You have finished one and a half years of biblical Hebrew—one year of beginning Hebrew and (most unfortunately, yet most probably) only half a year of intermediate Hebrew—and you don’t want to lose your hard-earned skills; in fact, you may want to even improve your Hebrew skills. The best way to improve one’s Hebrew skills is to read Hebrew! This article will first present some helpful tips for reading through the Hebrew Bible in two years and then it will present some reading plans.
5 TIPS for Reading through the Hebrew Bible in Two Years
1. Aim to Read the Hebrew Bible in Two Years, Not One
Most Bible reading plans, including my own English Bible reading plans and Greek New Testament reading plans, suggest you read through the Bible in a year. Unless you are fluent in Hebrew and can read it like you do an English Bible, I do not recommend reading the Hebrew Bible in one year. It is an extremely difficult task, especially if you are studying or working full time. Rather, aim to read the Hebrew Bible in two years. This is a much more feasible plan that will still have you reading a lot of Hebrew each day.
2. Read 2–2.5 Pages a Day
There are 1,574 pages in the BHS4. If you read two pages a day for two years, you will come just shy of reading the whole Hebrew Bible in two years at 1,460 pages. Thus, aim for two pages a day, but when you’re doing well with your reading or you have some extra time, get an extra half page in here and there.
You may be wondering why I recommend reading pages per day and not chapters per day. There are two main reasons. First, the chapter length in the Hebrew Bible varies quite radically depending on the book in which you are located. For example, the narrative portions of the Hebrew Bible tend to have long chapters and the Psalms and the shorter prophets generally have short chapters. Thus, some days you will find yourself reading a little and other days you will be reading a lot. In short, reading by chapters makes consistent reading difficult. Second, reading by pages ensures you are reading the same amount every day, helping you better plan your reading time.
3. Mark Up Your Bible
Marking up your Bible is extremely helpful when you return to a passage. I encourage you to find a good notation system that will help you remember and identify key or difficult features in the text for the next time you read that passage.
4. Write Rare Word Definitions in Your Bible
Not only is marking your Bible with an annotation system helpful, but writing the definitions of rare and difficult words in your Hebrew Bible (BHS) is also helpful for future readings. Many rare words are easy enough to define by context, but there are enough squirrely ones that I find difficult to remember, especially in the book of Job.
When you come across one of these rare or difficult to remember words, write the definition somewhere on that page of your BHS. There is usually enough space in the side margins where you can do this. Be sure not to put a gloss, but a thoughtful and accurate definition that takes the context and meaning into account. Doing this will aid your future readings of that passage.
5. Check Out My General Reading Tips
I have written a post giving more generalized reading tips that may also assist in reading the Hebrew Bible. I highly encourage you to check it out HERE and apply any that would aid your reading of the BHS.
5 PLANS for Reading through the Hebrew Bible in Two Years
Plan 1: Most Familiar Book to Least Familiar Book
The best books to begin reading are the ones with which you are most familiar. Many readers of the Hebrew Bible have taken a few Hebrew exegetical courses and so are more familiar with those books compared to others. This is a great place to start your reading. For example, while at Seminary I took Hebrew exegetical courses on Isaiah, Jonah, Zechariah, Psalms, Daniel, and Chronicles. In each of these courses (with the exception of Isaiah), it was mandatory to read the entire Hebrew text of that particular book (yes, I had to read the entire Psalter in one semester!). Further, I was part of a Hebrew reading group that went through Genesis and Exodus. I also read through and privately studied a few books on my own while at Seminary, such as Hosea, Nahum, Malachi, and Ruth. For me, then, I would read these books first and then move onto other books by choosing one of the plans below and combining the two plans. This plan builds confidence because you start out with familiar Hebrew before venturing into more unfamiliar terrain. Eventually, of course, the entire BHS will be familiar terrain! It’s a great day when that happens.
Plan 2: Sequentially according to Hebrew Bible Book Order
Unsurprisingly, one of the best Hebrew Bible reading plans to follow is the book order according to the Hebrew Bible itself. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Hebrew Bible book order, it is slightly different from how our English Bibles order the Old Testament:
| Book Group | Category/Genre |
|---|---|
| Genesis–Deuteronomy | תורה (Torah/Law). The five books of Moses, called the Torah, make up the first category.Torah means “law.” |
| Joshua–2 Kings (excluding Ruth), Isaiah–Malachi (excluding Daniel and Lamentations | נביאים (Prophets). Because the historical books such as Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings were written by prophets, they have been included in this category. |
| Job–Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1–2 Chronicles. | כתובים (Writings). The Writings encompass the rest of the biblical books. Numerous suggestions as to why Daniel and Lamentations are in this category have been put forward. It has also been suggested that 1–2 Chronicles were the last two books of the Old Testament to be written, which is why they are the last two books in the Hebrew Bible. |
Following the Hebrew Bible book order is recommended because it begins with narrative (which is easier Hebrew), then moves onto the poetic Hebrew, and ends with narrative again (Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles), encouraging the reader to finish strong! Here is what that plan looks like (although you could just look at your BHS table of contents):
| Genesis | תורה (Torah/Law). |
| Exodus | |
| Leviticus | |
| Numbers | |
| Deuteronomy | |
| Joshua | נביאים (Prophets) |
| Judges | |
| Samuel | |
| Kings | |
| Isaiah | |
| Jeremiah | |
| Ezekiel | |
| Hosea | |
| Joel | |
| Amos | |
| Obadiah | |
| Jonah | |
| Micah | |
| Nahum | |
| Habakkuk | |
| Zephaniah | |
| Haggai | |
| Zechariah | |
| Malachi | |
| Psalms | כתובים (Writings) |
| Job | |
| Proverbs | |
| Ruth | |
| Song of Songs | |
| Ecclesiastes | |
| Lamentations | |
| Esther | |
| Daniel | |
| Ezra | |
| Nehemiah | |
| Chronicles |
Plan 3: Easiest Hebrew to Most Difficult Hebrew
A plan that many choose is reading the books of the Hebrew Bible with the easiest (or most manageable) Hebrew first and then progressing to the books with harder Hebrew. Ultimately, what is ‘hard’ and what is ‘easy’ is subjective. What I find to be more difficult Hebrew you may find relatively easy. Generally, books that have ‘harder’ Hebrew are those books with more poetry (because the grammar is more difficult and there are more Hebrew idioms), rare vocabulary (such as Job), and that are longer. When you have all three elements (such as the major prophets or Job), I generally think these are the harder to read books of the Hebrew Bible.
Based on my own reading of the BHS, my seminary/Bible college friends, and colleagues, the narrative heavy books are the easiest and the prophets (plus Job) are the hardest. Below is a suggested reading plan from easiest Hebrew to hardest Hebrew.
| Ruth |
| Jonah (the poetry in chapter 2 isn’t too difficult) |
| Esther |
| Genesis |
| Exodus |
| Leviticus |
| Numbers |
| Deuteronomy |
| Joshua |
| Judges |
| Samuel |
| Kings |
| Chronicles |
| Ezra (you may want to put this further down because of the Aramaic or skip the Aramaic if you are unfamiliar with the language) |
| Nehemiah |
| Obadiah |
| Haggai |
| Nahum |
| Habakkuk |
| Zephaniah |
| Malachi |
| Joel |
| Lamentations |
| Micah |
| Amos |
| Hosea |
| Zechariah |
| Daniel (again the placement of this book largely depends on your Aramaic capabilities) |
| Song of Songs |
| Ecclesiastes |
| Psalms (there are many familiar terms throughout this book, so although it is large, it isn’t too difficult). |
| Jeremiah |
| Ezekiel |
| Jeremiah |
| Proverbs |
| Job |
Plan 4: Shortest Book to Longest Book
Another option is to begin reading the shortest book in the BHS and progressively make your way up to the longest. This would provide a good mix of narrative and poetry. Below is the reading plan from the shortest book to the longest based on word count (you can also do it by chapter count, but there are a number of books that are of similar chapter length).
| Bible Book | Hebrew Word Count |
|---|---|
| Obadiah | 388 |
| Nahum | 730 |
| Haggai | 868 |
| Habakkuk | 891 |
| Jonah | 980 |
| Zephaniah | 1,022 |
| Malachi | 1,175 |
| Joel | 1,304 |
| Song of Songs | 1,659 |
| Ruth | 1,805 |
| Micah | 1,895 |
| Lamentations | 1,989 |
| Amos | 2,777 |
| Hosea | 3,123 |
| Ecclesiastes | 4,160 |
| Zechariah | 4,438 |
| Esther | 4,583 |
| Ezra | 5,592 |
| Nehemiah | 7,865 |
| Daniel | 8,777 |
| Proverbs | 8,813 |
| Job | 10,816 |
| Judges | 14,067 |
| Joshua | 14,547 |
| Leviticus | 16,865 |
| Deuteronomy | 20,013 |
| Isaiah | 22,789 |
| Numbers | 23,030 |
| Exodus | 23,570 |
| Psalms | 25,030 |
| Ezekiel | 26,064 |
| Genesis | 28,638 |
| Jeremiah | 29,731 |
| Samuel | 34,650 |
| Chronicles | 35,348 |
| Kings | 35,871 |
For those who wish to read the longest book to the shortest, simply reverse the above table.
Plan 5: Chronological Order
The last plan is to organize the Hebrew Bible books according to chronology. There are two ways to do this. First, you could organize them based on content chronology. This plan would put the Torah first (possibly Job between Genesis and Exodus) and end with the books that speak about life after the return from exile.
Because I do not recommend reading part of one book and then part of another book, the below order is roughly chronological.
| Bible Books | Reason for Placement |
|---|---|
| Genesis | This is clearly first because of the creation account. |
| Job | Job is notoriously difficult to date. However, the Sinai covenant that was established in Exodus 19–24 that includes the Law and the Tabernacle does not seem to have been established in Job’s day, suggesting it was prior to the Exodus. I put it here because it clearly is after the events of creation. |
| Exodus | Moses wrote Psalm 90. However, because we are not splitting up books of the Bible, you will not read this psalm until we arrive at the book of Psalms (the Psalter). |
| Leviticus | — |
| Numbers | — |
| Deuteronomy | — |
| Joshua | — |
| Judges | — |
| Ruth | The events of Ruth happened during the time of the Judges. |
| 1–2 Samuel | — |
| 1 Chronicles | 1 Chronicles contains similar content to 2 Samuel in that it is primarily about king David. |
| Psalms | Since just over half the psalms are attributed to king David, this is the best time to read the Psalter. |
| 1 Kings | 1 Kings recounts all the kings of Israel and Judah from Solomon to Jehoshaphat in Judah and Ahaziah in Israel. |
| Proverbs | Mostly written by Solomon. Portions were written by Agur (Prov 30:1) and Lemuel (Prov 31:1) |
| Ecclesiastes | Written by Solomon |
| Song of Songs | Written by Solomon |
| 2 Kings | 2 Kings recounts all the kings of Israel and Judah from Jehoram over Israel and Joram over Judah to the exile of both kingdoms. |
| 2 Chronicles | 2 Chronicles recounts all the kings of Judah from Solomon to the exile of Judah (it largely ignores the northern kingdom of Israel). Since 2 Chronicles covers the content of 1–2 Kings in less space, I have put it after those two books |
| Joel | Probably prophesied during the reign of Jehoram of Judah whose reign is recounted in 2 Kings. |
| Obadiah | Probably prophesied around the same time as Joel (during the reigns of Jehoram and Joash of Judah whose reigns are recounted in 2 Kings). |
| Jonah | Probably prophesied during the reign of Uzziah (also called Azariah) of Judah. |
| Amos | Prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (also called Azariah) of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel (Amos 1:1). |
| Hosea | Prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (also called Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah (all of Judah), and Jeroboam II of Israel (Hos 1:1). |
| Isaiah | Prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (also called Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Is 1:1) |
| Micah | Prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah (Mic 1:1). |
| Nahum | Probably prophesied during the reign of Josiah of Judah. |
| Zephaniah | Prophesied during the reign of Josiah of Judah (Zeph 1:1) |
| Jeremiah | Prophesied from the reign of Josiah of Judah until the captivity of Jerusalem by Babylon (Jer 1:1–3). |
| Habakkuk | Probably prophesied toward the end of the reign of Josiah of Judah or just prior to the captivity of Jerusalem. |
| Daniel | Began prophesying in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim of Judah (also called Eliakim) when Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem (Dan 1:1) |
| Lamentations | Probably prophesied shortly after the captivity of Jerusalem by Babylon. The author is Jeremiah. |
| Ezekiel | Prophesied during the Exile of Judah five years after king Jehoiachin was exiled to Babylon (Ezek 1:1–2). |
| Ezra | Return of the exiles to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple |
| Haggai | Prophesied after the exile was over and some Jews had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild and resettle it, in the sixth month of the second year of king Darius (Hag 1:1). Haggai prophesied about rebuilding the temple. Ezra also mentioned Haggai prophesied (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). |
| Zechariah | Prophesied after the exile was over and some Jews had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild and resettle it, in the eighth month of the second year of king Darius (Zech 1:1). Ezra also mentioned Zechariah prophesied during this period (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). |
| Esther | The events of Esther happened after the exiles returned, but prior to Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem. |
| Nehemiah | — |
| Malachi | Prophesied after the temple had been rebuilt, roughly 400 years before Jesus. |
Second, you could organize the Hebrew Bible books based on the date when they were written. Because the dating of the Hebrew Bible books is quite difficult, I’m not going to provide any table. However, you the reader are more than capable of discerning the dates and creating your own reading plan.
Concluding Thoughts
The most important aspect of reading the BHS is reading the BHS. Even if you don’t read it in two years, strive to be in it every day. Once I committed to reading my BHS every day, my ability and knowledge increased quickly and dramatically. So, keep reading, keep reading, and of course keep reading!