One Thread at a Time

Read without cutting

Scripture was not written in chapters. The chapter divisions were added in the 13th century, and they cut through meaning — Romans 1:32 and 2:1 is one such place. The “therefore” of 2:1 answers 1:32 directly.
This plan uses only divisions made for meaning. It never cuts a passage in half.

How many rows a day decides how many times a year

One row a day

once through the Bible

about 125 verses · 35 min

Two rows a day

twice through

about 250 verses · 70 min

Three rows a day

three times through

about 375 verses · 105 min

Where the divisions come from

Old Testament — the paragraph marks the Masoretes left (petuchah ס, setumah פ): 3,022 of them, 6.5 verses on average. They predate the chapter divisions by a thousand years, and they cross chapter boundaries 152 times.

New Testament — no ancient paragraphing survives, so we began from a public-domain edition and then read all 233 chapter boundaries and dissolved 90 of them. 902 units, 8.8 verses on average. Romans 1:18–2:16 is one piece.

Daily worship — Psalms, Proverbs, Lamentations

These three sit outside the plan, in the daily worship: one psalm a day, one chapter of Proverbs a day, one chapter of Lamentations a week. Psalm 119 runs 176 verses, so it is read two Hebrew stanzas at a time across eleven days.

The whole table

All 365 rows are here. You only need to know how far you have read.

There is also a one-year plan

If you want to finish in exactly one year, a 365-day plan divided evenly by verse count is there too.

See the one-year plan