Two Christmases ago, my in-laws gave me a copy of the One Year Chronological Bible (Tyndale). This version of the Bible arranges the books and chapters of the Bible into a beginning-to-end sort of timeline. For example, if a story appears in all three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), you would read those on the same day instead of reading all the way through Matthew, then Mark, then Luke.
It’s hard to follow sometimes, with a Psalm here and there in the middle of a historical narrative, and it takes some getting used to — the idea that the books are out of the order we normally would think them in. But I have to say, I was enriched by using this Bible. It took me 14 months to get through because I had some weeks where I didn’t read the Bible for several days, but I’m so glad to have read the Bible all the way through and to have gained some understanding about the time when things took place.
FAVORITES: Each day’s readings were doable, although some days I thought they were long. But the flow of reading the stories chronologically made even long passages bearable. At times, I felt like I was reading a biography or memoir, which admittedly is not always how I feel about reading the Bible.
FAULTS: Really? I’m going to fault the Bible? No, not the Bible itself. My only real criticism is that when talking to my seminary-student husband, I learned that some of the scholars’ decisions about chronology could be questioned. Just because this version bills itself as THE chronological Bible doesn’t mean it’s perfectly compiled.
IN A WORD: Fresh. I was excited to read the Bible each day, and I picked up on things I hadn’t seen before because of the way familiar stories were presented. I heartily recommend the One Year Chronological Bible to anyone who wants or needs a fresh look at God’s Word.