Completed October 23, 2000 @ Edmonton, AB
I had a tremendous feeling of completion after I finished reading the Bible. I now feel better equipped to understand what I read from the Bible from now on, as I now possess a full picture of the history of God’s people through the ages.
I started to systematically read my Bible in the fall of 1995. I was in Hawaii for orientation just prior to arriving for a year of volunteer teaching in the Marshall Islands. I started with the book Acts of the Apostles and went on from there. I did not read the Bible in order from Genesis to Revelation (as some people say I did not really complete goal #1), but I wrote the list and I know what I meant, and that was to read the Bible in its entirety. I must say there is no other book (or collection of books) that compares.
I read from 3 of my Bibles: the first is a Bible I had with me in the Marshall Islands that my mother gave me, a black leather-bound New King James Version. The second is a Bible I bought for an Old Testament Class, a blue hard cover New Revised Standard Version. The third is a Bible I bought for myself and carry around almost everywhere, a burgundy leather-bound New American Standard Bible (dimensions 12.5cm X 8.0cm X 2.3 cm – sensational Bible, great translation and portability).
What follows is a list of the books of the Bible and one of my favourite verses from each (taken from the NASB).
Some of my favourite texts:
Genesis 32:26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
Leviticus 4:33 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they slay the burnt offering.’
Numbers 9:10 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ”If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean because of a dead person, or is on a distant journey, he may, however, observe the Passover to the Lord.'”
Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Joshua 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are lining; but as for me and my house, will serve the Lord.”
Judges 3:20-22 Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly’ and the refuse came out.
Ruth 3:8 It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startle and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.
1 Samuel 21:12-13 David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard.
2 Samuel 1:26 I am distressed for you , my brother Jonathan;
You have been very pleasant to me.
Your love to me was more wonderful
Than the love of women.
1 Kings 8:17-19 “Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.'”
2 Kings 4:24 Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.”
1 Chronicles 13:14 Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.
2 Chronicles 20:12 “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
Ezra 1:2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”
Nehemiah 2:12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.
Esther 2:12-13 Now when the turn of each young lady came to ho in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women – for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women – the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
Job 38:3 “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!”
Psalms 69:1 Save me, O God, For the waters have threatened my life.
Proverbs 6:20-22 My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.
Song of Solomon 7:10 “I am my beloved’s, And his desire is for me.
Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
Jeremiah 8:20 My sorrow is beyond healing, My heart is faint within me! – God
Lamentations 3:22-23 The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Ezekiel 4:12-15 “You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.” Then the LORD said, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will banish them.” But I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth.” Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.””
Daniel 4:37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”
Hosea 3:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
Joel 1:8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.
Amos 7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold I am about to put a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.”
Obadiah 1:15 For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.
Jonah 4:6-11 So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun cam up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his should to die, saying, Death is better to me than life.” Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have food reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
Micah 4:13 “Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for your horn I will make iron and your hoofs I will make bronze, that you may pulverize many peoples, that you may devote to the LORD their unjust gain and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
Nahum 2:12 The lion tore enough for his cubs, killed enough for his lionesses, and filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
Habakkuk 2:15 “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness!
Zephaniah 1:2 “I will completely remove all things from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
Haggai 2:12 ‘”If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?'” And the priests answered, “No.”
Zechariah 11:7 So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock.
Malachi 4:6 “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.
Mark 13:11 When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.
Luke 24:31,32 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”
John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.
Acts of the Apostles 18:9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you for I have many people in this city.””
Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
1 Corinthians 4:13 …when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
2 Corinthians 3:3 …being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Galatians 2:3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; on Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
2 Timothy 2:22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
Philemon 1:18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;
Hebrews 11:32-34 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
James 4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
1 Peter 1:18-19 …knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
2 Peter 3:3,4 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.
Jude 1:14,15 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.