141, 154, or 167 parashot, as evidenced by scriptural references and fragments of recovered text. The practice was to read each parashah in serial order regardless of the week of the year, completing the entire Torah in three years in a linear fashion.

By the Middle Ages, the annual reading cycle was predominant, although the triennial cycle was still extant at the time, as noted by Jewish figures of the period, such as Benjamin of Tudela and Maimonides.