How long does it take to read the Bible?

How many words are in the Bible?

755,533, counted verse by verse across all 31,098 verses of the World English Bible. Most sources quote a round number somewhere between 750,000 and 800,000; this one is the actual count of a text we hold, so you can check it book by book in the table below.

The figure moves with the translation. The King James runs slightly longer, modern translations slightly shorter, and a German Bible longer still — the Menge translation comes to 763,907 words for the same 66 books. Any word count is specific to the edition it was counted from, which is why a single "the Bible has X words" is always approximate.

How long does it take to listen to the Bible?

About 108 hours. That number is measured rather than assumed: our own German narration runs at 116.1 words a minute, averaged across 355 days of recorded audio, and this is the whole text at that pace.

It is slower than most audio Bibles, which land nearer 70 to 80 hours. That is deliberate — ours is recorded to be listened to at bedtime, where being read to slowly is the point rather than a shortcoming.

Where these reading speeds come from

Most reading-time estimates use a round 200 or 300 words a minute. Neither is well supported. The largest review of the evidence — Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies and 18,573 readers — puts adult silent reading of non-fiction at 238 words a minute, fiction at 260, and reading aloud at 183. It says plainly that the higher figures in popular writing are overestimates, which is why the default here is 238 and not a rounder number.

Speed also depends on the language, not just the reader. The IReST study measured matched texts across 17 languages and found German readers average 179 words a minute against English's 228 — German words are simply longer, so fewer fit into a minute. A word count is only comparable within one language.

Every book, longest to shortest

Reading times update with the speed you picked. Jeremiah is the longest book at 41,145 words; 3 John is the shortest at 292.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to read the whole Bible?

About 53 hours at an average adult silent reading speed of 238 words a minute. The Bible runs 755,533 words, so reading aloud at 183 wpm puts it nearer 69 hours, and a fast reader at 300 wpm nearer 42. At 15 minutes a day you finish in about 212 days.

How many words are in the Bible?

755,533 in the World English Bible, counted verse by verse across all 31,098 verses. Counts differ between translations — the King James runs a little longer, modern translations a little shorter — so any figure is specific to the edition it was counted from. This one is not rounded or estimated.

How long does it take to listen to the whole Bible?

About 108 hours. That is not a guess: it is the whole text at 116.1 words a minute, the pace measured across 355 days of our own recorded narration. Audio Bibles read for daytime listening run faster, nearer 70 to 80 hours; ours is recorded to be listened to at bedtime, so it is slower on purpose.

Can you read the Bible in a year?

Comfortably. 9 minutes a day gets you through in 365 days at an average reading speed — which is why so many one-year plans land on "about 15 minutes a day". Listening takes longer per day: roughly 18 minutes.

Which book of the Bible takes longest?

Jeremiah, at 41,145 words — about 2 hr 53 min of reading. The shortest is 3 John at 292 words, well under three minutes. The Old Testament is 77% of the total.

Would you rather listen to it? Still reads scripture aloud, a chapter at a time, and has a Bible-in-a-year plan you can follow at your own pace — about 18 minutes a day. Download Still and start it whenever you like.

Or draw a single verse instead of a whole book.