Reading 12 Times

One of the things that I recommend for Bible study is reading a passage 12 times before you start examining the details. This is, of course, intended for serious study of a passage. I discuss various types of reading here.

This is easily my most ignored recommendation. In fact, I have yet to find anyone who actually carries it out. So why do I go on recommending it?

As background, I learned this method from my mother. For her it was primarily for a text to be memorized. Before settling in to set the details to memory, she suggested reading the whole passage 12 times. When I was younger, we did a lot of memorizing, and I found this process very helpful. In fact, when memorizing a passage I will also stop after a period of time working on verses and phrases to read the whole passage several times. I’ve found that this helps avoid memorizing unevenly, e.g., knowing the earlier part of a chapter, but being unable to finish it.

But the reason I continue to practice this procedure and to recommend it is simple: I believe anyone who does use this method for serious study of a passage will receive a significant blessing. Alternatively, never start digging into a passage without reading it through three times, but that’s not really as good. One of my classes once challenged me on this point. They said that a reader would quit getting anything new after a couple of times through a text. So I told them as an experiment that I would see how many times I could read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) through and still get something new from it. There is no way for you to check me on this, but I had read this passage over 30 times before I simply quit. I used the Greek text and multiple translations, reading from a different one each time, and then compared my underlining and marginal notes to make sure. The point here is not to tell you how much I get out of scripture reading, but to suggest to you how much God’s word and the Holy Spirit can accomplish if you’ll just let God have the time with your mind and spirit. There is nothing like seriously taking in the scripture to open your mind’s door to God. At least I’ve found it that way.

So despite my lack of success in getting people to take on this challenge, I’m going to keep recommending it.

Let me give some suggestions if you’re thinking of trying it.

• Use multiple translations. When memorizing, of course, you use only one, and I suggest selecting a single version for memorization. But when reading for an overview and to fix the general ideas of a passage in your mind, using multiple translations will help you concentrate. It also prevents you from “seeing what you already know is there.”
• In the early stages, choose a passage that interests you and for which you have the background. If you’ve never done this before, don’t start on Leviticus, for example. The Sermon on the Mount, one of Jesus’s sermons in the gospel of John, or even the whole epistle of 1 John are good examples.
• Have a pen and/or marker handy. Don’t get too caught up in notes, but mark things each time and write marginal notes.
• Follow up your reading by serious, line by line study of the passage without too much delay.
• Allow yourself enough time. If you are reading a chapter, you probably need to do this over several days. (For memorizing, you want to do this as quickly as possible. For study, allow yourself time to think and meditate.) For a book, you might allow yourself weeks.
• Always study prayerfully and with time for meditation and listening for the Holy Spirit to apply the passage to your own life.

I know this whole “12 times” idea sounds way over-the-top to most, but for me it has been a great blessing.