Bible Gateway Blog

When, where, and how often do you read the Bible? Toward what portions of Scripture do you tend to gravitate? What books of the Bible have you never read? And what Bible study resources do you use to help you process and study God’s Word?

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Crossway surveyed more than 6,000 people to learn about Bible reading habits. The infographic below summaries the results.

[Read the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible translation on Bible Gateway]

According to the survey, the average Bible reader spent 24 of the last 30 days reading Scripture in the early morning (followed by late evening and late morning); read the Old Testament far less frequently than the New Testament; and found the Prophetic books (Isaiah — Malachi) of the Old Testament the most difficult to understand. Nahum is the book least likely to have been read in the past month; Matthew and Psalms the most likely.

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Of Old Testament books, Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah are most likely to have been read; of New Testament books, it’s Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans.

The biggest benefits to reading the Bible, according to the survey: 1) learning about God, myself, salvation, etc., 2) my life is impacted and changed by what I read, 3) feeling equipped to fight against temptation and sin, and 4) feeling more equipped to help others.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, The State of the Bible 2018: Five Types of Bible Readers]
Learn more about the ESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Boxed Set of 19 (Crossway, 2018).

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