This illustration is based on Jeff Cavins' Bible reading program, The Great Adventure.

12 Periods of Biblical History: Getting the Big Picture
Period	Recounted in	Other books in this period's context
Primordial History	Genesis 1-11
The Patriarchs	Genesis 12-50	Job
Israel in Egypt & The Exodus	Exodus & Numbers	Leviticus & Deuteronomy
Conquest of Canaan	Joshua
The Judges	Judges	Ruth
United Kingdom	1 & 2 Samuel	1 Chronicles, Psalms
Divided Kingdom	1 Kings	2 Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs
Babylonian Exile	2 Kings	2 Chronicles, Tobit, Hosea, Amos, Habakkuk, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Joel, Micah, Zephaniah, Jonah, Nahum, Obadiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Baruch
The Exiles Return	Ezra & Nehemiah	Esther, Judith, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Maccabean Revolt	1 Maccabees	2 Maccabees, Sirach, Wisdom
The Messiah's Advent	Luke	Matthew, Mark, John
The Catholic Church	Acts	Epistles & Revelation
What happened after a.d. 70? Start reading the Church Fathers!

The "period" column colors represent the colors of the beads on Cavins' mnemonic timeline band. It's easy to memorize these 12 periods to provide yourself a chronological mental framework.

There are 14 books in the "recounted in" column. By reading these 14 books in this order, at a rate of four chapters a day, you can read the whole story of the Bible in approximately 3 months. Repeat this step a couple of times. Once you grasp the basic story, start inserting the other 59 books in the appropriate periods as you reread.

The Great Adventure package provides many more "big picture" study aids, including a giant timeline worksheet/chart, a handy reading checklist (photocopy the blank one to use it over and over!), an outline/concordance of major historical events, profile charts of kings and prophets, maps, illustrations, and tips on adapting the program for little kids. TGA provides you with easy-to-reference answers to questions like "What nation was the major world power when Israel was taken into captivity?", "Is the book of Joshua set in the bronze age or the iron age?", and "Where was Nahum a prophet?" You can use TGA alone, in a group, or to teach. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the Bible, this is the program for you.