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Bible in One Year
“The friendliest way to finally read the whole Bible in a year, and it is completely free.”
Bible in One Year, now titled The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, does one thing and does it beautifully: it walks you through the whole Bible in a year with a trusted companion at your side. Each day pairs passages from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Proverbs with a short, encouraging commentary from Nicky and Pippa Gumbel and a closing prayer. You can read the commentary or listen to it as audio, and you can choose your pace with Classic (about 25 minutes), Express (about 15 minutes), and Youth (about 12 minutes) tracks. It is completely free, offered by the team behind Alpha, and serves more than 1.5 million readers in eleven languages.
What makes it work is warmth. The Gumbels write like friends who want you to keep going, not scholars trying to impress you, and that tone is exactly what carries people through the hard stretches of Leviticus and the prophets. A 4.9-star average from around 13,000 ratings reflects how effective the format is at building a lasting daily habit. Offline syncing, bookmarks, and a verse of the day round out a focused, friendly experience.
The caveat is that this is a reading-plan app, not a general Bible platform. You are not choosing among hundreds of translations, comparing versions, or opening commentaries and study Bibles; the app is built around its own guided journey. If you want a full study toolkit, you will keep a second app for that. But if your goal is to finally read the entire Bible, cover to cover, with a gentle voice guiding each day, few things in this category do it better, and none do it better for free.
Is it right for you?
Anyone determined to read the whole Bible in a year with a warm, encouraging daily guide.
You want many translations, version comparison, or a full study-and-commentary toolkit.
What’s inside
How it compares
Best in row
Apps marked “tested” show their hands-on score out of 100. The other numbers are editorial ratings out of 10.
Common questions
Yes, entirely. There are no ads, subscriptions, or in-app purchases. It is offered free by Alpha, the ministry behind The Alpha Course.
Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, longtime leaders at Holy Trinity Brompton and pioneers of Alpha, provide the warm daily reflections and prayers.
It depends on the track you choose: about 25 minutes for Classic, 15 for Express, or 12 for the Youth version.
Yes. Each day's commentary is available as audio, so you can listen during a commute or workout instead of reading on screen.
Not exactly. It is a focused reading-plan app built around one guided journey, so many readers pair it with a fuller Bible app for translations and study tools.
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