journey through the bible
old testament readings
The first month- Genesis and Exodus
Here are the Bible Project videos for Genesis and Exodus:
The Old Testament
Genesis 1-11, Genesis 12-50
Exodus 1-18, Exodus 19-40
The key stories of Genesis and Exodus are found in these chapters. If you're limited for time, hit the highlights with the key chapters noted in parentheses:
Genesis
Creation and other primeval stories Genesis 1-11 (Key chapters 1-4)
Noah’s Ark Genesis 6-9 (key chapters 7-8)
Abraham and Sarah Genesis 12-23 (key chapters 15, 19, 22)
Isaac and Rebecca Genesis 24-27 (key chapters 22, 27)
Jacob and his sons Genesis 28-50 (key chapters 28, 37, 41, 45)
Exodus
The birth of Moses Exodus 2
The call of Moses Exodus 3
The plagues Exodus 7-12 (key chapter 20)
The Exodus Exodus 12-13
The wilderness experience Exodus 15 and beyond (key chapter 32)
The Ten Commandments Exodus 20
If you prefer a daily reading plan with readings that take about 10 minutes a day, use these:
Genesis
Exodus
The second month- the history books
Our next readings take us through some of the key stories in what are known as the history books in the Old Testament. The history books are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. We’ll only be reading a few selected passages from all these, but you’ll be introduced to some very important people in the history of the Israelites, including Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Ruth, Naomi, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Elisha.
Read at your own pace in whatever Bible edition you choose. Here’s a suggested reading (and viewing) list for the history books.
Joshua (After Moses’ death, the Israelites capture and settle the promised land of Canaan)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/joshua/
Read Chapters 2,6,7,24
Judges (Israel goes through cycles of sin, suffering, and salvation. God raises up leaders called judges.)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/judges/
Read Chapters 6,7, and 16
Ruth (A story of love and loyalty between two widows)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ruth/
Read Chapters 1-4 (it’s a short beautiful story that can be read in 20 minutes)
1st Samuel (Israel’s twelve tribes unite under a king)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/1-samuel/
Read Chapters 3,16,17,20
2nd Samuel (David becomes Israel’s greatest king, but with major flaws)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/2-samuel/
Read Chapters 6,11, 12
1st and 2nd Kings (Israel divides into rival southern and northern nations, which are both destroyed due to their disobedience to God)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/kings/
Read 1 Kings Chapters 3,8,17,18
2 Kings Chapters 5,17,22
1st and 2nd Chronicles (covers the history of Israel from Saul to David to Solomon to the destruction of Jerusulem by the Babylonians)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/chronicles/
Ezra and Nehemiah (Jews begin to return from exile and rebuild the temple)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ezra-nehemiah/
Esther (A beautiful Jewish girl becomes queen and saves the Jews from destruction)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/esther/
The third month- Wisdom and Poetry
Our next readings take a look at some very different books in the Old Testament. Our readings up to now have been mostly narrative stories. Now we will look at the books of wisdom literature and poetry—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.
Read at your own pace in whatever Bible edition you choose. Here’s a suggested reading (and viewing) list for the wisdom and poetry books. The video references are to The Bible Project. We suggest watching the book overview before doing the readings for each book listed here. You can find all the book overviews at www.bibleproject.com/explore/book-overviews/
Job (Why does God allow human suffering? This book explores how a good man, Job, suffers a series of horrible calamities which befall him unjustly. God seems strangely silent and distant. In a series of speeches, his friends tell him what he’s done wrong. In the end, God responds to Job.)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/job/
Read Chapters 1-2, 38, 42
Psalms (Psalms is an ancient Jewish songbook with 150 prayers, praises, and laments. The Book of Psalms contain some of the most familiar and varied passages in the Bible)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/psalms/
Read Psalm 19: Perfect Harmony
Psalm 23: The Shepherd Song
Psalm 27: Confidence in Trouble
Psalm 51: The Great Confession
Psalm 84: The Delight of Worshiping God
Psalm 103: God’s Benefits
Psalm 139: God’s Care
Proverbs (A collection of pithy, memorable sayings to encourage people to pursue wisdom)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/proverbs/
Read Chapter 4: an introduction to the importance of wisdom
Chapter 10: a fairly typical range of proverbs on a variety of topics
Ecclesiastes (A teacher describes how apart from God, life is empty and unsatisfying)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ecclesiastes/
Read Chapter 3: the familiar “to everything there is a season” passage
Song of Songs aka Song of Solomon (A book of Hebrew love poetry that depicts the beauty and mystery of love within a marriage, one of God’s gifts to humanity.)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/song-songs/
Read Chapters 1-2
For the purposes of our Journey, we won’t be reading from most of the books of the Prophets, other than looking at a few passages, especially those in Isaiah which tell of the coming of a Messiah, which we’ll hear in Advent. In the Old Testament, there are books of “major” prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) and books of the “minor” prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi). The major and minor designations refer to the length of the books, not their importance. We looked at some of the prophetic passages in Advent when we used this daily reading guide: You can find this daily reading guide here.
Now, on to the New Testament! Click here for the New Testament reading and viewing list.
Here are the Bible Project videos for Genesis and Exodus:
The Old Testament
Genesis 1-11, Genesis 12-50
Exodus 1-18, Exodus 19-40
The key stories of Genesis and Exodus are found in these chapters. If you're limited for time, hit the highlights with the key chapters noted in parentheses:
Genesis
Creation and other primeval stories Genesis 1-11 (Key chapters 1-4)
Noah’s Ark Genesis 6-9 (key chapters 7-8)
Abraham and Sarah Genesis 12-23 (key chapters 15, 19, 22)
Isaac and Rebecca Genesis 24-27 (key chapters 22, 27)
Jacob and his sons Genesis 28-50 (key chapters 28, 37, 41, 45)
Exodus
The birth of Moses Exodus 2
The call of Moses Exodus 3
The plagues Exodus 7-12 (key chapter 20)
The Exodus Exodus 12-13
The wilderness experience Exodus 15 and beyond (key chapter 32)
The Ten Commandments Exodus 20
If you prefer a daily reading plan with readings that take about 10 minutes a day, use these:
Genesis
Exodus
The second month- the history books
Our next readings take us through some of the key stories in what are known as the history books in the Old Testament. The history books are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. We’ll only be reading a few selected passages from all these, but you’ll be introduced to some very important people in the history of the Israelites, including Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Ruth, Naomi, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Elisha.
Read at your own pace in whatever Bible edition you choose. Here’s a suggested reading (and viewing) list for the history books.
Joshua (After Moses’ death, the Israelites capture and settle the promised land of Canaan)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/joshua/
Read Chapters 2,6,7,24
Judges (Israel goes through cycles of sin, suffering, and salvation. God raises up leaders called judges.)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/judges/
Read Chapters 6,7, and 16
Ruth (A story of love and loyalty between two widows)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ruth/
Read Chapters 1-4 (it’s a short beautiful story that can be read in 20 minutes)
1st Samuel (Israel’s twelve tribes unite under a king)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/1-samuel/
Read Chapters 3,16,17,20
2nd Samuel (David becomes Israel’s greatest king, but with major flaws)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/2-samuel/
Read Chapters 6,11, 12
1st and 2nd Kings (Israel divides into rival southern and northern nations, which are both destroyed due to their disobedience to God)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/kings/
Read 1 Kings Chapters 3,8,17,18
2 Kings Chapters 5,17,22
1st and 2nd Chronicles (covers the history of Israel from Saul to David to Solomon to the destruction of Jerusulem by the Babylonians)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/chronicles/
Ezra and Nehemiah (Jews begin to return from exile and rebuild the temple)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ezra-nehemiah/
Esther (A beautiful Jewish girl becomes queen and saves the Jews from destruction)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/esther/
The third month- Wisdom and Poetry
Our next readings take a look at some very different books in the Old Testament. Our readings up to now have been mostly narrative stories. Now we will look at the books of wisdom literature and poetry—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.
Read at your own pace in whatever Bible edition you choose. Here’s a suggested reading (and viewing) list for the wisdom and poetry books. The video references are to The Bible Project. We suggest watching the book overview before doing the readings for each book listed here. You can find all the book overviews at www.bibleproject.com/explore/book-overviews/
Job (Why does God allow human suffering? This book explores how a good man, Job, suffers a series of horrible calamities which befall him unjustly. God seems strangely silent and distant. In a series of speeches, his friends tell him what he’s done wrong. In the end, God responds to Job.)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/job/
Read Chapters 1-2, 38, 42
Psalms (Psalms is an ancient Jewish songbook with 150 prayers, praises, and laments. The Book of Psalms contain some of the most familiar and varied passages in the Bible)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/psalms/
Read Psalm 19: Perfect Harmony
Psalm 23: The Shepherd Song
Psalm 27: Confidence in Trouble
Psalm 51: The Great Confession
Psalm 84: The Delight of Worshiping God
Psalm 103: God’s Benefits
Psalm 139: God’s Care
Proverbs (A collection of pithy, memorable sayings to encourage people to pursue wisdom)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/proverbs/
Read Chapter 4: an introduction to the importance of wisdom
Chapter 10: a fairly typical range of proverbs on a variety of topics
Ecclesiastes (A teacher describes how apart from God, life is empty and unsatisfying)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ecclesiastes/
Read Chapter 3: the familiar “to everything there is a season” passage
Song of Songs aka Song of Solomon (A book of Hebrew love poetry that depicts the beauty and mystery of love within a marriage, one of God’s gifts to humanity.)
Watch https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/song-songs/
Read Chapters 1-2
For the purposes of our Journey, we won’t be reading from most of the books of the Prophets, other than looking at a few passages, especially those in Isaiah which tell of the coming of a Messiah, which we’ll hear in Advent. In the Old Testament, there are books of “major” prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) and books of the “minor” prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi). The major and minor designations refer to the length of the books, not their importance. We looked at some of the prophetic passages in Advent when we used this daily reading guide: You can find this daily reading guide here.
Now, on to the New Testament! Click here for the New Testament reading and viewing list.