How to Start Reading the Bible: A Beginner's Guide

You've decided to read the Bible. Maybe for the first time, maybe after years away. Then you open it to page one, hit the genealogies and ceremonial laws a few books in, and stall out somewhere in Leviticus — like most people who try to read the Bible the way they'd read any other book, front to back.

Here's the thing: the Bible isn't one book. It's a library of 66 books — history, poetry, prophecy, letters, and eyewitness accounts — and nobody hands you a library and says "start at shelf one." This guide is about where to start reading and how to keep going.

(If you're looking for something different — methods for going deep on a passage, taking notes, and studying context — that's a related but separate skill. We've covered it in How to Study the Bible for Beginners. This guide is about reading: building your first real momentum through Scripture.)

Don't Start at Genesis 1

Genesis itself is a great book. But reading the Bible cover-to-cover as your first approach means front-loading some of the hardest terrain — long genealogies, detailed laws, ancient ceremonial instructions — before you've built the habit or the context to appreciate them.

Instead, start with the story the whole library is about: Jesus.

Start with the Gospel of John if you want the big picture of who Jesus is. John wrote his account explicitly so that readers would understand and believe, and it's full of the Bible's most famous passages.

Start with Mark if you want speed. Mark is the shortest Gospel — action-packed, fast-moving, and readable in a couple of sittings. It's the "just show me what happened" version.

Either one gives you the center of the story first. Everything else in the Bible — Old Testament and New — makes more sense once you know the person it points to.

Read Small, But Read Daily

The most common beginner mistake isn't reading too little. It's planning to read too much.

A chapter a day is enough. One chapter of John takes about five minutes — and at that pace you'll finish the entire Gospel in three weeks. That might feel slow, but compare it to the alternative: an ambitious hour-a-day plan that collapses in week two. Small and daily beats big and occasional, every time.

Consistency also changes how you read. When Scripture is a daily rhythm rather than an occasional event, you stop needing each session to be profound. Some days a chapter will stop you in your tracks; other days it's just faithful showing up. Both count.

Pick a Translation You Can Actually Read

If your mental image of the Bible is "thee" and "shalt," it's worth knowing that modern, accurate translations exist — and they make an enormous difference for a new reader.

The World English Bible (WEB) is a modern-English, word-for-word translation that reads naturally without sacrificing accuracy. The American Standard Version (ASV) is more formal and prized for its literalness. Both are freely available, and in Freely Given you can switch between them (and translations in ten other languages) instantly while you read — so if a verse reads strangely, one tap shows you how another translation renders it.

Curious how the classic translations compare? See our side-by-side comparison of the KJV, ASV, and WEB.

Ask Questions as You Read

Here's what stops a lot of beginners: you hit something confusing — a strange custom, a hard saying of Jesus, a reference to something you haven't read yet — and there's no one to ask. The confusion compounds, and eventually you quit.

Don't let questions pile up. Write them down, or better, ask them as they come. Freely Given includes a study assistant that answers questions about any verse or passage with answers grounded in Scripture — every response cites specific verses you can look up and verify yourself. Asking "what does this mean?" the moment you wonder it turns confusion from a wall into a door.

A Simple 10-Week Quick-Start Plan

If you want a route to follow, here's a simple one — about a chapter a day, five to ten minutes at a time:

• Weeks 1–3: John (21 chapters). Who Jesus is, in his own words and actions.
• Weeks 4–7: Acts (28 chapters). What happened next — the birth of the church and the spread of the message.
• Week 8: Philippians (4 chapters, read it twice). A short, warm letter about joy — a taste of how the New Testament letters work.
• Weeks 9–10: Mark (16 chapters). The story of Jesus again, through different eyes. You'll be surprised how much more you catch the second time.

By the end of ten weeks you'll have read three of the most important books in the New Testament, built a daily habit, and — more importantly — you'll know how to keep going. From there, a longer reading plan can carry you through the rest of the New Testament, the Psalms, or the whole Bible.

How to Do This in Freely Given

Everything above is built into the free Freely Given app:

• Beginner-friendly reading plans — including New Testament and Gospels plans — that hand you each day's reading automatically, from a library of 35+ plans
• Streak tracking that quietly keeps you honest, one day at a time
• 12 translations in 11 languages with instant switching, including the WEB and ASV
• A study assistant for the questions that come up mid-chapter, with verse-cited answers
• A daily verse and devotional for the days when a full chapter doesn't happen

All of it is free — the full Bible, every reading plan, daily devotionals, and 15 study questions a week. No trial, no paywall on Scripture.

Start Today

Not January 1st. Not when life calms down. The best reading plan is the one that starts with today's date on it.

Open the Gospel of John, read chapter one, and come back tomorrow for chapter two. Ten weeks from now, you'll have momentum that most people who started at Genesis 1 never found.

Download Freely Given and Start Reading Free →