The King James Version of the Bible contains approximately 783,137 words. That figure varies slightly across translations because of how phrases and idioms render in different languages, but most modern English Bibles fall between 720,000 and 790,000 words.
Word count by section
- Old Testament: ~609,269 words (78% of the text)
- New Testament: ~173,868 words (22% of the text)
Longest books in the Bible
- Jeremiah — ~42,659 words (longest single book)
- Genesis — ~38,267 words
- Psalms — ~42,704 words (longest if you count 150 chapters as one book)
- Ezekiel — ~39,407 words
- Luke — ~25,944 words (longest New Testament book)
Shortest books
- 3 John — 299 words
- 2 John — 303 words
- Philemon — 445 words
- Obadiah — 670 words
How long does it take to read the Bible?
At 238 words per minute, the full Bible takes about 55 hours of focused reading. That works out to roughly 12 minutes a day across an entire year — the basis of the popular "one-year Bible" reading plans.
Counting words in your own writing
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- ✓The KJV Bible contains ~783,137 words
- ✓Old Testament: ~609,000 words; New Testament: ~174,000
- ✓Psalms and Jeremiah are the longest books
- ✓Reading the full Bible takes ~55 hours at average pace
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