Puritan volumes, etc. etc. I might resume my monthly book allowance in 2021 after freezing it for most of 2020, which might make the stacks multiply some...we shall see.
 
We’ve read through chronologically annually for 4-5 years now as a family. We use the One Year Chronological Bible plan put together by Tyndale House.
 
B.L. said:
read & listen to one book of the Bible in the King James Version w/ my children each month. The KJV is my personal translation of choice, but it's not my children's. I commenced "Operation Expose My Children to the KJV" (OEMC-KJV) in November this year and will continue indefinitely until they are grown and gone. I usually do this in the afternoon on the Lord's Day.
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I have a sneaking suspicion the short excerpt above to my longer post earlier in this thread was the inspiration for the "Don't Read the King James Version" thread that was subsequently closed tonight.

In keeping with the tenor of this thread here "Reading the Bible in 2021" I thought I would expound very briefly on why I feel it worth the time and energy to expose my children to the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. Quite simply, the KJV is a literary masterpiece that is the most influential book in the history of the English-speaking world. As parents, my wife and I are giving our children a classical education and an introduction to the language and style of the KJV is essential reading in our home.

I think every English-speaking Christian should read through the entire Bible using the KJV at least once in their lifetime. As a matter of fact, if you haven't done so why not make 2021 the year you give it a try? The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible would be a trusted help and guide to get you on your way. This is the Puritan Board after all. :D
 
B.L. said:
I have a sneaking suspicion the short excerpt above to my longer post earlier in this thread was the inspiration for the "Don't Read the King James Version" thread that was subsequently closed tonight.
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For the record: no, that was not the case.

Also, for the record: I've read the KJV all the way through. It was a chore. As C. S. Lewis said, regarding the KJV, beautiful language can also obscure.
 
I have the KJV on CD for my car read by Alexander Scourby. It's nice to have the Bible on as I'm going around town. I do have a One Year Bible KJV as well that I've been reading through. I sorely lack consistency and can sometimes have too grand of reading plans considering my painfully slow pace of reading and the amount of reading I do for seminary. I went back to look at my post for 2020 Bible reading and chuckled at how ambitious my thought process was. As for family worship, we read a mix between the KJV and the NKJV just picking books here and there to read and talk about.
 
2020 was my first time through the M'Cheyne reading plan. Over the years, I've done other Bible-in-a-year plans, but thoroughly enjoyed this one. With that, I will be doing M'Cheyne's plan again in 2021, with a few brothers and sisters via the Bible app.
 
J.L. Allen said:
I have the KJV on CD for my car read by Alexander Scourby. It's nice to have the Bible on as I'm going around town. I do have a One Year Bible KJV as well that I've been reading through. I sorely lack consistency and can sometimes have too grand of reading plans considering my painfully slow pace of reading and the amount of reading I do for seminary. I went back to look at my post for 2020 Bible reading and chuckled at how ambitious my thought process was. As for family worship, we read a mix between the KJV and the NKJV just picking books here and there to read and talk about.
Click to expand...

Did you know that Johnny Cash made an audio recording of the New Testament of the NKJV? He died in 2003 so, obviously, it was made some years before that. I wonder if it is still available?
 
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