Bible Reading Plan

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I need some insight regarding a Bible reading plan.

I recently started getting back into reading the Bible on a regular basis. I am essentially forcing myself to do it for my benefit.

Originally I was using about 3 translations: the 1966 Jerusalem Bible for OT reading, New Catholic Version for Psalms, and Common English Bible for NT re-read (I was actually doing a “highlight” study for the CEB where I highlight with 6 different colors for 6 different subjects in the NT). My work schedule has been chaotic for the last month but now I feel more motivated to get back on schedule with Bible reading.

I guess the issue is, I don’t want to use any of those 3 translations anymore. I don’t want to be forced to read commentaries or footnotes no matter how Catholic or orthodox-scholarly they are. This is due to the fact that I’m constantly moving my eyes from the verses I’m reading to the footnotes at the bottom of the page, and some of said footnotes are quite long. Plus with my highlight study, I’m getting lazy and I don’t think it’s a project I currently have time for.

So I decided that I would “hold off” these translations and try to get one of those Bibles that’s arranged in a 365 day reading schedule. Went to 3 bookstores around where I live; no Catholic one year Bibles. I know I could get them online but I don’t feel like paying shipping&handling. I picked up the NIV “One Year Bible” instead.

The downside to using the NIV One Year Bible obviously, is it doesn’t include the Deuterocanonical books. So far I’m sticking 100% to the reading schedule, but I’m also re-reading the books that I essentially already went through. I am only on 1 Samuel in the OT, and now with the One Year Bible, I’m back at Genesis. I’m not exactly sure now that I want to re-read what I’ve already read in the OT.

I’m thinking that I should just go back and stick to the 1966 Jerusalem Bible for my OT+Psalms+NT reading, despite the use of footnotes. Something just keeps bringing me back to the JB.

So sorry, that was a long explanation for what I’m about to ask: are there any “Bible reading plan” websites that have a large amount of customization (for example, I can make a reading schedule starting from where I’m currently at in the OT+NT) as well as have the options for incorporating the Deuterocanon into said reading plan? I’m not really looking for reading plans that already exist but rather, ones that I could create for myself online. All I keep finding are “Protestant” reading plans that are easily customizable, but do not contain the options for Deuterocanon.

Thanks.
 
I don’t think you’re going to find a published Catholic text-only Bible arranged in a one-year reading plan. Reading the Bible through in a year is definitely a Good Thing, but the emphasis on organized annual Bible-reading came out of Protestant Evangelicalism, and therefore it is arranged around the shortened post-Reformation Bible.

I personally wouldn’t worry about getting a special year-through bible. If you’re distracted by the footnotes, just get a text-only bible and read it. There are Catholic-oriented reading lists, if you want to go that route.
 
Reading the whole Protestant Bible in a year can be a challenge. I can’t imagine trying to do with with a Catholic Bible.

Personally, I’d like to find a two year plan because then the readings would be shorter, and it would give me time to consider what I read. When I was trying to read on the one year plan I was rushing through the readings.

A long time ago, I had a boyfriend whose father bragged about how he read through the whole Bible every year for X number of years. As it happened, we played Bible Trivia that night. I beat the pants off of him. Why? I think it’s because trying to read the whole Bible on a one year schedule doesn’t give you enough time to really take it in.

ETA: It also occurred to me that you could just get a Daily Readings app, and read the daily readings in the Bible of your choice. That would have you going through the Bible every three years, and the readings would be in short enough chunks that you could really pray/meditate over it.
 
Tous_Logous said:
I need some insight regarding a Bible reading plan.

I recently started getting back into reading the Bible on a regular basis. I am essentially forcing myself to do it for my benefit.

Originally I was using about 3 translations: the 1966 Jerusalem Bible for OT reading, New Catholic Version for Psalms, and Common English Bible for NT re-read (I was actually doing a “highlight” study for the CEB where I highlight with 6 different colors for 6 different subjects in the NT). My work schedule has been chaotic for the last month but now I feel more motivated to get back on schedule with Bible reading.

I guess the issue is, I don’t want to use any of those 3 translations anymore. I don’t want to be forced to read commentaries or footnotes no matter how Catholic or orthodox-scholarly they are. This is due to the fact that I’m constantly moving my eyes from the verses I’m reading to the footnotes at the bottom of the page, and some of said footnotes are quite long. Plus with my highlight study, I’m getting lazy and I don’t think it’s a project I currently have time for.

So I decided that I would “hold off” these translations and try to get one of those Bibles that’s arranged in a 365 day reading schedule. Went to 3 bookstores around where I live; no Catholic one year Bibles. I know I could get them online but I don’t feel like paying shipping&handling. I picked up the NIV “One Year Bible” instead.

The downside to using the NIV One Year Bible obviously, is it doesn’t include the Deuterocanonical books. So far I’m sticking 100% to the reading schedule, but I’m also re-reading the books that I essentially already went through. I am only on 1 Samuel in the OT, and now with the One Year Bible, I’m back at Genesis. I’m not exactly sure now that I want to re-read what I’ve already read in the OT.

I’m thinking that I should just go back and stick to the 1966 Jerusalem Bible for my OT+Psalms+NT reading, despite the use of footnotes. Something just keeps bringing me back to the JB.

So sorry, that was a long explanation for what I’m about to ask: are there any “Bible reading plan” websites that have a large amount of customization (for example, I can make a reading schedule starting from where I’m currently at in the OT+NT) as well as have the options for incorporating the Deuterocanon into said reading plan? I’m not really looking for reading plans that already exist but rather, ones that I could create for myself online. All I keep finding are “Protestant” reading plans that are easily customizable, but do not contain the options for Deuterocanon.

Thanks.
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Go to amazon, they have ‘My Daily Catholic Bible’ by Dr. Paul Thigpin, either in paperback or on kindle. It comes in the NABRE translation.
 
It’s not quite customizeable, but here’s a popular 1-year Catholic plan. link

Also, while reading the daily readings every day IS a good idea, it wouldn’t actually get you through the entire Bible in 3 years. We don’t finish a lot of books (and don’t even touch Obadiah)
 
I was thinking of reading through the Catholic Bible in a 1-2 year plan starting from where I’m currently at in the OT and NT, not starting over again.

What I was doing originally was reading 1 chapter out of the OT, maybe half of or 1 whole Psalm, and half/1 whole chapter in the NT. I wasn’t necessarily enjoying this schedule for some reason; I don’t feel like I’m “taking anything out of it” so to speak. Again, I’m thinking that maybe it’s because I’m reading too many footnotes. I love the fact that the JB is a scholarly translation, and I feel like by avoiding the footnotes I’m avoiding some good information. I probably just need to re-evaluate how I’m reading the Bible. Trying different translations hasn’t really worked for me. My mind wanders, a lot.

It’s a shame that there aren’t too many customizable Bible reading plans online that utilize the Deuterocanon. I would really enjoy creating my own structured reading plan.
 
I’ve been reading the Bible regularly for 15 years and have never used a plan nor had a plan of my own. And after all this time I still feel no need for a plan.
 
If you know your Bible stuff already, you can use the missal readings as for personal daily scriptural reading, reflection and prayers. The Bible then can become your supplementary reading and references. I do this and it also serves dual purpose - you will be well prepared for the mass, especially if you are attending weeekday mass and you will more or less cover the whole Bible in two years.

As for the preferred Bible translation, I would suggest get a handful of them but use the one that you like as a working Bible.
 
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