How to start reading the Bible when you don’t know where to begin

The Bible is long, and it does not read like a novel. If you have opened it at page one and stalled somewhere in the early chapters, you are not doing anything wrong. You only need a sensible place to start and a little time each day.

Know what you are holding

The Bible is a collection of 66 books, from Genesis to Revelation. It comes in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament (Bible Gateway book list). The New Testament opens with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, four accounts of the life of Jesus.

There are many English translations, and some are easier to read than others. Bible Gateway has dozens you can read for free, and you can switch between them on any passage to compare (Bible Gateway). Whatever you choose, pick a translation you can understand and stay with it for a while.

Start with Jesus

Start with one of the four accounts of Jesus’s life. Mark is a good first choice. It has 16 chapters, and it gets into the story quickly. It opens by calling itself the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1).

John is another good place to begin. Near the end, John explains why he wrote his book: so that readers would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in his name (John 20:31).

Once you know the story of Jesus, the rest of the Bible starts to make more sense. Luke records Jesus explaining to his followers, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, what the Scriptures said about him (Luke 24:27).

Read a little, often

A chapter a day is plenty. At that pace you can read Mark in a little over two weeks. If a chapter is too much, read half.

Pick a time and a place and keep to it. You could read first thing, before you check your phone. Or you could read last thing at night.

A simple way to read

Try these four steps with each passage:

1. Read. Read the passage through once, then again more slowly.
2. Notice. Write down a line or a question that stands out to you.
3. Ask. What does this show me about God? What does it show me about people?
4. Respond. Talk to God about what you read. Then choose one small thing to do.

That last step matters. James tells his readers to do what the word says, and not only hear it. If they only hear it, they deceive themselves (James 1:22).

Before you start, you can pray the prayer from Psalm 119, asking God to open your eyes to see wondrous things from his law (Psalm 119:18). The same psalm describes God’s word like this:

“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105, NKJV)

A lamp shows you the next step or two. You do not need to see the whole road before you set off.

When you get stuck

You will hit passages that make no sense to you. Some things that help:

• Read the verses before and after. The context often answers the question.
• Look at the footnotes. On Bible Gateway, many passages have notes that explain names or how a word was translated.
• Write the question down and come back to it later.
• Ask someone. Read with a friend or bring your question to someone at church.

The believers in Berea are a good example. Luke says they received Paul’s message readily and searched the Scriptures every day to find out if it was true (Acts 17:11). Asking questions is part of reading well.

Paul told Timothy that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is useful for teaching and for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Understanding comes bit by bit, as you keep coming back.

What to read next

After Mark or John, you could try:

• Acts, to see what happened after Jesus rose from the dead
• Psalms, to learn how to pray honestly. Psalm 42 is a good one to start with: read What does “As the deer pants for the water” mean?
• Genesis, to see where the story of the Bible begins

If you want to add fasting to your time with God, read What is fasting in the Bible, and how do Christians fast today? first.

Reading to know God

The point of reading the Bible is to know God. Jesus once told people who searched the Scriptures that those Scriptures were pointing to him (John 5:39-40). For more on that, read Knowing about God or knowing God.

Several episodes of Tea Time With Thandie stay with one passage. Episode 4, Grave Clothes, works through John 11:1-44. Episode 6 focuses on a single verse, Genesis 3:21. Listening to one is a good way to see what slow reading looks like.

Find every episode on the podcast page.