Most well-known Bible reading plans take a year at three to four chapters a day. The M'Cheyne plan averages about 4.4 chapters a day; a 90-day plan averages about 13. With the English recordings in the free Bible Garden app, that's about 11–14 minutes of audio a day for a one-year plan, 15–18 for M'Cheyne, and 46–56 for 90 days. Below is what each plan is, who it suits, and how to follow any of them in the app. Bible Garden has no reading plans of its own: you get the schedule from the plan's author, and the app marks chapters as read on its own.
The short answer: which plan to choose
- New to the Bible? Don't start with a one-year plan; start with one book, such as the Gospel of Mark. See "How to Start Reading the Bible." When you're ready for the whole Bible, our "Bible in a Year" calendar is a gentle next step.
- Want the Old and New Testaments every day? M'Cheyne or Navigators.
- Want someone to walk you through the reading? The Bible Recap or Bible in a Year: both come with a daily podcast.
- Want to get through the Bible fast? A 90-day or 6-month plan.
There is no best plan: the right one is the one you'll keep going with. For making reading a daily habit, see "How to Read the Bible Every Day."
One-year plans: M'Cheyne and Navigators
M'Cheyne. Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a Scottish pastor at St Peter's in Dundee, drew up the plan for his congregation at the end of 1842. Each day has four readings: he meant two for families to read aloud together and two for private reading. Over the year you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice. That averages about 4.4 chapters a day, though days vary from three to six. If that's too much, you can stretch it over two years: the first two readings of each day in year one, the other two in year two. Schedules and background are on mcheyne.info and bibleplan.org.
The Navigators Bible Reading Plan also has four tracks: the Gospels, Acts and the letters, the wisdom books, and the rest of the Old Testament. Instead of 365 reading days it has 25 reading days a month, each with four passages, and the few free days each month let you catch up. That's about four chapters on a reading day; readings are passages, not always whole chapters.
Both plans read Scripture in parallel tracks: the hard chapters of Leviticus sit next to the Gospels, which makes it easier to keep going. The trade-off is that you open three or four different places every day.
Plans with a podcast: The Bible Recap and Bible in a Year
The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble is a one-year chronological plan: events come in the order they happened. Each day has a podcast of about eight minutes. It's a recap of what you read, not the reading itself. Our own chronological calendar, with a table of eras, is in Chronological Bible Reading Plan.
Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz, from Ascension, is a Catholic podcast: 365 episodes of 20–25 minutes, each with two or three readings, a reflection, and a prayer. It follows the Catholic canon of 73 books, including Tobit, Judith, Sirach, and Maccabees. Bible Garden has the 66 books found in Protestant Bibles, so you can't follow this plan all the way through in the app, and we don't give minutes for it.
Bible Garden has no podcasts or commentary. With either plan, you can use the app to listen to the Scripture readings themselves.
Faster plans: 90 days and 6 months
These are general names with many versions. The best known 90-day plan is Ted Cooper's Bible in 90 Days (on YouVersion). Six-month plans vary too; one example is The Bible in 6 Months, 180 days long. Note that "the New Testament in 6 months" is a much smaller reading load.
The pace is fast. Ninety days means about 13 chapters a day: 46 minutes of audio with Bob Souer, 56 with Winfred Henson. Six months is six or seven chapters, 23–28 minutes. These plans suit people who want to see the whole story of the Bible at once and can give it about an hour a day for a 90-day plan or half an hour for a 6-month one, such as on a long commute: audio keeps playing in the background, and you can pause it from the lock screen. Listening needs an internet connection; downloading audio in advance isn't available yet.
Comparison: chapters and minutes a day
| Plan | Length | Chapters a day | Bob Souer, min | Winfred Henson, min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M'Cheyne | 1 year | 4.4 | 15 | 18 |
| Navigators (per reading day) | 300 reading days | 4 | 14 | 17 |
| Whole Bible once in a year (The Bible Recap and others) | 1 year | 3.3 | 11 | 14 |
| 6 months | 180 days | 6.6 | 23 | 28 |
| 90 days | 90 days | 13.2 | 46 | 56 |
Bob Souer reads the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), Winfred Henson the World English Bible (WEB). You can hear a sample of each voice in the app before choosing. More in "Audio Bible narrators."
How we calculated. Minutes are a daily average at 1× with no pauses: the total length of the app's recordings, measured on October 4, 2026, divided by the days in the plan. M'Cheyne's second pass through the New Testament and Psalms is included. The Bible Recap podcast adds about 8 minutes a day. A 2-second pause after every verse adds about 3 minutes a day to a one-year plan. To work out your own pace and finish date, use the calculator in "How Long Does It Take to Read the Bible?"
How to follow any plan in Bible Garden
- Get the schedule from the plan's author: a website, a PDF, or a printed booklet.
- Open a chapter from today's reading in the app and listen or read.
- For plans with parallel tracks, turn off autoplay. Otherwise, after a chapter of Genesis, the next chapter of Genesis starts instead of the Gospel reading in your plan. For 90-day and 6-month plans that go straight through, autoplay is handy.
- If a reading starts mid-chapter, stop playback, use the arrows to move the highlight to the verse you need, and tap Play.
Bible Garden has no plans or reminders — it has progress that tracks itself. A chapter counts as read when you've listened to 90% of its audio (the default threshold) or read its text to the end. The progress screen shows how much of the Bible you've covered and which books you're reading.
A short passage won't necessarily mark the whole chapter as read, so keep track of partial readings in your schedule; you can also mark a chapter by hand.
A second pass in another translation. When a plan repeats the New Testament and Psalms, as M'Cheyne does, you can hear them the second time in the World English Bible instead of the BSB: a familiar text sounds new. For choosing a translation, see "Which Bible Translation Is Best?" And in Multi Reading, the same verse plays in several translations in a row, which works well for slowly reading a short passage.
For an unhurried plan, you can add a pause after each verse or paragraph to give yourself time to think about what you heard. The app is free, with no ads, for iPhone and iPad; a web version and Android are in our plans.
Frequently asked questions
Which Bible reading plan is best for beginners?
The one you'll stick with. If the Bible is new to you, start with one Gospel; see "How to Start Reading the Bible." For the whole Bible, any one-year plan at three to four chapters a day works, such as our "Bible in a Year" calendar.
How many chapters a day is the M'Cheyne plan, and how long is that in audio?
About 4.4 chapters on average, from three to six depending on the day. That's about 15 minutes a day with Bob Souer and about 18 with Winfred Henson (at 1×, no pauses).
How is the Navigators plan different from other one-year plans?
It has 25 reading days a month instead of 30 or 31, so a few days each month are free to catch up. Each day has four readings from four parts of the Bible.
Can you read the Bible in 90 days, and how long does it take?
Yes, if you can set aside close to an hour a day. It's about 13 chapters a day: 46 minutes of audio with Bob Souer, 56 with Winfred Henson.
Does Bible Garden have reading plans and reminders?
No. You get the schedule from the plan's author, and the app counts chapters on its own after you've listened to 90% of the audio or read the text to the end. The progress screen shows how far you've come.
Can I use the app for Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz?
Not completely. The plan follows the Catholic canon of 73 books, while Bible Garden has 66, and the app has no podcast or reflections. You can listen to the readings from the 66 books in the app and get the rest from the podcast itself.