14 days in the Bible: a reading plan for complete beginners
A gentle two-week Bible reading plan for someone brand new: one short passage a day, from creation to the resurrection, with one question for each day.
If you have never read the Bible before, this plan gives you fourteen short readings that walk through the main storyline, from the creation of the world to the resurrection of Jesus. Each day takes about ten minutes. You will not start at page one and try to push through every chapter, which is where many first attempts stall. Instead you will read the turning points: creation, the first sin, God’s promise to Abraham, the rescue from Egypt, a psalm, a prophecy, and then the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Each day comes with one simple question to think about as you read. By day 14 you will know the shape of the whole story, you will have met Jesus in the Gospels, and you will be ready for a longer plan. You do not need any background knowledge, only a Bible and a willingness to read slowly.
Why this plan jumps around
The Bible is not one book but a library of 66, written over many centuries, and it tells one story. That story has a beginning, a long middle, and a center. The center is Jesus. After his resurrection, he walked with two confused followers and showed them that the whole of Scripture had been pointing to him.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.
— Luke 24:27 (BSB)
This plan follows the same road in miniature. The first eight days come from the Old Testament, which Jesus called Moses and all the Prophets, and the last six come from the Gospels. The goal is not to cover everything. It is to see how the pieces connect, so that when you later read whole books, you will know where they fit.
Before you start
Choose a Bible you can understand. A modern translation such as the Berean Standard Bible (BSB) reads clearly for a first-time reader, and the King James Version (KJV) is beautiful but uses older English. Either is fine. If your Bible has a table of contents, use it; there is no shame in looking up where Exodus is.
Pick a time and a place. Morning works for many people, but the best time is the one you will keep. Have a notebook or a note on your phone ready for a single sentence each day.
Begin each reading with a short prayer. It can be as simple as asking God to help you understand. This line from the longest psalm is a good one to borrow.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
— Psalm 119:105 (BSB)
The 14-day plan
| Day | Reading | One question |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 1:1–2:3 | What does this passage tell you about who God is? |
| 2 | Genesis 3 | What went wrong between people and God, and what did God do next? |
| 3 | Genesis 12:1–9 | What did God promise Abram, and who would be blessed through him? |
| 4 | Exodus 3:1–15 | What does God reveal about himself at the burning bush? |
| 5 | Exodus 14 | Who did the rescuing, and what were the people asked to do? |
| 6 | Exodus 20:1–17 | Why does God remind the people that he rescued them before he gives any commands? |
| 7 | Psalm 23 | Which line of this psalm do you most need to hear today? |
| 8 | Isaiah 53 | Whom does this suffering servant remind you of? |
| 9 | Mark 1 | What does Jesus announce, and how do people respond to him? |
| 10 | Mark 2:1–17 | Why did Jesus welcome the people others kept at a distance? |
| 11 | Luke 15 | What do the three lost things tell you about how God treats those who come home? |
| 12 | John 3:1–21 | What does Jesus say a person needs, and how is it received? |
| 13 | Mark 15 | What do you notice about the way Jesus faced the cross? |
| 14 | Luke 24 | How does the risen Jesus help his followers make sense of everything they had read? |
Most readings are a single chapter or less. Days 5, 11, 13, and 14 are a little longer, so allow fifteen minutes on those.
How to use each day’s question
Read the passage once straight through, without stopping to look things up. Then read the question and go back over the passage with it in mind. Write one honest sentence in answer. It does not need to be clever or complete. “I noticed that God speaks and things happen” is a perfectly good answer for day 1.
Then ask a second, personal question: what is one thing I can do or pray about because of this? The Bible is meant to be lived, not only understood.
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
— James 1:22 (BSB)
Finish with a short prayer that turns what you read into words to God. If Psalm 23 reminded you that God is a shepherd, thank him for that, and ask him to lead you today.
What may surprise you
Some things in the early chapters will raise questions. Why did God allow the first sin? Why are some of the Old Testament stories so harsh? These are fair questions, and Christians have thought about them carefully for a long time. Write them down and keep reading. Many of them become clearer as the story unfolds, and the rest are good questions to bring to a pastor or a Bible study group.
You may also be surprised by how honest the Bible is. Its heroes fail, its prayers include complaints, and its central figure is executed. That honesty is part of why many readers come to trust it.
You may find that some days speak to you and others feel flat. That is normal. A reading plan is like a regular meal: not every meal is memorable, but every one nourishes. The early church in the town of Berea was praised for its steady habit of reading, not for dramatic experiences.
Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.
— Acts 17:11 (BSB)
If you miss a day
Just pick up where you left off. Do not try to read three days at once to catch up. If two weeks become three, the plan has still done its job. The point is to meet God in his word, not to finish on schedule.
If you get stuck on a passage, move to the next day and come back to it later. Nothing breaks if the order changes slightly.
Where faithful Christians differ
Christians agree that the whole Bible is God’s word and that all of it is worth reading. They differ, in a friendly way, about the best place for a beginner to start. Some advise starting with a Gospel, usually Mark or John, because Jesus is the center of the story. Others prefer starting in Genesis so that a new reader understands the problem before meeting the solution. This plan tries to do a little of both: it begins with the opening chapters of Genesis and then moves quickly to Jesus. Neither approach is wrong, and many people end up doing both in turn.
After day 14
When you finish, you have a choice of next steps. If you would like to keep going with Jesus, our 30 days in the Gospels plan reads Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in full. If you want some practical advice on reading well, how to read the Bible for the first time covers translations, habits, and hard passages. All of our plans are gathered on the reading plans page.
Whatever you choose, keep the three habits that made these two weeks work: pray before you read, ask one good question, and do one thing with what you learn. And do not read alone for long. Find a local church where the Bible is taught and where others are reading it too. The story you have just traced from creation to the empty tomb is one that God’s people have always read together, and it was written to be lived out among them.