Which Catholic Bible in a Year Plan Should You Use?
Choose by how you learn.
- You want a guide and you like audio: Ascension's Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz. The readings are arranged as one story, and each episode adds commentary and a prayer.
- You want to read on your own, in book order: the 3+1 plan below. Three Old Testament chapters and one New Testament chapter a day.
- You have children aged 7 to 12: The Bible in a Year: Family Edition, a new daily video podcast with Fr. Josh Johnson starting 1 January 2027.
- You have failed before: take two years. Half the daily reading is still the whole Bible, and finishing slowly beats quitting in March.
For the story of the priest behind the podcast, see our profile of Fr. Mike Schmitz. This page is the plan itself.
How the Bible in a Year Reading Plan Works
The Bible in a Year podcast walks through the entire Bible in 365 episodes. Ascension's description on Apple Podcasts says each 20 to 25 minute episode includes two to three Scripture readings, a reflection from Fr. Mike Schmitz and a guided prayer, and that the plan follows a reading order inspired by Jeff Cavins's Great Adventure Bible Timeline. For each period of the timeline, Jeff Cavins joins Fr. Mike for a special episode explaining its context.
Where to get it, free:
- Any podcast app. Search "The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)". It is updated daily and free.
- The Ascension app. Its App Store listing says most Ascension podcasts are free in the app, alongside the full text of the Great Adventure Catholic Bible.
- Hallow. Hallow's help center lists Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike among its permanently free content.
- The printed reading plan. Ascension offers the reading plan as a free download on its website, so you can read along in your own Bible.
The podcast carries a note that the Bible contains adult themes, so preview episodes before playing them for young children.
The 12 Periods of the Bible Timeline
The Great Adventure Bible Timeline reads Scripture as one story of salvation in twelve periods. The narrative books carry the story, and the other books are read where they fit.
- Early World: creation, the fall, the flood, Babel (Genesis 1 to 11)
- Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph
- Egypt and Exodus: slavery, Moses, Passover and Sinai
- Desert Wanderings: forty years in the wilderness
- Conquest and Judges: Joshua, the judges and Ruth
- Royal Kingdom: Saul, David and Solomon
- Divided Kingdom: Israel and Judah split, and the prophets warn both
- Exile: Babylon, and the prophets of hope
- Return: Ezra, Nehemiah and the rebuilt Temple
- Maccabean Revolt: the faithful resist a pagan king (1 and 2 Maccabees)
- Messianic Fulfillment: the life of Jesus in the Gospels
- The Church: Acts, the letters and Revelation
Reading by period is why many listeners say the Bible finally made sense to them: the Psalms land next to David, and the prophets next to the kings they were warning.
The 3+1 Plan: Read the Catholic Bible in Book Order
If you prefer to read straight through in your own Bible, use this simple plan: three Old Testament chapters and one New Testament chapter every day.
The arithmetic works. The Catholic Old Testament has 46 books and roughly 1,070 chapters (the exact number depends on how your edition numbers Esther and a few prophets). At three a day you finish it in about 357 days. The New Testament has 27 books and 260 chapters, so at one a day you finish it in 260 days, around mid-September if you start on 1 January. Use the remaining weeks to read the four Gospels a second time.
Do not skip the seven deuterocanonical books: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. They are part of the Catholic canon. Our guide to the deuterocanonical books explains why.
Two-year version: read two Old Testament chapters every weekday, plus two New Testament chapters on Saturday and two on Sunday. You finish the Old Testament in about two years and the New Testament in about fifteen months, with time left to read the Gospels again. Slow and finished is better than fast and abandoned.
How to Start the Bible in a Year on 1 January 2027, or Today
You can start the Bible in a Year on any date: every episode stays available, and Day 1 is always Day 1. Starting on 1 January lets you match the podcast feed, but there is no reason to wait two months if you are ready now. Set yourself up this week.
- Get a Catholic Bible with all 73 books. The Great Adventure Catholic Bible (RSV-2CE) matches the podcast. In the United States, the New American Bible is the translation used for the readings at Mass.
- Choose one fixed time. The commute, the first coffee, or lunch. Same time every day.
- Download the reading plan and put it in your Bible as a bookmark.
- Tell one person. A spouse, a friend, a parish group. Text each other one line from each day's reading.
- Pray before you start. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your mind to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).
The Bible in a Year: Family Edition (Starting 1 January 2027)
Ascension is launching The Bible in a Year: Family Edition on 1 January 2027, hosted by Fr. Josh Johnson. According to Ascension, it is a daily video podcast for families with children aged 7 to 12, covering Genesis to Revelation in 365 episodes, with readings from Ascension's new Great Adventure Bible for Beginners. Jeff Cavins appears in 12 special episodes introducing the periods of salvation history, and Fr. Josh answers real questions from children. It will also be on podcast platforms as a screen-free option.
If you have children in that age range, 2027 is the year to read the Bible as a family. Watch at breakfast or listen in the car on the way to school.
Read the Bible this year, and understand it
A reading plan gets you through the pages. Pro helps you take them in: in-depth Bible studies when a book or a teaching leaves you with questions, daily audio devotionals with calming music for the drive, audio-guided prayers for the days you are too tired to read, worship playlists, and offline access so a weak signal never breaks the chain. $49 once, for life. Why so cheap? It is all digital, made once and shared with every member, with no office or agency to pay for. We are rooting for you to finish.
Get Pro for $49 once One-time payment. No subscription. 30-day money-back guarantee.How to Keep Going When You Fall Behind
Almost everyone falls behind, usually in Leviticus, Numbers or the long prophets. These rules keep you reading.
- Never "catch up" more than two days at once. If you are a week behind, simply continue from where you stopped. You will finish a week late, and finishing is the goal.
- Listen when you cannot read. On busy days, play the episode at normal speed on the drive.
- Expect the hard books. The laws and genealogies matter: they show God forming a people and keeping a promise across generations. Read them steadily.
- Mark the Sundays. Look ahead to the Sunday readings once a week so your Bible reading and the Mass meet.
"Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword."
Hebrews 4:12Reading the Bible as a Catholic
The Church asks you to read Scripture within the whole of Scripture, within the living Tradition of the Church, and in harmony with the truths of the faith (CCC 112-114). In practice that means three simple habits as you read through the year.
- Read the footnotes. A Catholic edition's notes explain history, language and cross-references.
- Connect the testaments. St. Augustine's rule is that the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old is made plain in the New (CCC 129).
- Pray what you read. End each day with one sentence back to God about the passage.
Want to go deeper than one pass through the Bible? Our Catholic Bible study for beginners shows how to study a single book carefully, and our guide to the Catholic Bible covers translations and the canon.