Announcing the Winners of the 2021 Bible Reading Challenge

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s 90-day Bible reading challenge! And again, many thanks to Lifeway for sponsoring the grand prize of a five-volume CSB Reader’s Bible. This year we had 25 entries that met the qualifications for the drawing. And the winners are:

• Margaret D.
• Benjamin D.

More than half of this year’s entries read the Bible in canonical order. The next most common reading order was chronological.

15 folks read the ESV. The second most common translation was HCSB. And one person read the 1560 Geneva Bible!

Here’s what some folks had to say about the experience:

It was a different experience. I am used to reading the Bible in a year. I plan to read this way more frequently, as it helps to relate texts to others, but I prefer to read at a lower speed.

It added so much context and meaning when I would read about the history of Israel’s kings one day and then the next day read about the prophets and prophecies that applied to them. It added a lot of context that I am usually missing when I read the prophets. Furthermore, reading quickly allowed me to notice more of the quotations and allusions of the Old Testament in the New Testament.

I enjoyed it immensely. Some passages like Proverbs were difficult to read through so quickly but Job, for instance, makes a lot more sense when read in large chunks. Elihu’s speech, for example, shows up in stark contrast to the others this way.

I would say overall I enjoyed it. It helped me to see the bible as one book as opposed to many smaller ones. It gave me a better idea of God’s overarching story. It also surprised me how much I liked certain books I disliked the last time I did this. I guess that’s why you always keep rereading?

5th year in a row! The Holy Spirit is still showing me themes I don’t think I would see without doing this each year.

Thanks again to all for participating. I trust it was profitable even for those who found it difficult or uncomfortable. May the Lord use this time of saturation in his word to influence the rest of this unusual year for the sake of his kingdom.