A short, honest comparison of the most common one-year plans.
Every January, countless believers resolve to read through the Bible — and by mid-February, many are stuck somewhere in Leviticus. The problem usually isn't commitment. It's the plan.
The best reading plan is the one you can actually finish. Here is how the most common plans compare, with the daily time each one asks of you. We recommend the M'Cheyne plan, and we've explained why below.
Straight through, in the order the books appear. Simple and familiar. The catch: most readers stall in the long stretches of law and genealogy — Leviticus, Numbers, Chronicles. That's where the majority of attempts quietly end.
Scripture rearranged in the order events happened. Excellent for seeing the storyline of the Bible, especially the prophets in their historical setting. The trade-off is that you're always jumping between books.
A lighter load, and a good first plan if daily reading is new to you. It leaves out the Old Testament, so treat it as a starting point rather than a destination.
A sprint through the whole Bible in a single season. Powerful as a special commitment — a church challenge, a sabbatical, Lent. Very hard to sustain as an everyday habit.
Written in 1842 by Robert Murray M'Cheyne for his congregation in Dundee, Scotland. You read the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms in parallel — through the OT once and the NT and Psalms twice in a year. On the day you're in Leviticus, you're also in the Gospels and the Psalms. That's exactly where other plans fall apart, and exactly where this one holds.
You never face the hard stretches alone
The genealogies and legal codes are where most read-through attempts die. M'Cheyne pairs them, every single day, with a Gospel and a Psalm.
A balanced diet of Scripture
The Old Testament once, the New Testament and Psalms twice each year. You keep the whole counsel of God in view — law and gospel, history and prayer.
Family and secret readings
M'Cheyne divided each day's four readings in two: two for family worship, two for your own quiet time. The distinction still works beautifully today.
Proven for over 180 years
Christians around the world have used this plan since 1842. D.A. Carson's devotional For the Love of God walks through it day by day.
A pace you can adjust
Many readers follow only the two family readings and complete the plan over two years. What matters isn't speed — it's not stopping.
On the M'Cheyne plan, about 15–20 minutes for all four readings. Many people split them — two in the morning, two at night. A canonical plan at 3–4 chapters a day takes about the same.
No — start today, with today's readings. Going back to catch up on months of missed reading is how most attempts end. mccheyne.org always opens to today's passages, so any day is a fine day to begin.
It's no harder than any whole-Bible plan, and the daily mix of Old Testament, Gospel, and Psalms actually makes the unfamiliar parts easier to walk through. If four readings feel like too much, follow just the first two.
Skip ahead to today rather than trying to make it all up. The goal isn't a perfect record — it's meeting God in his Word today. You can always fill in missed days later from the calendar.
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