How do I know what to read?

With just two more days until we all begin this great journey of 2010 in reading the entire Bible from cover to cover, some of you may be wondering, "Just how do I know where I am supposed to begin and end my reading every day?"

Sure, I've given you the passages for each day, but what does it mean when it is written, "Genesis 1-3"?  Or the even more difficult to understand, "Genesis 4-9:17"?  Let me explain a bit for those of you who may not know or need a refresher.  For those of you well versed in Bible reading, please add any information you see appropriate to add or clarify if I muddle things up.

First, let me explain that the Bible itself is not just one book.  It is a culmination of SEVERAL books put together.  Sixty-Six to be exact.  The books are put together in roughly a chronological order, meaning that it starts at the beginning with Genesis and ends with the "end of time as we know it" in Revelation.  Everything in between falls chronologically as it was written and the time it represents.  Four of the books overlap each other significantly (that would be the Holy Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

In order to make it easier to reference and understand, each of these books (in relatively recent times) has been broken up into chapters.  Each of these chapters have been broken up into verses.  Typically, the number of the chapter is written largely at the beginning of each chapter (like any other book you might read).  However, those tiny numbers at the beginning or certain sentences (and sometimes in the middle of those sentences) mark the verses.

The verse numbers are strategically placed to complete specific thoughts or passageways; but they can be confusing to someone who has not read the Bible before.  You don't actually read these numbers as part of the passageway; these are only to reference specific verses.

Think of it this way, if you have ever had a document typed up for court, you will notice that it is on a paper that, when you get into the body of the document, has a column of numbers down the left side of the page.  This way, when a lawyer or judge wants to refer to a specific line in the document they can say something to the effect of, "Evidence 12B line 10" and everyone in the room can quickly read exactly what is being refered. 

It is the same way in the Bible, only instead of the numbers being on the left side on the page, they are interspersed throughout.

So, how do you use these numbers so everyone knows which verse you are referencing?  And, again, how will you know what to read?  Let's break it down:

Genesis 1
This means you are going to go to the book Genesis and read all of chapter one (1)

Genesis 1-3
This means you are going to go to the book Genesis and read chapter one (1) all the way through to the end of chapter three (3).

Genesis 9:17
This one is a bit tricker.  Anytime you see a number, a colon sign, then another number, you are looking at the chapter and then the verse.  So, in this example the 9:17 means you will go to the book Genesis and read chapter nine (9) verse seventeen (17).  You will only be reading this one verse.

Genesis 4-9:17
Are you ready for a trickier one?  Here we are looking at the book Genesis and then go to chapter four (4) and read all the way through to chapter nine (9) verse seventeen (17).

Think of it this way:
Book chapter : verse - chapter : verse

If there is no verse listed, that means you are to read the entire chapter. 

If there is a verse listed you start at the beginning of that verse.

Okay, one more tricky one:

Genesis 9:17-9:19
This one means that you will be reading in the book Genesis chapter nine (9) verse seventeen (17) through verse nineteen (19); only 2 verses.

Any questions?  Did I thoroughly confuse you?
Does anyone have anything to add or clarify?