These figures are not estimates: they come from counting the entire text of the translation we publish in this language, the World English Bible. The books and chapters are the same in any Bible. The verse total can differ by one or two, because translations don't all split the same handful of passages the same way, and the word count shifts from one translation to another.
How it breaks down
Old Testament
39 books · 929 chapters · 23,145 verses
New Testament
27 books · 260 chapters · 7,958 verses
How long does it take to read the whole Bible?
At a normal silent reading pace — around 200 words per minute — the Bible's 756,209 words come to about 63 hours of reading. Spread out, that works out like this:
| If you read… | You finish in |
|---|---|
| 1 chapter a day | 1,189 days≈ 3 years |
| 3 chapters a day | 397 days≈ 1 year |
| 4 chapters a day | 298 days≈ 10 months |
| 12 chapters a day | 100 days≈ 3 months |
| 15 minutes a day | 253 days≈ 8 months |
| 30 minutes a day | 127 days≈ 4 months |
| 1 hour a day | 64 days≈ 2 months |
The rows counted in chapters are approximate: chapters are not the same size (Psalm 117 has 2 verses, Psalm 119 has 176).
Records
Longest book
Psalms
41,836 words
Shortest book
3 John
292 words
Longest chapter
Psalms 119
176 verses
Shortest chapter
Psalms 117
2 verses
The 66 books of the Bible, in order
This is the canonical order. Tap any book to read it.
Old Testament
| # | Book | Ch. | Vv. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis | 50 | 1,533 |
| 2 | Exodus | 40 | 1,213 |
| 3 | Leviticus | 27 | 859 |
| 4 | Numbers | 36 | 1,288 |
| 5 | Deuteronomy | 34 | 959 |
| 6 | Joshua | 24 | 658 |
| 7 | Judges | 21 | 618 |
| 8 | Ruth | 4 | 85 |
| 9 | 1 Samuel | 31 | 810 |
| 10 | 2 Samuel | 24 | 695 |
| 11 | 1 Kings | 22 | 816 |
| 12 | 2 Kings | 25 | 719 |
| 13 | 1 Chronicles | 29 | 942 |
| 14 | 2 Chronicles | 36 | 822 |
| 15 | Ezra | 10 | 280 |
| 16 | Nehemiah | 13 | 406 |
| 17 | Esther | 10 | 167 |
| 18 | Job | 42 | 1,070 |
| 19 | Psalms | 150 | 2,461 |
| 20 | Proverbs | 31 | 915 |
| 21 | Ecclesiastes | 12 | 222 |
| 22 | Song of Songs | 8 | 117 |
| 23 | Isaiah | 66 | 1,292 |
| 24 | Jeremiah | 52 | 1,364 |
| 25 | Lamentations | 5 | 154 |
| 26 | Ezekiel | 48 | 1,273 |
| 27 | Daniel | 12 | 357 |
| 28 | Hosea | 14 | 197 |
| 29 | Joel | 3 | 73 |
| 30 | Amos | 9 | 146 |
| 31 | Obadiah | 1 | 21 |
| 32 | Jonah | 4 | 48 |
| 33 | Micah | 7 | 105 |
| 34 | Nahum | 3 | 47 |
| 35 | Habakkuk | 3 | 56 |
| 36 | Zephaniah | 3 | 53 |
| 37 | Haggai | 2 | 38 |
| 38 | Zechariah | 14 | 211 |
| 39 | Malachi | 4 | 55 |
New Testament
| # | Book | Ch. | Vv. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew | 28 | 1,071 |
| 2 | Mark | 16 | 678 |
| 3 | Luke | 24 | 1,151 |
| 4 | John | 21 | 879 |
| 5 | Acts | 28 | 1,007 |
| 6 | Romans | 16 | 434 |
| 7 | 1 Corinthians | 16 | 437 |
| 8 | 2 Corinthians | 13 | 257 |
| 9 | Galatians | 6 | 149 |
| 10 | Ephesians | 6 | 155 |
| 11 | Philippians | 4 | 104 |
| 12 | Colossians | 4 | 95 |
| 13 | 1 Thessalonians | 5 | 89 |
| 14 | 2 Thessalonians | 3 | 47 |
| 15 | 1 Timothy | 6 | 113 |
| 16 | 2 Timothy | 4 | 83 |
| 17 | Titus | 3 | 46 |
| 18 | Philemon | 1 | 25 |
| 19 | Hebrews | 13 | 303 |
| 20 | James | 5 | 108 |
| 21 | 1 Peter | 5 | 105 |
| 22 | 2 Peter | 3 | 61 |
| 23 | 1 John | 5 | 105 |
| 24 | 2 John | 1 | 13 |
| 25 | 3 John | 1 | 14 |
| 26 | Jude | 1 | 25 |
| 27 | Revelation | 22 | 404 |
Thinking of reading it all?
A reading plan splits the 1,189 chapters into daily portions and keeps track for you.
How these were counted
Books, chapters and verses follow the standard numbering. Words are counted by splitting the text of all 31,103 verses on whitespace, with no section headings or footnotes. Times are estimates at 200 words per minute, a comfortable silent reading pace; read aloud it drops to about 130, and everything takes half again as long.