Several years ago, I was serving the Lord overseas and met a college girl named Judy who had recently come to Christ. New to the faith, she had never before sat down to read the Bible herself, and she asked from me a simple reading plan. After taking a week to consider it, I came up with this list of “Ten Books of the Bible to Read First” (with rough edits made for this post).

The List: An Introduction

I wanted Judy to cover the Bible’s main genres but also get a moderately strong look at biblical history, the Gospel, and Christian teaching. I hoped these books would whet her appetite to dig further and read even more—though I knew that the Holy Spirt wouldn’t do that for her Himself! With those targets in mind, I selected the following:

The Most Essential Starting Place: Genesis
The Law: Deuteronomy
Israel’s History: Judges
Poetry: Proverbs
Prophets: Jonah
The Gospels: John
Church History: Acts
Paul’s Letters: Romans
Other Letters: James
The Essential Ending Place: Revelation

The Bible Is No Ordinary Book

You might disagree with my selections in this list, but I’ll explain why I’ve chosen some books over others in the segments below. What I want to emphasize before doing so, though, is that the Bible is not “a book” but rather a collection of books, and for this reason I never recommend people read the Bible cover-to-cover. Let me explain.

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by many different men over the course of 1,500 years. The organization of all these collected writings was made by scribes and scholars for convenience (not logic) and is not inspired. In fact, it can be incredibly confusing even to long-time Christians who read the books in their traditional order, simply because the books are organized by genre and size, methods which we we generally find illogical today. And let’s be honest: how many well-meaning Christians decide to read through the whole Bible in a year, only to get stuck in Leviticus or Numbers?

For those wanting to read the Bible through in a year—and more easily comprehend what they read!—I always recommend chronological readings. But even more importantly, for those wanting to understand the Bible more fully, I recommend deeper studies of individual books, time periods, and authors.

Reading the Bible in its entirety is a healthy, commendable enterprise which I fully support, but my humble opinion is that A) this needn’t be an annual thing, B) we shouldn’t require of it of new believers, and C) the cover-to-cover thing simply has to go. With that, let me explain the list by introducing the books I’ve selected.

The List: In Detail

1. The Most Essential Starting Place: GENESIS
Genesis being the first book of the Bible makes it an obvious first choice. This book talks about the beginning of the world and humanity, of sin and redemption, of languages and nations—particularly Israel. God reveals His plan through its author, Moses: He tells of a coming Messiah and of Satan’s future defeat. He tells us why He has one “chosen people” out of all humanity. This book alone can answer many religious questions, and it’s also an incredibly entertaining narrative—perhaps the most entertaining book in the Bible. Creation, the flood, the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—it’s a book chuck-full of history and doctrine, and its one worth reading many times over to understand the whys of life, religion, Israel, and ultimately the Christian faith.

2. The Law: DEUTERONOMY
Of the five books of Moses (called the “Torah”), Deuteronomy is his last. In this, he recapped Israel’s history and relationship with God as well as many of the moral laws that God had handed down. Moses, in fact, was nearing death when he wrote this. He knew that, while God would fulfil his promise to send Israel into the Promised Land of Canaan after their 40 years of wilderness wanderings, Moses himself would not be there to lead them. Thus, this book is like Moses’ final will to the people, a collection of all the sermons and wisdom he could muster to prepare them for their journey onward without him. It’s the type of message any godly man would want to leave to his progeny, and it’s well worth a deep-dive. Israel was bound to have many ups and downs in their future (just see the next book in this list!), but that’s all despite Moses’ urging here. It’s perhaps my favorite Old Testament book.

3. Israel’s History: JUDGES
Godly Joshua eventually led the Israelites across the Jordan and into the Promised Land following Moses’ death, yet much of his book is clerical and covers the division of lands and other things that (honestly) bore most readers. Judges picks up where Joshua leaves off and covers a massive swath of Israelite history when they settle the land yet still lack a king. God is their King, and boy do they rebel against Him time and time again! If you like roller coasters, then this book is for you! It’s a book filled with godly and broken heroes and desperate stories constantly interrupted by the phrase, “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.” The history of Israel at this point was cyclical: the people were evil; God supplied one person to turn the country around; this person gained the people’s confidence and the people served the Lord for the rest of that person’s life; yet upon his or her death, the people went back to doing “evil in the sight of the Lord” all over again. We all tend to live on the same type of spiritual roller coaster, and this book gives us a solid glimpse of a forgiving God—a God who may use force to bring his children back, but who always wants us back.

4. Poetry: PROVERBS
While I wanted to select Psalms for the poetry book, I figured Proverbs was shorter, more practical, and thus a simpler solution to one’s first read-through of the Bible. Proverbs is often called “The Book of Wisdom,” and virtually every verse in the book is a “proverb” or nugget of wisdom from some wise King (many from David’s son, King Solomon). My own mother taught me a practice worth sharing: since Proverbs contains 31 chapters, try to read at least one chapter per day each month of the year. If not every month, at least try it this month. Start today. Or start on the first of this next month. Whatever: just try it. It very well might be life-changing for anyone on this new walk in the faith.

5. Prophets: JONAH
Jonah is a short 4 chapters long, but it contains one of the most iconic events in Scripture—the prophet swallowed by a whale and spat alive onto dry land 3 days later. Although a Sunday School favorite, Jonah is one of the worst characters in Scripture (IMO): a man who claims to serve God, yet who runs from Him, refuses to represent Him, reluctantly obeys Him, and at multiple times wishes for his own death more than the salvation of his enemies. Yet in stark contrast to this horrible man, we see an incredible, amazing, loving, and sovereign God who’s willing to use losers like Jonah (and me!), to save unbelievers like the pagan sailors, and to show mercy on enemies like the Ninevites. This books is so full of life and doctrine, it’s really worth savoring.

6. The Gospels: JOHN
It’s hard to choose a favorite Gospel, because each is unique in its own way—but John tends to be the most unique of the four (if that’s a thing). John writes the most about Jesus’ deity, and he even lays out his purpose for writing: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)

7. Church History: ACTS
Whereas Genesis records the beginning of the world and human history, Acts records the beginning of what’s called the Church Age. It opens with Jesus’ final moments on Earth between his resurrection and ascension, and records the history of how his Apostles spread the message of his salvation across the city, the region, the cultures, and the Roman world. It describes the beginning of Christian martyrdom and missions. It’s filled with exciting events, especially the history of Paul’s conversion and missionary journeys, which also gives us the context for many of his letters in the New Testament. Interesting note: Acts is actually Book 2 in a series, following Luke.

8. Paul’s Letters: ROMANS
One of Paul’s letter was this, which he wrote to mostly non-Jewish believers in Rome to describe how the work of Christ has the power to save Jews and Gentiles alike. It’s a deep book written to remind us of the power and purpose of salvation, directing Christians of all stripes towards holy living. Interestingly, Romans is like an extended version of Paul’s first book, Galatians.

9. Other Letters: JAMES
Some people call James “the Proverbs of the New Testament,” because it’s such a practical book. With topics like trials, the tongue, bigotry, and sin, it’s a book that uniquely describes proper growth in a Christian’s life. One primary lesson is that “faith without works is dead,” meaning that true believers are to be like new creations, inside and out, which is exactly what Jesus meant when he said in John 3 “You must be born again.” Interesting fact: James was the half-brother of Jesus (same mother) who accepted Jesus as Messiah only after Jesus ascended into heaven.

10. The Essential Ending Place: REVELATION
Although this final book of the Bible contains many fantastically odd scenes and events, it’s a vivid description of the future. Churches still argue about how we should read it, yet even literalists don’t take everything literally (i.e. there won’t be a literal giant prostitute sitting in the water, thank God!). Still, we can take the elements of John’s spiritual vision of the apocalypse literally: God will judge the Satan-controlled Earth in its rebellion—systematically, as we read it—and will ultimately send Satan Hell into the Lake of Fire for all eternity, while ushering the redeemed into eternity with Himself in a new Heaven and Earth. It should make us all cry out with John, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20)

Conclusion

Hopefully these ten books are just the start for you in your adventure of reading through the Bible. I wish I had been recommended something similar early on in the faith, when I was unintentionally taught that “good Christians read the Bible cover-to-cover.” Hogwash. “Every jot and tittle” is inspired and essential in its own way, but not necessarily devotionally and not necessarily for the new believer. Don’t be discouraged: there’s so much more to the Bible than genealogies and laws!

Dive into God’s Word with these first recommendations, and if you’re looking for another ten to read next, perhaps this second list of ten books would be great follow-ups for you:

Israel’s History: 1 & 2 Samuel, Esther
Wisdom and Poetry: Psalms & Ecclesiastes
Prophets: Daniel
Gospels: Mark & Luke
Paul’s Letter: Philippians
Other Letters: 1John

©2024 E.T.

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