How to read the Bible in 6 months: about 20 minutes a day
Reading the Bible in 6 months is 6.5 chapters, about 20 minutes, a day. A free 26-week schedule, the figures for every canon and the long days to expect.
The short answer
To read the Bible in 6 months, read 6 or 7 chapters a day. The 66-book Protestant Bible's 1,189 chapters over 182 days come to 6.5 a day, about 4,100 words, which takes around 17 minutes at an average silent reading pace or 21 at a relaxed one: two sittings of about ten minutes. That is 26 weeks of about 46 chapters each, twice the daily reading of a one-year plan.
In this guide
- How many chapters a day to read the Bible in 6 months
- Is it possible to read the whole Bible in 6 months?
- A 6-month Bible reading schedule, week by week
- Which order works best in six months?
- How long each day really takes
- Other Bibles, or one testament, in 6 months
- Keeping a six-month pace through a busy week
- When six months turns into seven
- Questions people ask
- Sources
Six months is the middle road through the Bible: about twice the daily reading of a one-year plan, and half that of a 90-day sprint. To read the Bible in 6 months takes a real daily habit, but one that fits inside an ordinary day, and it gets you from Genesis to Revelation between, say, January and July. Here are the daily figures for every canon, a free 26-week schedule in two orders, and an honest look at which days run long.
- 6.5chapters a day, Protestant Bible
- 17–21 mina day of silent reading
- about 46chapters a week, for 26 weeks
- 7.3chapters a day, Catholic Bible
How many chapters a day to read the Bible in 6 months
To read the 66-book Protestant Bible in six months, read six or seven chapters a day. Its 1,189 chapters over 182 days come to 6.5 a day: six chapters every day, with a seventh on 97 of the 182 days. By our count of the World English Bible that is about 4,100 words a day, which takes around 17 minutes at the average adult silent reading speed of 238 words a minute, and 21 minutes at a relaxed 200.
We use 182 days because it is exactly 26 weeks. Six calendar months run from 181 days (January to June, outside a leap year) to 184 (July to December), which moves the daily figure by less than a tenth of a chapter.
Here is six months beside the finishing times on either side of it, with the minutes each takes at about 3.3 minutes a chapter, a comfortable pace that leaves room for the longer chapters:
| To finish in | Chapters a day | About |
|---|---|---|
| 4 months | 9.7 | 32 min a day |
| 6 months | 6.5 | 22 min a day |
| 9 months | 4.3 | 14 min a day |
| 1 year | 3.3 | 11 min a day |
1,189 chapters in the Protestant Bible, divided by the days. Minutes assume about 3.3 minutes a chapter, a relaxed reading pace; chapters vary from a few verses to 176.
Six months is twice the daily reading of a one-year plan, which asks for a little over three chapters a day. A 90-day plan asks for 13.2 chapters, about 44 minutes, so six months is half of that.
Pages, verses and words a day
Pages depend on your edition, so divide your own Bible’s page count by 182: if the text runs to 1,200 pages, that is 6.6 pages a day, and if it runs to 2,000, it is 11. Verses are fixed. The King James Version has 31,102 verses, about 171 a day over six months. Words vary with the translation: about 4,100 a day in the World English Bible and 4,300 in the King James Version, which has more of them.
Is it possible to read the whole Bible in 6 months?
Yes. Reading the whole Bible in six months takes 17 to 22 minutes a day, which fits into two sittings of about ten minutes: three chapters in the morning, say, and three or four in the evening. It asks for more than a year-long plan, but nothing like the hour-plus days of a 30- or 60-day challenge.
What it asks for is most days rather than the occasional long one. A week at this pace is about 46 chapters, roughly two to two and a half hours of reading, which spreads easily and crams badly.
A 6-month Bible reading schedule, week by week
The whole Bible in 26 weeks comes to about 46 whole chapters a week, seven days of six or seven chapters each. The weeks below are divided the same way our reading plan calculator divides a plan, and it will turn them into a dated, day-by-day version from your own start date, in any of the five canons, ready to print.
Cover to cover in 26 weeks
| Week | Read | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 1–45 | 45 |
| 2 | Genesis 46–50; Exodus; Leviticus 1 | 46 |
| 3 | Leviticus 2–27; Numbers 1–20 | 46 |
| 4 | Numbers 21–36; Deuteronomy 1–29 | 45 |
| 5 | Deuteronomy 30–34; Joshua; Judges 1–17 | 46 |
| 6 | Judges 18–21; Ruth; 1 Samuel; 2 Samuel 1–7 | 46 |
| 7 | 2 Samuel 8–24; 1 Kings; 2 Kings 1–7 | 46 |
| 8 | 2 Kings 8–25; 1 Chronicles 1–27 | 45 |
| 9 | 1 Chronicles 28–29; 2 Chronicles; Ezra 1–8 | 46 |
| 10 | Ezra 9–10; Nehemiah; Esther; Job 1–21 | 46 |
| 11 | Job 22–42; Psalms 1–25 | 46 |
| 12 | Psalms 26–70 | 45 |
| 13 | Psalms 71–116 | 46 |
| 14 | Psalms 117–150; Proverbs 1–12 | 46 |
| 15 | Proverbs 13–31; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; Isaiah 1–6 | 45 |
| 16 | Isaiah 7–52 | 46 |
| 17 | Isaiah 53–66; Jeremiah 1–32 | 46 |
| 18 | Jeremiah 33–52; Lamentations; Ezekiel 1–21 | 46 |
| 19 | Ezekiel 22–48; Daniel; Hosea 1–6 | 45 |
| 20 | Hosea 7–14; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah 1–3 | 46 |
| 21 | Zechariah 4–14; Malachi; Matthew; Mark 1–3 | 46 |
| 22 | Mark 4–16; Luke; John 1–9 | 46 |
| 23 | John 10–21; Acts; Romans 1–5 | 45 |
| 24 | Romans 6–16; 1 and 2 Corinthians; Galatians | 46 |
| 25 | Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1 and 2 Thessalonians; 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews 1–10 | 46 |
| 26 | Hebrews 11–13; James; 1 and 2 Peter; 1, 2 and 3 John; Jude; Revelation | 46 |
Old and New Testament together in 26 weeks
If you would rather not wait until week 21 for the Gospels, read both testaments side by side: five or six Old Testament chapters and one or two from the New each day. Each testament is spread across the whole 26 weeks, so Malachi and Revelation end on the same day.
| Week | Old Testament | New Testament |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 1–35 | Matthew 1–10 |
| 2 | Genesis 36–50; Exodus 1–21 | Matthew 11–20 |
| 3 | Exodus 22–40; Leviticus 1–17 | Matthew 21–28; Mark 1–2 |
| 4 | Leviticus 18–27; Numbers 1–25 | Mark 3–12 |
| 5 | Numbers 26–36; Deuteronomy 1–25 | Mark 13–16; Luke 1–6 |
| 6 | Deuteronomy 26–34; Joshua; Judges 1–3 | Luke 7–16 |
| 7 | Judges 4–21; Ruth; 1 Samuel 1–14 | Luke 17–24; John 1–2 |
| 8 | 1 Samuel 15–31; 2 Samuel 1–18 | John 3–12 |
| 9 | 2 Samuel 19–24; 1 Kings; 2 Kings 1–8 | John 13–21; Acts 1 |
| 10 | 2 Kings 9–25; 1 Chronicles 1–19 | Acts 2–11 |
| 11 | 1 Chronicles 20–29; 2 Chronicles 1–26 | Acts 12–21 |
| 12 | 2 Chronicles 27–36; Ezra; Nehemiah; Esther 1–2 | Acts 22–28; Romans 1–3 |
| 13 | Esther 3–10; Job 1–28 | Romans 4–13 |
| 14 | Job 29–42; Psalms 1–22 | Romans 14–16; 1 Corinthians 1–7 |
| 15 | Psalms 23–57 | 1 Corinthians 8–16; 2 Corinthians 1 |
| 16 | Psalms 58–93 | 2 Corinthians 2–11 |
| 17 | Psalms 94–129 | 2 Corinthians 12–13; Galatians; Ephesians 1–2 |
| 18 | Psalms 130–150; Proverbs 1–15 | Ephesians 3–6; Philippians; Colossians 1–2 |
| 19 | Proverbs 16–31; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs 1–7 | Colossians 3–4; 1 and 2 Thessalonians |
| 20 | Song of Songs 8; Isaiah 1–35 | 1 and 2 Timothy |
| 21 | Isaiah 36–66; Jeremiah 1–5 | Titus; Philemon; Hebrews 1–6 |
| 22 | Jeremiah 6–41 | Hebrews 7–13; James 1–3 |
| 23 | Jeremiah 42–52; Lamentations; Ezekiel 1–19 | James 4–5; 1 and 2 Peter |
| 24 | Ezekiel 20–48; Daniel 1–7 | 1, 2 and 3 John; Jude; Revelation 1–2 |
| 25 | Daniel 8–12; Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah | Revelation 3–12 |
| 26 | Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi | Revelation 13–22 |
Start on a Monday and the last chapter falls on a Sunday 26 weeks later: begin on Monday, January 4, 2027, and you finish on Sunday, July 4.
Which order works best in six months?
Any order gets you through; what changes is when the hard stretches arrive. Read straight through and the first 142 days are all Old Testament. Leviticus starts on day 14, Numbers 1–7 (it opens with a census and closes with twelve near-identical offerings from the leaders of the tribes) makes day 19 one of the longest of the plan, the Psalms begin on day 74, and Matthew 1 arrives on day 143.
Old and New together puts Matthew on the first day and keeps a chapter or two of the New Testament beside the Old every day after it. Leviticus then takes six days (days 18 to 23) beside Matthew and Mark, and the Psalms keep company with Paul’s letters from the end of Romans to Philippians. Even the weeks of laws and rituals carry a little of the Gospels every day.
Chronological means two different things. Many chronological plans arrange the Bible by when its events happened: Blue Letter Bible’s and Back to the Bible’s both read Job between Genesis 11 and 12 and set psalms beside the stories of David, so a day can move between two or three books. The other meaning is the order the books were written. Both take the same 6.5 chapters a day over six months. Our guide to reading the Bible chronologically explains the difference.
How long each day really takes
Equal chapters do not make equal days: divided into 182 days of six or seven chapters, the Bible’s days range from under 3 minutes to about 35 at an average silent pace, because a chapter can be anything from Psalm 117’s two verses to Psalm 119’s 176.
By our count of the World English Bible, in the cover-to-cover order:
- The lightest day is Psalms 124–129, about 650 words, under three minutes.
- The heaviest day is Luke 7–13, about 8,200 words or 35 minutes, and the week it falls in (week 22, Mark 4 to John 9) averages 27 minutes a day.
- The Psalms weeks (12 to 14) average about 8 minutes a day, under half the usual.
- The longest single chapters are Psalm 119 (2,332 words), 1 Kings 8 (2,035), Deuteronomy 28 (1,981) and Numbers 7 (1,916). Psalm 119 shares its day with short psalms, about 13 minutes in all; Numbers 7 shares day 19 with the census.
Of the 182 days, 97 take between 12 and 22 minutes, 26 take under 10, and 23 take over 25. If uneven days bother you, divide by length instead: balanced by words, every day lands between about 14 and 21 minutes, but a day can then hold anything from 3 chapters to 25. Chapters are simpler to keep track of, and knowing where the long days fall is most of the help.
Other Bibles, or one testament, in 6 months
The Catholic, Orthodox and Ethiopian Bibles have more chapters than the Protestant one, so six months asks for a little more each day. Here are the five canons side by side, in chapters a day:
| To finish in | Protestant (1,189) | Catholic (1,334) | With Apocrypha (1,360) | Orthodox (1,386) | Ethiopian (1,564) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months | 6.5 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 8.6 |
| 9 months | 4.3 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 5.7 |
| 1 year | 3.3 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.3 |
Each canon’s chapter total divided by the days.
The 73-book Catholic Bible’s 1,334 chapters are 7.3 a day over six months, about 20 minutes at an average silent pace and 23 at a relaxed one. The Orthodox and Ethiopian Bibles, as BibleRing counts them (78 and 80 books), are 7.6 and 8.6 chapters a day. By our word count the Orthodox day is about 21 minutes of silent reading; the Ethiopian Bible’s own books have no public-domain English text for us to count, but at 3.3 minutes a chapter its day comes to about 28 minutes. Our Catholic Bible reading plan covers all 73 books at any pace.
Just the Old or the New Testament
The Old Testament alone (929 chapters in the Protestant Bible) is 5.1 chapters a day for six months, about 13 minutes of silent reading. The New Testament’s 260 chapters are 1.4 a day, about 4 minutes, which leaves plenty of room to go faster: at three chapters a day it takes 87 days. Our guide to how long it takes to read the New Testament has the times book by book.
Keeping a six-month pace through a busy week
Six months is kept on ordinary days, not heroic ones. A few things make the pace easier to hold:
- Split the day in two. Three chapters in the morning and three or four in the evening is two ten-minute sittings, and either one on its own still moves you forward.
- Build in a free day. Reading six days a week instead of seven raises the load to about 7.6 chapters a day, roughly 20 to 25 minutes, and leaves one day a week with nothing to do.
- Read by the clock. Twenty minutes a day at about 3.3 minutes a chapter is six chapters, which finishes the Protestant Bible in about 196 days, a little under six and a half months, without counting anything.
- Use the light weeks. The Psalms weeks run at less than half the usual time, which makes them the natural place to catch up.
- Listening counts too. An audio Bible on a commute or a walk covers the same chapters.
When six months turns into seven
If six months turns into seven, nothing is lost. The chapters you have read are read, whatever the calendar says. Falling a week behind does not call for doubling up; carry on from where you are and let the finish move a week.
If six months stops fitting your life, keep the goal and give it a longer calendar. Nine months is 4.3 chapters a day, about 14 minutes, and a year is 3.3, about 11, with plenty of plans to choose from in our guide to reading the Bible in a year. For catching up without starting over, see what to do when you are behind on a Bible reading plan.
However the weeks go, the Bible gets read the same way: a few chapters today, and a few more tomorrow.
Questions people ask
How many pages a day to read the Bible in 6 months?
Divide your own Bible's page count by 182, because pages vary with the edition, the type size and any notes. A Bible whose text runs to 1,200 pages is about 6.6 pages a day, and one of 1,500 pages about 8. Verses are fixed, though. The King James Version's 31,102 verses come to about 171 a day.
Can I read the Bible chronologically in 6 months?
Yes. Every order covers the same 1,189 chapters, so a chronological plan is still about 6.5 chapters and 20 minutes a day. Many chronological plans follow the order of events, which splits some books up and mixes passages within a day. Reading in the order the books were written keeps each book whole.
How many chapters a day for the Catholic Bible in 6 months?
About 7.3. The 73-book Catholic Bible has 1,334 chapters, so 182 days is seven chapters a day with an eighth on 60 of them. By our word count that takes about 20 minutes at an average silent pace, or 23 at a relaxed one.
Can I read just the Old Testament in 6 months?
Yes, at about 5.1 chapters a day. The Protestant Old Testament has 929 chapters, so 182 days is five chapters a day with a sixth on 19 of them, about 13 minutes of silent reading. The Catholic Old Testament's 1,074 chapters come to 5.9 a day.
What happens if I miss a day on a 6-month plan?
You are six or seven chapters further from the end, and that is all. Reading one extra chapter a day for a week covers a missed day, or you can let the finish move a day later. There is no need to start over, because every chapter already read still counts.
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047.
- World English Bible, verse-per-line edition (public domain), eBible.org
- King James Version, verse-per-line edition (public domain), eBible.org
- Daily Bible Reading Program, Chronological Plan (1 year), Blue Letter Bible (PDF)
- Chronological Bible Reading Plan, Back to the Bible, published by ESV.org (PDF)
