How long does it take to read the Bible?
Reading the whole King James Bible takes about 51 to 55 hours of silent reading at average adult speeds, or about 72 hours read aloud. By our count it is 789,633 words across 1,189 chapters. About 10 minutes a day, or three to four chapters, finishes it in a year.
By Ellis Newton, Co-founder and CTO, ChaptifyPublished
How long it takes to read the Bible, at a glance
The King James Bible takes about 50 hours 37 minutes to 55 hours 18 minutes to read silently at average adult speeds, and about 71 hours 55 minutes read aloud:
| Part | Chapters | Words | Silent reading | Reading aloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole Bible | 1,189 | 789,633 | 50 h 37 min to 55 h 18 min | 71 h 55 min |
| Old Testament | 929 | 609,251 | 39 h 03 min to 42 h 40 min | 55 h 29 min |
| New Testament | 260 | 180,382 | 11 h 34 min to 12 h 38 min | 16 h 26 min |
These counts are for the King James Version, from the Project Gutenberg edition. Silent reading is given as a range between the two adult averages in Marc Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of reading speed, 238 and 260 words a minute. Reading aloud is at 183 words a minute, Brysbaert's average for reading aloud.
How long does it take to read the Bible cover to cover?
Reading the whole King James Bible silently takes about 50 hours 37 minutes to 55 hours 18 minutes at average adult reading speeds. Read aloud, it takes about 71 hours 55 minutes.
Many sites say the Bible takes 70 hours or more to read, usually without saying how they got there. That's about how long it takes to read it aloud. Reading silently, most adults would take less.
The Old Testament is 609,251 words and takes about 39 hours 3 minutes to 42 hours 40 minutes of silent reading. The New Testament is 180,382 words, about 11 hours 34 minutes to 12 hours 38 minutes.
How many minutes a day does it take to read the Bible in a year?
About 10 minutes a day reads the whole King James Bible in a year, at the slower of the two average speeds. The longer each day's reading, the sooner you finish:
| Minutes a day | Days to finish | About |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 664 | 22 months |
| 10 | 332 | 11 months |
| 15 | 222 | 7 months |
| 20 | 166 | 5 months |
| 30 | 111 | 4 months |
| 45 | 74 | 11 weeks |
| 60 | 56 | 8 weeks |
Days are rounded up and assume reading every day at 238 words a minute. A faster reader finishes sooner. The reading time calculator works it out for your own speed.
How long does it take to read the Bible one chapter a day?
Reading one chapter a day takes 1,189 days, about three years and three months, because the King James Bible has 1,189 chapters. To finish in a year by chapters, read three chapters a day, and four on 94 of the days.
Chapters vary a lot in length, so a chapter-a-day plan takes more time on some days than others. Psalm 117 is two verses. Psalm 119 is 176.
How long does it take to read the Bible in one sitting?
Without breaks, reading the whole Bible silently at an average speed takes 50 hours 37 minutes to 55 hours 18 minutes, which is more than two full days and nights. Read aloud, it's about 71 hours 55 minutes.
How long is each book of the Bible?
The longest books of the Bible by word count are Psalms and Jeremiah, and the shortest is 3 John. Every book of the King James Version, in order, with reading time at 238 words a minute, the slower of the two averages, so these lean long:
| Book | Chapters | Words | Reading time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genesis | 50 | 38,264 | 2 h 41 min |
| Exodus | 40 | 32,684 | 2 h 17 min |
| Leviticus | 27 | 24,541 | 1 h 43 min |
| Numbers | 36 | 32,893 | 2 h 18 min |
| Deuteronomy | 34 | 28,351 | 1 h 59 min |
| Joshua | 24 | 18,852 | 1 h 19 min |
| Judges | 21 | 18,966 | 1 h 20 min |
| Ruth | 4 | 2,574 | 11 min |
| 1 Samuel | 31 | 25,047 | 1 h 45 min |
| 2 Samuel | 24 | 20,599 | 1 h 27 min |
| 1 Kings | 22 | 24,514 | 1 h 43 min |
| 2 Kings | 25 | 23,520 | 1 h 39 min |
| 1 Chronicles | 29 | 20,365 | 1 h 26 min |
| 2 Chronicles | 36 | 26,069 | 1 h 50 min |
| Ezra | 10 | 7,440 | 31 min |
| Nehemiah | 13 | 10,480 | 44 min |
| Esther | 10 | 5,632 | 24 min |
| Job | 42 | 18,098 | 1 h 16 min |
| Psalms | 150 | 42,684 | 2 h 59 min |
| Proverbs | 31 | 15,038 | 1 h 03 min |
| Ecclesiastes | 12 | 5,582 | 23 min |
| Song of Solomon | 8 | 2,658 | 11 min |
| Isaiah | 66 | 37,038 | 2 h 36 min |
| Jeremiah | 52 | 42,654 | 2 h 59 min |
| Lamentations | 5 | 3,411 | 14 min |
| Ezekiel | 48 | 39,401 | 2 h 46 min |
| Daniel | 12 | 11,603 | 49 min |
| Hosea | 14 | 5,174 | 22 min |
| Joel | 3 | 2,033 | 9 min |
| Amos | 9 | 4,216 | 18 min |
| Obadiah | 1 | 669 | 3 min |
| Jonah | 4 | 1,320 | 6 min |
| Micah | 7 | 3,152 | 13 min |
| Nahum | 3 | 1,284 | 5 min |
| Habakkuk | 3 | 1,475 | 6 min |
| Zephaniah | 3 | 1,616 | 7 min |
| Haggai | 2 | 1,130 | 5 min |
| Zechariah | 14 | 6,443 | 27 min |
| Malachi | 4 | 1,781 | 7 min |
| Matthew | 28 | 23,684 | 1 h 40 min |
| Mark | 16 | 15,166 | 1 h 04 min |
| Luke | 24 | 25,939 | 1 h 49 min |
| John | 21 | 19,095 | 1 h 20 min |
| Acts | 28 | 24,246 | 1 h 42 min |
| Romans | 16 | 9,422 | 40 min |
| 1 Corinthians | 16 | 9,462 | 40 min |
| 2 Corinthians | 13 | 6,065 | 25 min |
| Galatians | 6 | 3,084 | 13 min |
| Ephesians | 6 | 3,022 | 13 min |
| Philippians | 4 | 2,183 | 9 min |
| Colossians | 4 | 1,979 | 8 min |
| 1 Thessalonians | 5 | 1,837 | 8 min |
| 2 Thessalonians | 3 | 1,022 | 4 min |
| 1 Timothy | 6 | 2,244 | 9 min |
| 2 Timothy | 4 | 1,666 | 7 min |
| Titus | 3 | 896 | 4 min |
| Philemon | 1 | 430 | 2 min |
| Hebrews | 13 | 6,897 | 29 min |
| James | 5 | 2,304 | 10 min |
| 1 Peter | 5 | 2,475 | 10 min |
| 2 Peter | 3 | 1,553 | 7 min |
| 1 John | 5 | 2,516 | 11 min |
| 2 John | 1 | 298 | 1 min |
| 3 John | 1 | 294 | 1 min |
| Jude | 1 | 608 | 3 min |
| Revelation | 22 | 11,995 | 50 min |
Psalms has the most chapters, 150, and is almost exactly the same length in words as Jeremiah. 3 John, the shortest book, is under 300 words and takes a little over a minute.
Does the translation change how long the Bible takes to read?
The translation changes how long the Bible takes to read, but we can only measure the King James Version. It's the most widely read English translation in the public domain, so its full text can be counted. Most modern translations, such as the New International Version and the English Standard Version, are under copyright, and we haven't counted them. Their word counts differ from the KJV's, and we won't guess by how much.
How we counted the words in the Bible
We took the King James Version from Project Gutenberg (eBook #10) and counted every word of the text, after removing the verse numbers ("1:1") and each book's heading. A word is any run of characters between spaces that contains a letter or a number. Chapters are counted from the verse references. The count was run on 23 September 2026.
This page is about the time reading takes, not about how to read the Bible or which plan to follow. If you're building a daily reading routine of any kind, how to build a reading habit covers what the research says about making it stick.
Sources
- Project Gutenberg. The King James Version of the Bible (eBook #10). Checked 23 September 2026.
- Marc Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language 109 (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Checked 22 September 2026.
Published by Chaptify LLC, the maker of Chaptify, a reading tracker and social reading app for iPhone.