The Bible: A Word Count Analysis
Back in 2017, I read the Bible twice. The first time, I did it as a speed-run challenge – I got it done in 73 days. I took the rest of the year completing the second read.
I read the New King James Version for the first time, then switched to The Message for the second time, though I couldn’t handle it and switched to the New International Version about halfway through.
During this process, I got interested in word counts, primarily to keep up my motivation. I felt like I needed to know my progress and context, to stay motivated to get it done. So I compiled the below from a list of counts in the King James version (I figured this was canonical-ish), then did some math.
This was originally in a spreadsheet, but since the counts aren’t likely to change, I’ve flattened them here to a table.
Here’s a key to the columns.
- Name: The name of the book
- Position: The ordinal position of the book (this is the default ordering; it’s provided to get them back in order if you sort by words)
- Testament: The testament the book is in: [O]ld or [N]ew
- Words: The word count of that book
- Percent: The percent of total words that particular book – in isolation – comprises
- Cum(ulative) Words: The cumulative words through the end of this book – if you read through this book, what total number of words would you have read?
- Cum(ulative) Percent: The cumulative percent of words through the end of this book – if you read through this book, what percent of total words would you have read?
- Rank: The order of this book by length, from longest to shortest (i.e. – “1” is the longest book, “2” is the next longest, etc.)
A few observations which I found interesting.
- The Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, are fully one-fifth of the total length
- The Old Testament is 75% of the Bible
- The Old Testament and the four Gospels are almost 90% of the Bible
- The books of the Old Testament are about 2.5 times longer than the books of the New Testament (about 5,000 words compared to over 12,000)
- Jeremiah is the longest book of the Bible, followed not far behind by Genesis
- 3 John is the shortest book of the bible. At 219 words, it’s basically a long paragraph.
The “Name,” “Words,” and “Position” columns in the below table are sortable. Clicking will alternate between ascending and descending order.
| Name | Position | Testament | Words | Percent | Cum. Words | Cum. Percent | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genesis | 1 | O | 32,046 | 5.24% | 32,046 | 5.24% | 2 |
| Exodus | 2 | O | 25,957 | 4.25% | 58,003 | 9.49% | 5 |
| Leviticus | 3 | O | 18,852 | 3.08% | 76,855 | 12.57% | 13 |
| Numbers | 4 | O | 25,048 | 4.10% | 101,903 | 16.67% | 7 |
| Deuteronomy | 5 | O | 23,008 | 3.76% | 124,911 | 20.44% | 8 |
| Joshua | 6 | O | 15,671 | 2.56% | 140,582 | 23.00% | 19 |
| Judges | 7 | O | 15,385 | 2.52% | 155,967 | 25.52% | 21 |
| Ruth | 8 | O | 2,039 | 0.33% | 158,006 | 25.85% | 43 |
| 1 Samuel | 9 | O | 20,837 | 3.41% | 178,843 | 29.26% | 10 |
| 2 Samuel | 10 | O | 17,170 | 2.81% | 196,013 | 32.07% | 17 |
| 1 Kings | 11 | O | 20,361 | 3.33% | 216,374 | 35.40% | 11 |
| 2 Kings | 12 | O | 18,784 | 3.07% | 235,158 | 38.47% | 14 |
| 1 Chronicles | 13 | O | 16,664 | 2.73% | 251,822 | 41.20% | 18 |
| 2 Chronicles | 14 | O | 21,349 | 3.49% | 273,171 | 44.69% | 9 |
| Ezra | 15 | O | 5,605 | 0.92% | 278,776 | 45.61% | 30 |
| Nehemiah | 16 | O | 8,507 | 1.39% | 287,283 | 47.00% | 27 |
| Esther | 17 | O | 4,932 | 0.81% | 292,215 | 47.81% | 32 |
| Job | 18 | O | 12,674 | 2.07% | 304,889 | 49.88% | 22 |
| Psalms | 19 | O | 30,147 | 4.93% | 335,036 | 54.81% | 3 |
| Proverbs | 20 | O | 9,921 | 1.62% | 344,957 | 56.44% | 24 |
| Ecclesiastes | 21 | O | 4,537 | 0.74% | 349,494 | 57.18% | 34 |
| Song of Solomon | 22 | O | 2,020 | 0.33% | 351,514 | 57.51% | 44 |
| Isaiah | 23 | O | 25,608 | 4.19% | 377,122 | 61.70% | 6 |
| Jeremiah | 24 | O | 33,002 | 5.40% | 410,124 | 67.10% | 1 |
| Lamentations | 25 | O | 2,324 | 0.38% | 412,448 | 67.48% | 39 |
| Ezekiel | 26 | O | 29,918 | 4.89% | 442,366 | 72.37% | 4 |
| Daniel | 27 | O | 9,001 | 1.47% | 451,367 | 73.85% | 26 |
| Hosea | 28 | O | 3,615 | 0.59% | 454,982 | 74.44% | 36 |
| Joel | 29 | O | 1,447 | 0.24% | 456,429 | 74.67% | 51 |
| Amos | 30 | O | 3,027 | 0.50% | 459,456 | 75.17% | 37 |
| Obadiah | 31 | O | 440 | 0.07% | 459,896 | 75.24% | 63 |
| Jonah | 32 | O | 1,082 | 0.18% | 460,978 | 75.42% | 56 |
| Micah | 33 | O | 2,118 | 0.35% | 463,096 | 75.77% | 42 |
| Nahum | 34 | O | 855 | 0.14% | 463,951 | 75.91% | 59 |
| Habakkuk | 35 | O | 1,011 | 0.17% | 464,962 | 76.07% | 57 |
| Zephaniah | 36 | O | 1,141 | 0.19% | 466,103 | 76.26% | 54 |
| Haggai | 37 | O | 926 | 0.15% | 467,029 | 76.41% | 58 |
| Zechariah | 38 | O | 4,855 | 0.79% | 471,884 | 77.20% | 33 |
| Malachi | 39 | O | 1,320 | 0.22% | 473,204 | 77.42% | 52 |
| Matthew | 40 | N | 18,346 | 3.00% | 491,550 | 80.42% | 16 |
| Mark | 41 | N | 11,304 | 1.85% | 502,854 | 82.27% | 23 |
| Luke | 42 | N | 19,482 | 3.19% | 522,336 | 85.46% | 12 |
| John | 43 | N | 15,635 | 2.56% | 537,971 | 88.02% | 20 |
| Acts | 44 | N | 18,450 | 3.02% | 556,421 | 91.03% | 15 |
| Romans | 45 | N | 7,111 | 1.16% | 563,532 | 92.20% | 28 |
| 1 Corinthians | 46 | N | 6,830 | 1.12% | 570,362 | 93.31% | 29 |
| 2 Corinthians | 47 | N | 4,477 | 0.73% | 574,839 | 94.05% | 35 |
| Galatians | 48 | N | 2,230 | 0.36% | 577,069 | 94.41% | 40 |
| Ephesians | 49 | N | 2,422 | 0.40% | 579,491 | 94.81% | 38 |
| Philippians | 50 | N | 1,629 | 0.27% | 581,120 | 95.07% | 47 |
| Colossians | 51 | N | 1,582 | 0.26% | 582,702 | 95.33% | 49 |
| 1 Thessalonians | 52 | N | 1,481 | 0.24% | 584,183 | 95.58% | 50 |
| 2 Thessalonians | 53 | N | 823 | 0.13% | 585,006 | 95.71% | 60 |
| 1 Timothy | 54 | N | 1,591 | 0.26% | 586,597 | 95.97% | 48 |
| 2 Timothy | 55 | N | 1,238 | 0.20% | 587,835 | 96.17% | 53 |
| Titus | 56 | N | 659 | 0.11% | 588,494 | 96.28% | 61 |
| Philemon | 57 | N | 335 | 0.05% | 588,829 | 96.34% | 64 |
| Hebrews | 58 | N | 4,953 | 0.81% | 593,782 | 97.15% | 31 |
| James | 59 | N | 1,742 | 0.29% | 595,524 | 97.43% | 45 |
| 1 Peter | 60 | N | 1,684 | 0.28% | 597,208 | 97.71% | 46 |
| 2 Peter | 61 | N | 1,099 | 0.18% | 598,307 | 97.89% | 55 |
| 1 John | 62 | N | 2,141 | 0.35% | 600,448 | 98.24% | 41 |
| 2 John | 63 | N | 245 | 0.04% | 600,693 | 98.28% | 65 |
| 3 John | 64 | N | 219 | 0.04% | 600,912 | 98.31% | 66 |
| Jude | 65 | N | 461 | 0.08% | 601,373 | 98.39% | 62 |
| Revelation | 66 | N | 9,851 | 1.61% | 611,224 | 100.00% | 25 |