How should someone read the bible for the first time.

I have read Gen to Judges and then I started reading John. I think I'm on John chapter 8.

Tolle lege, tolle lege.

This refers to the voice - the auditory equivalent of a vision - St. Augustine heard before he completed his conversion.  It's Latin for "Pick it up and read."

The verse St. Augustine turned to was from Romans, IIRC, but that's not quite the point.

A friend gave me a study Bible. It has the original text, then an explanation in modern terms.

Its gets a little trying going back and forth, but it explains what your reading very well.

I also got a copy of an audio Bible with enhancements. That means it has music and is dramatic.

I enjoy that because I can listen to it at work on my ipod while doing routine tasks.

I've heard but have never gone, that a Bible study class is very good to learn the Bible.

I mean like which books of the bible did you read first and it which order.

Like did you read it from the beginning to the end or did you jump around reading different books until you completed it.

You're doing fine. Keep going.

FWIW, I like to read two chap. OT, one chap. NT when reading through the Bible. I just keep alternating 2 old 1 new. I like doing it that way.

Cover to cover, without jumping around. In my opinion, that is the only way to get a true sense of the bible as a whole. By skipping chapters, books or from OT to NT, you are greatly reducing your exposure to repetitive stories, themes and other interesting issues.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that you cannot claim to have read the bible unless you read it cover to cover. In other words, by compartmentalizing, you are likely to get the Christian perspective, but not the Jewish perspective. Nor do you clearly get the transition from OT to NT.

I had read every book, every chapter and every verse many times during my "studies" years ago. But when I got an MP3 bible on CD, I listened every day while commuting. Very enlightening.

1 Romans - States Man's Position and What God Has Done About It.
2 John - Beautiful Statement of What God Is Doing Though Christ from a person with1st Person Exposure to Christ.
3 Matthew- Comprehensive Summary of the Good News and What is About to Happen.
4 Genesis How It All Began.
5 Isaiah - How Did He Know About Christ!

Many years ago, I made a New Year resolution to read the whole Bible cover to cover over the course of the year.  I sat down and figured how many pages per day I needed to read to do this and marked each month on a wall calendar with what page I should be on.  For the most part, I stuck to it and managed to read the whole thing in that year's time.

It was difficult and eye-opening at the same time.

Difficult because it's too much to comprehend the whole thing without some guidance, especially due to language and translation  problems; eye-opening because I began to see connections throughout the Bible that I had missed with general perusing or listening to Sunday readings.

If the task of trying the whole thing seems too much, then at least read Genesis, Exodus, 1 Samuel, Isaiah and Psalms in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament, at least read Luke and Acts (they are meant to be read as a part 1 and 2 of a single work).  Then try a few of Paul's letters.

By no means should you try to start with Revelation or try to understand Revelation without the guidance of a trusted pastor or Scripture scholar.  The opportunity for misinterpretation is simply too great for the average reader.

And above all, pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you through the whole thing.  It's His book, so He'll surely help if you let Him.