Fell behind on your Bible reading plan? Here's how to catch up (or reset without guilt)

If you fell behind on your Bible reading plan, you have four real options: read today's passage and save the missed days for later, add one or two extra chapters a day until you catch up, use a weekend or two to close the gap, or move your finish date. Each week behind on a one-year plan is about 23 chapters, roughly an hour of reading.

That last number matters. Being "three weeks behind" feels like a mountain. In minutes, it's about three hours of reading spread over however many days you choose. That's a lot less dramatic than it sounds at 10 p.m. when you open the plan and see a column of unchecked boxes.

This guide gives you the exact math for your situation, the four catch-up strategies side by side, and a fifth option nobody likes to say out loud: sometimes the wisest move is to reset the plan and keep going from today.

How far behind are you, really?

Most plans that promise "the Bible in a year" spread the 1,189 chapters of the Bible across 365 days. That's 3.26 chapters a day on average. (We explain where that number comes from in how many chapters a day to read the Bible in a year.)

So the number of chapters you've missed is easy to estimate: multiply the days you've missed by 3.26. For time, we counted the words in the King James Version text our app uses: 790,892 words, or roughly 665 words per chapter. At an average adult silent reading speed of about 238 words per minute for non-fiction, according to a 2019 meta-analysis by Marc Brysbaert, the average chapter takes just under 3 minutes.

Here's what that looks like for common gaps:

Two quick notes. Times are for reading straight through at an average pace; if you pause, reread or take notes, plan on more. And chapters vary a lot in length. Psalm 117 has two verses; Psalm 119 has 176. If your missed days fall in Leviticus or Ezekiel, the gap will feel longer than one that lands in the Psalms.

If you'd rather not do this math every time life gets busy, the app's reading plan tracks your progress and shows where you are on a calendar.

Strategy 1: Read today's reading and keep a make-up list

This is the simplest fix and the one that protects your habit. Tomorrow, read tomorrow's assigned passage. Write the missed readings on a short list (or mark them in your tracker) and pick them off whenever you have extra time.

Why it works: the hardest part of falling behind isn't the missed chapters. It's the feeling that you can't rejoin the plan until you've "paid" for the past. Reading today's passage puts you back in rhythm immediately, and if you read with a group or a church plan, you're on the same page as everyone else again.

The risk: the make-up list can quietly grow forever. Set a rule, such as "one make-up chapter every Saturday," so it actually shrinks.

Best for: being a few days to two weeks behind, or reading along with a group.

Strategy 2: Add one or two chapters a day

If the plan's pace feels comfortable, you can stretch your daily reading slightly until the gap closes. One extra chapter a day adds about 3 minutes. Two extra adds about 6.

Look at the table above: a one-week gap disappears in about 23 days at +1 chapter a day, or 12 days at +2. That's slow enough that it never feels like punishment.

A practical tip: add your extra chapter from the part of the plan you missed, not from the part ahead. That way you're filling in the story you skipped instead of rushing toward the end.

Best for: one to three weeks behind, when you already have a daily slot that works.

Strategy 3: Use a weekend catch-up block

Some people prefer one focused session over weeks of slightly longer days. A 45-minute block on Saturday and another on Sunday covers about 90 minutes, which is roughly 32 chapters at an average pace. Two weekends like that clear a two-week gap.

This works best with narrative books. Reading 1 Samuel 16 to 31 in one sitting, for example, follows David from his anointing to Saul's death, and the story hangs together better than it does in three-chapter pieces. You can preview the arc first on our 1 Samuel book summary.

It works less well with dense books like Leviticus, Romans or the prophets, where long sessions blur together. If your gap is in one of those, split the block into two shorter sittings with a break.

Best for: people with predictable weekends and a gap in a story-heavy section.

Strategy 4: Move the finish line

This is the strategy people resist the most and the one that often makes the most sense. Shift the whole plan forward by the number of days you missed. If you were supposed to finish on December 31 and you're 30 days behind, your new finish date is around January 30.

Nothing in Scripture says the Bible must be read in 365 days. The calendar is a tool. A finish date that slides by a month still gets you through all 66 books, and you'll have read every chapter at a pace you could actually keep.

You can also slow the whole plan down. Reading 2 chapters a day instead of 3.26 takes about 595 days, a little over a year and a half. If the one-year pace is what keeps breaking, a slower plan you finish beats a fast one you abandon in March.

Best for: more than a month behind, or anyone who keeps falling behind at the same pace.

Which catch-up strategy should you pick?

If you're torn, combine them. A very workable pattern: read today's passage, add one make-up chapter on weekdays, and let the finish date slide if the list isn't gone by the end of the month.

The guilt-free reset

Sometimes the gap is so big (two months, four months, you stopped in February and it's now October) that catching up isn't realistic. That's when you reset.

A reset means you pick a starting point today and a pace you can actually keep, and you stop counting the missed days. You have three clean ways to do it:

1. Restart where you stopped. Pick up at the chapter you last read and set a new end date from today. Nothing is skipped.
2. Jump to today's date in the plan. Rejoin the plan where the calendar says you should be. Save the skipped section for after you finish, or for next year.
3. Start a shorter plan first. Read one Gospel or the New Testament, then return to the full plan. Our guide to how to get back into reading the Bible includes a 7-day restart that works well here.

It helps to remember what the plan is for. The writer of Lamentations, looking at a ruined city, still says God's mercies don't run out:

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

A missed week isn't a moral failure. It's a missed week. The Word you did read wasn't wasted either. Isaiah compares God's word to rain that always does its work:

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Why people fall behind (and how to stop it next time)

Catching up solves this month. Changing the cause solves next month. The usual reasons are predictable:

• The plan's pace was too fast. If 3 to 4 chapters a day never fit, choose 2 chapters a day and accept a longer timeline.
• The reading had no fixed time. "Sometime today" becomes "never." Tie the reading to something you already do: coffee, the commute, lunch, or the first ten minutes after the kids are in bed. Our guide to Bible reading for busy people has slot ideas.
• A hard book stalled you. Leviticus, Numbers and the long genealogies of 1 Chronicles are where many plans die. A two-minute overview before you start a book helps a lot. Watch the BibleProject video or read the Leviticus summary before you begin, so you know what the laws and sacrifices are doing in the bigger story.
• You read without remembering anything. When reading feels pointless, it's easy to skip. A short quiz afterward gives you a reason to pay attention and shows you're actually learning. Try a Leviticus quiz after you finish the book and see how much stuck.
• One missed day became five. Decide in advance what happens after a miss. A simple rule is "never miss two days in a row." Our guide to staying consistent with Bible reading covers this kind of recovery rule in detail.

Here's a quick self-check from Leviticus, the book where many plans stall:

Quick quiz: Leviticus

What did Nadab and Abihu bring before the LORD, which caused their death?

A golden calfStrange fireAn unclean animalLeavened bread

Complete the commandment that Jesus will call the second great commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour …”

as thyselfas thy brothermore than thyselfwith all thy heart

Which year was proclaimed the year of jubilee, when everyone returned to his property?

The fiftieth yearThe seventh yearThe fortieth yearThe hundredth year

Continue the quiz

There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.

Tools that make catching up easier

You don't need an app to catch up. A paper checklist works fine, and we have a printable Bible reading tracker if you want one. What helps most is any tracker that shows chapters read, not just days checked, so a missed day doesn't look like a wiped-out week.

If you want the tracking done for you, here's what Bible Academy's reading plan does: you choose a pace from 1 to 5 chapters a day, and the plan shows your calendar, your streak and your progress through 66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses. After each reading there's a short quiz, so you know the chapters actually stuck. You read in the KJV or the ASV, and the reader works offline, which helps when your catch-up block happens on a plane or a train.

If you're resetting today, choosing a pace you can keep is the whole game.

Frequently asked questions

How many chapters do I need to read to catch up on my Bible in a year plan?

Multiply the days you missed by 3.26, because a one-year plan covers 1,189 chapters in 365 days. One week behind is about 23 chapters; one month behind is about 98. Adding one extra chapter a day closes a one-week gap in about 23 days, and adding two closes it in about 12. At an average reading pace, each chapter takes just under 3 minutes in the KJV.

Should I skip the days I missed or go back and read them?

Either is fine. If you read with a group, skip ahead to today's reading so you're together again, and keep a make-up list for the missed passages. If you read alone and care about reading every chapter in order, go back to where you stopped and move your finish date. What matters is reading the whole Bible eventually, not the date on the calendar.

Is it bad to take longer than a year to read the Bible?

No. The Bible doesn't set a deadline for reading it through. A one-year plan is just a common pace, about 3.26 chapters a day. Reading 2 chapters a day takes about 595 days, and 1 chapter a day takes 1,189 days, a little over three years. A slower plan you actually finish is better than a faster plan you abandon in the spring.

I'm three months behind. Should I just start over?

Usually, yes. Three months is about 293 chapters, or roughly 13 to 14 hours of reading, which is hard to absorb on top of the regular plan. Instead, restart where you stopped and set a new end date, or jump to today's reading and save the missed section for later. Either way, you're reading again this week, which is the point.

How do I stop falling behind on my reading plan?

Pick a pace you can keep on your worst week, not your best one, and tie the reading to a fixed daily moment like coffee or your commute. Decide in advance what you'll do after a missed day, such as "never miss two in a row." Preview hard books like Leviticus with a short summary or video, and check what you remember with a quick quiz.