Guide · Reading · 3 min read

Where to start reading the Catholic Bible

Begin with the Gospel of Mark if you want to meet Jesus first, with John if you want to understand who he is, or with Genesis if you mean to read all 73 books in order. They are the same three beginnings Bless offers the first time you open it.

Updated October 20, 2026

In the beginning

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.

Genesis 1:1 · CPDV

Bless suggests it when you answer “The whole Bible, cover to cover”.

The first book of the Bible, from creation to Joseph in Egypt. Start here and keep going, and you will meet all 73 books in the order Catholic Bibles arrange them, the deuterocanonical books included.

50 chapters · 1,530 verses · 37,893 words, about 3 hours at 200 words a minute

Read Genesis 1

The Gospel

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 1:1 · CPDV

Bless suggests it when you answer “To know Jesus better”.

The shortest of the four Gospels, and probably the earliest: quick, plain and full of movement. Its chapters run from John the Baptist to the empty tomb.

16 chapters · 677 verses · 15,408 words, about 75 minutes at 200 words a minute

Read Mark 1

The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.

John 1:1 · CPDV

Bless suggests it when you answer “To understand what I read”.

The Gospel that begins before time, with the Word. Slower and more reflective than the other three, it is the one to read when you want to understand who Jesus says he is.

21 chapters · 879 verses · 20,293 words, about 100 minutes at 200 words a minute

Read John 1

Or let it surprise you

Bless has a fourth way in: a verse from anywhere in the 73 books, every few seconds, the way a feed moves. Hold a finger on the screen to stay on a verse. It’s a good way to meet books you’d never have opened.

How the feed works

Which one is for you?

If you have never read a Gospel from start to finish, begin with Mark. It has 16 chapters and you can read it in an evening. If you already know the story, John will give you the most to think about. And if what you want is the whole Bible, Genesis is the door: everything after it builds on it.

None of these is a test. You can stop, skip, go back or switch at any time.

Reading in order, at your own pace

When you first open Bless, it asks why you came and suggests one of these beginnings. Choose Genesis, Mark or John and the feed opens there, in order, one verse per screen. Nothing moves until you swipe.

At the end of each chapter a page marks it complete and shows what comes next, with Bp. Challoner’s summary of the next chapter where he wrote one.
The Books page lists all 73 books and every chapter, and fills in the ones you’ve read. A verse counts once it has been on screen for three seconds.
You can switch between reading in order and the shuffled feed whenever you like. Bless keeps your place in the order you were reading.
There is no schedule to keep up with. Read one verse or a whole book, and pick up where you left off.

A few suggestions

After a Gospel, read Acts. It carries on where Luke ends, with the first Christians.
Keep a psalm alongside. The 150 psalms are the Bible’s own prayer book. Bless numbers them as the Vulgate does, so most are one lower than in other Bibles; see Psalm numbering.
Read with the Church. The readings for each day’s Mass are listed on our Today page.
Use the summaries as a map. Bp. Challoner wrote a summary for 1,306 of the 1,334 chapters; every book page on this site lists them. Start at the 73 books.
Don’t skip the deuterocanon. Tobit and Judith are short, vivid stories. Meet the seven.

The whole Bible, read at an even 200 words a minute, is about 78 hours of reading: 931,955 words in the CPDV.

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