The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible contains approximately 783,137 words. The Old Testament accounts for about 592,439 of those words, while the New Testament contributes roughly 180,698 words. The total varies slightly depending on the translation — the NIV comes in around 727,969 words, while the ESV has roughly 757,439.
At an average reading speed of 250 words per minute, reading the entire KJV Bible would take approximately 52 hours. Many "read the Bible in a year" programs break this down to about 12-15 minutes of reading per day.
| Section | Word Count (KJV) | Books | Chapters | Verses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Testament | ~592,439 | 39 | 929 | 23,145 |
| New Testament | ~180,698 | 27 | 260 | 7,957 |
| Total KJV Bible | ~783,137 | 66 | 1,189 | 31,102 |
| Group | Books | Approx. Word Count |
|---|---|---|
| Pentateuch (Torah) | Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy | ~156,058 |
| Historical Books | Joshua through Esther (12 books) | ~193,010 |
| Wisdom/Poetry | Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon | ~81,917 |
| Major Prophets | Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel | ~107,894 |
| Minor Prophets | Hosea through Malachi (12 books) | ~53,560 |
| Group | Books | Approx. Word Count |
|---|---|---|
| Gospels | Matthew, Mark, Luke, John | ~83,923 |
| Acts | Acts of the Apostles | ~24,250 |
| Pauline Epistles | Romans through Philemon (13 letters) | ~32,408 |
| General Epistles | Hebrews through Jude (8 letters) | ~16,502 |
| Revelation | Revelation | ~11,995 |
The longest book of the Bible is Psalms, with approximately 43,743 words across 150 chapters (psalms). However, if measured by content rather than poetic sections, Jeremiah is the longest prose book at roughly 42,659 words.
The shortest books are found in the New Testament. Third John contains only about 295 words (in the KJV), making it the shortest book by word count. Second John (303 words) and Philemon (445 words) are also extremely brief. In the Old Testament, Obadiah is the shortest at roughly 670 words — a single chapter of 21 verses.
| Translation | Approx. Word Count | Year |
|---|---|---|
| King James Version (KJV) | ~783,137 | 1611 |
| New International Version (NIV) | ~727,969 | 1978 |
| English Standard Version (ESV) | ~757,439 | 2001 |
| New American Standard (NASB) | ~782,815 | 1971 |
| New Living Translation (NLT) | ~747,782 | 1996 |
| New King James Version (NKJV) | ~770,430 | 1982 |
The KJV tends to have higher word counts because older English often uses more words to express ideas that modern English handles more concisely. The NIV, which aims for thought-for-thought translation rather than word-for-word, comes in roughly 55,000 words shorter.
At 250 words per minute, the KJV Bible takes approximately 52 hours and 13 minutes to read. Here is how that breaks down by popular reading plans:
| Reading Plan | Daily Reading | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Bible in a Year | ~3.3 chapters/day (~12-15 min) | 365 days |
| Bible in 90 Days | ~13 chapters/day (~35-45 min) | 90 days |
| New Testament Only | ~1 chapter/day (~4-5 min) | 260 days |
| Gospels Only | ~1 chapter/day (~5 min) | 89 days |
The word "Lord" appears approximately 7,738 times in the KJV. "God" appears about 4,473 times. The most common word (excluding articles and prepositions) is "shall," which appears roughly 9,838 times — reflecting the prophetic and legal nature of much of the text.
The middle verse of the Bible is Psalm 118:8, and the longest verse is Esther 8:9 at 90 words. The shortest verse, famously, is John 11:35: "Jesus wept" — just two words.
The Bible has been translated into over 700 languages in full, with portions translated into more than 3,500 languages. Each translation yields a different word count depending on the source language, translation philosophy, and target language.
Want to analyze the word count of any text?
Try WordMeter's Free Word Counter →