Although, like Reese’s, there’s no wrong way to read the Bible, by far the two most common ways to read the books of the Bible in order are thematically and chronologically.
In order to help you make sense of these variations and give you a few straightforward reading options, I’ve compiled two complete lists of the books of the Bible for your reference, along with some clarifying notes.
(On the other hand, you can always use one of Bible Gateway’s handy reading plans to guide you. We’ll even send daily reminders, if you want us to.)
Here is a complete list of the standard table of contents in most Bibles, broken up by type. This has been the canonical order since it was formally decided by the church councils of the late 4 th century AD.
I have included Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books (and additions within books) in italics. These are included in Catholic Bibles but not in most Protestant ones.
Torah/Pentateuch
Histories
Wisdom Books
Prophets
Gospels & Acts
Letters & Revelation
In addition to the books listed above, Orthodox Bibles include the following books:
Jewish Bibles contain the same books as the Protestant Old Testament, but the order is slightly different.
It’s surprisingly difficult to read the Bible in the order of its events as they happened. For one thing, there was no consistent calendar or dating system in the ancient world (time was usually tracked based on which king or dynasty was in power).
Though some of the books follow a straightforward timeline, others jump around a bit, often overlapping each other. And most of the prophets don’t specify when they were active, leaving scholars to determine their dates using context clues, archaeology, and other means.
Though on one hand this can make creating a simple Biblical timeline a frustrating exercise, in my opinion it is one of God’s great blessings to us that he has provided multiple perspectives on many eras of his covenant and works in his creation. Though there’s nothing wrong with trying, for example, to find the “historical Jesus” between the lines of the four gospels, we would have been much the poorer if God had seen fit to only give us one of them.
With all that in mind, here is a chronological list of the books of the Bible, with suggested (though highly contested) dates and explanatory notes.
Age of the Patriarchs (Beginnings to 1400s BC)
Age of Exodus (1400s BC)
Age of Resettlement (1300s to early 1000s BC)
Age of Kings I: Saul and David (ca. 1050-970 BC)
Age of Kings II: Solomon (ca. 970-925 BC)
The Kingdom Divided and the Prophets (ca. 925-600 BC)
The Babylonian Exile (ca. 600-530 BC)
Return from Exile
Life of Jesus (ca. 4 BC – 30 AD)
Acts and Letters of the Apostles (ca. 30-100 AD)
For the most part, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books are understood to have been written much later than the rest of the Old Testament (hence their other name, the books of the “intertestamental period”). But many of them take place much earlier than their composition.
If you want to slot the Deuterocanonical books into the above chronology, here’s where they would fit:
Want a simpler way to read the Bible chronologically? You can sign up for Bible Gateway’s chronological reading plan and get the daily reading right in your inbox. Or, if you prefer hard copy, you can try the Chronological Study Bible (available in NIV or NKJV) — also available in Bible Gateway Plus.
Sources:
Jacob is Editorial Director of Bible Gateway. He holds a Master of Theological Studies in Early Christian Thought from Harvard Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious History from Memorial University of Newfoundland, though with most of his coursework from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. His work has appeared in Ekstasis and in Geez Magazine's "Embracing Darkness" Advent devotional.
