Notes on Reading the Full Bible with the BCP Office
What readings are missed if following the Book of Common Prayer (BCP, or prayer book) reading
cycle (e.g. divine services)?
Please email me with any corrections identified, or work that is done elsewhere. This is a
work in-progress.
Introduction
I was raised with the Cambridge King James Bible, without the Aprocrypha. I read the Bible
regularly, but would start at page 1 of Genesis and read as-is to the end. I lived in England
and Wales, where I ultimately became enamored of the Church of England.
When I joined The Episcopal Church (TEC, what was the Church of England in the American
colonies before the revolution), I followed the two year 1979 daily office cycle, but it does not
cover the entire Bible either, (even without the Apocrypha). The Eucharistic service is not
intended to read the whole of scripture through the year, but instead give a selection of it, and
is a separate lectionary from the Daily Office.
This page looks to fill in the reading cycle of the 1662 BCP, using tables from the 1871
revision of the original 1662 tables, and the revised table of 1922, intended to have greater
consistency with the calendar feasts and liturgical cycle, as well as return to the use of the
Apocrypha. Also intended to be looked at is the TEC BCP 1979 Daily Office Lectionary.
See my notes on the Bibles I've already read here:
https://oberon07.com/dee/bibles.xhtml.
Original 1662
I said I wasn't going to, but someone else posted on social media what verses from the KJB
are missing if using the original 1662 lectionary tables. Numbering is by chapter, (so a missing
verse would look like 10.5, as in chapter 10, verse 5). The selections below are those readings
that are not read throughout the year:
- Genesis 10-11, 36
- Exodus 6.14-, 25-31, 35-40
- Leviticus 1-17, 21-25, 27
- Numbers 1-10, 15, 18-19, 26, 28-29, 33-34
- Deuteronomy 23
- Joshua 11-22
- 1-2 Chronicles
- Ezra 2, 8, 10
- Ezekial 1, 4-5, 8-12, 15-17, 19, 21-23, 25-32, 35-48
- Tobit 5
- Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 25.14-, 26, 30.19-, 46.21-
- Additions to Esther
- 1-4 Maccabees (3-4 not being part of the CofE canon, nor Psalm 151)
- Prayer of Manasseh
- 1-2 Esdras
- Apocalypse (Revelation to John) 1.19-, 2-3, 5-7.1, 7.13-12.6, 12.13-, 13, 14.6-, 15-18
19.18-, 20-21
BCP 1662 1871 table
The main purpose of the 1871 table seems to be getting rid of most of the Apocrypha readings
from the original 1662 table, increasing the rest of the readings, including Revelations, but
with more selective readings from each book. The selections below are those readings that are
not read throughout the year.
I'm still working through this table and will continue to fill this in what is missing, so
check back. Sundays are not complete for the Old Testament, and all of the New Testament.
The way the 1871 table is laid out is a bit confusing at first. When something says read
2, V.4
, it means read chapter 2, verse 4 to the end, or the short hand I use below (for
what is not read) would be 2.4-. When it says to read 18, to V. 17
it means to
look at the last chronolgically defined book (in this case from January, it is Genesis) and read
chapter 18.1-16, the to
representing the stopping point. You can see this in sequences
where a chapter carries on reading starting from 17 to whatever as defined, as this examples
demonstrates. It is also to be noted that the Sunday lessons are distinct from the calendar,
which are Old Testament readings paired with the Holy Communion Sunday New Testament readings.
- Genesis 9.20-, 10, 11.10-, 17.23-, 19.1-11, 19.30-, 21.22-32, 22.20-, 25.1-4, 29.21-, 30,
31.25-35, 34, 35.21-, 36, 38, 46.8-25
- Exodus 4.24-26, 6.14-27, 20.22-, 21.18-, 23.10-13, 25.23-, 26-27, 28.13-28,
28.42-, 29.1-34, 30.11-, 35.1-28, 36.8-, 37-38, 39.1-29
- Leviticus 1-8, 9.1-21, 10.12-, 11-13, 14.23-, 15, 16.23-, 17-18, 19.19-29, 20.9-,
21-24, 25.44-, 27
- Numbers 1-5, 7-8, 9.1-14, 13.1-16, 15, 18-19, 21.32-, 26, 27.1-11, 28-36
- Deuteronomy 4.41-, 9, 10.1-7, 12-14, 15.16-, 16, 17.1-7, 18.1-8, 19-23, 24.1-4, 25,
29.1-8
- Joshua 8, 9.1-2, 10.16-, 11-20, 21.1-42, 22.1-10
- Judges 1, 3, 8.1-31, 9.25-, 12, 17-21
- 1 Samuel 14.47-, 18.17-, 25.2-, 27, 28.1-2, 29-30
- 2 Samuel 2, 5, 8, 10, 12.24-, 13.1-37, 14.26-, 20, 21.15-, 22, 23.24-
- 1 Kings 1.50-, 2, 4.20-, 6.15-, 7, 9.10-, 14.21-, 15.1-24, 20, 22.41-
- 2 Kings 3, 4.1-7, 8.16-, 11-12, 14-16, 18.9-12, 21
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles 1-11, 17.14-, 18, 29.1-2, 29.21-, 31.2-, 32, 34-36
- Ezra 2, 6, 8.1-14, 10.20-
- Nehemiah 3, 7.5-72, 9-12
- Esther 2.1-14, 8-10
- Job 8, 15, 18, 20, 22.1-11, 22.29-, 30.2-11, 30.27-, 31.1-12, 33-37
- Proverbs 6.20-, 10.1-15, 12.1-9, 14.1-8, 16.21-30, 17.18-, 18.1-9, 19.1-12, 20.23-,
21.17-, 22.17-, 23.1-9, 24.1-20, 26.21-, 27.23-, 28.15-, 29, 30.18-, 31.1-9
- Ecclesiastes 2.12-, 10
- Song of Solomon
- Jeremiah 2.14-, 3-4, 6.22-, 7.17-, 8.1-3, 9.17-, 10-12, 13.1-7, 13.24-, 14, 16, 17.19-,
18.18-, 20, 23.16-, 25.15-, 27, 29.1-3, 29.20-, 31.38-, 32, 34, 37, 40-49, 50.21-, 51.1-53,
52
- Lamentations of Jeremiah
- Ezekial 4-7, 10, 11.1-13, 12.1-16, 15, 16.1-43, 17, 19, 20.44-, 21, 22.1-22, 23, 24.1-14,
25, 28.20-, 29-30, 32.17-, 35, 36.1-5, 36.33-, 38-46, 47.13-, 48
- Daniel 8, 10.20-, 11,
- Hosea 1, 2.1-13, 3, 4.13-, 5.1-7, 6.7-, 7.1-7, 12.7-, 13.15-
- Amos 3.9-, 4.1-3, 6.9-
- Micah 1.10-
- Zechariah 9.1-8
- Isaiah 1.21-, 3.16-, 4.1, 7.17-, 8.1-4, 14.24-, 15-16, 20, 21.13-, 36-37, 38.1-8, 38.21-,
39
- 1-2 Esdras
- Tobit
- Judith
- Additions to Esther
- The Wisdom of Solomon 3, 4.1-6, 5, 8.19-, 10, 12.3-, 13-16, 18-19
- Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 1.14-, 3.1-16, 3.30-, 4.1-9, 6, 7.1-26, 8-9, 10.1-17, 11-13, 14.20-,
15.1-8, 16.1-16, 17, 19.1-12, 20-21, 22.1-5, 22.24-, 23, 25-32, 33.1-6, 34.1-14, 36, 37.1-7,
37.19-, 38, 40, 41.14-, 42.1-15, 43, 44.16-, 45-49, 50.25-, 51.1-9
- Baruch 1-3, 4.21-35
- The Epistle of Jeremy (chapter 6 of Baruch)
- Additions to Daniel: The Song of the Three, History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon
- Prayer of Manasseh
- 1-4 Maccabees (3-4 not being part of the CofE canon, nor Psalm 151)
©2025
David Egan Evans.