How long does it take to read the Bible? Hours, days and a time for every book
How long does it take to read the Bible? About 55 hours at average speed, from real KJV word counts. Tables by chapters a day, minutes a day and per book.
In this article
- How long does it take to read the Bible at different speeds?
- How we counted the words
- Bible reading time calculator: chapters per day
- Bible reading time calculator: minutes per day
- How to find your own reading speed
- How long does it take to read each book of the Bible?
- How long does it take to read the Old Testament and the New Testament?
- How long does it take to read the Bible out loud?
- Why the hours matter less than the rhythm
- Frequently asked questions
Reading the whole Bible takes about 55 hours at an average adult reading speed of 238 words per minute. We counted 790,892 words in the King James Version, so at a slower, careful 200 words per minute it takes about 66 hours, and reading it aloud takes about 72 hours. Spread over a year, that's roughly 9 to 11 minutes a day.
Most articles on this question give one rough number. Below you'll find the real counts behind it, a table for every reading speed, a "chapters a day" calculator, and the reading time for each of the 66 books.
All counts come from the KJV text used in the Bible Academy app. All reading times are estimates: your own speed, the time of day and how often you stop to think will move them up or down.
How long does it take to read the Bible at different speeds?
Your reading speed is the biggest variable. This table shows the total time for the whole Bible, each testament, and the four Gospels, at six speeds.
| Reading speed | Whole Bible | Old Testament | New Testament | Four Gospels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 wpm (slow audio narration pace) | 87 h 53 min | 67 h 49 min | 20 h 04 min | 9 h 19 min |
| 183 wpm (average reading aloud) | 72 h 02 min | 55 h 35 min | 16 h 27 min | 7 h 38 min |
| 200 wpm (careful KJV reading) | 65 h 54 min | 50 h 52 min | 15 h 03 min | 6 h 59 min |
| 238 wpm (average silent, non-fiction) | 55 h 23 min | 42 h 44 min | 12 h 39 min | 5 h 52 min |
| 260 wpm (average silent, fiction) | 50 h 42 min | 39 h 07 min | 11 h 34 min | 5 h 23 min |
| 300 wpm (fast reader) | 43 h 56 min | 33 h 54 min | 10 h 02 min | 4 h 40 min |
Where those speeds come from: a 2019 review of 190 reading studies by psychologist Marc Brysbaert, published in the Journal of Memory and Language, put the average silent reading rate of English-speaking adults at 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, and the average rate for reading aloud at 183 (summary from the British Psychological Society). The 150 and 200 wpm rows are our own assumptions, for an unhurried narrator and for a reader slowing down for older KJV English.
For a first read-through of the KJV, 200 words per minute is a realistic planning number. Words like "thee," "shewed" and "whithersoever" slow most people down at first, and that's fine.
How we counted the words
We counted every word in every verse of the KJV text that the app uses, book by book. Here's what that text contains:
- 66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses (929 chapters in the Old Testament, 260 in the New).
- 790,892 words, counting each run of letters between spaces as one word. Hyphenated names like Beth-el count as one.
- 610,324 words in the Old Testament and 180,568 in the New Testament.
This text includes the short titles above many Psalms (for example "A Psalm of David" in Psalm 23:1) and the closing notes after several of Paul's letters (Romans 16:27 ends "Written to the Romans from Corinthus"). Word counts that leave those out come out a little lower. The difference is well under 1% of the total, a few minutes of reading at most.
If you want to check our numbers yourself, see how many chapters and verses are in the Bible.
A reading time only becomes useful once it's a daily plan. The app turns these numbers into a calendar at 1 to 5 chapters a day and keeps your place, your streak and your progress.
Bible reading time calculator: chapters per day
Pick how many chapters you'll read each day. This table tells you how long the whole Bible will take and how many minutes a day it costs at average speed.
| Chapters per day | Days to finish the Bible | About | Minutes a day (238 wpm) | Minutes a day (200 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,189 | 3 years, 3 months | 3 min | 3 min |
| 2 | 595 | 1 year, 8 months | 6 min | 7 min |
| 3 | 397 | 1 year, 1 month | 8 min | 10 min |
| 3.26 (average) | 365 | 1 year | 9 min | 11 min |
| 4 | 298 | 10 months | 11 min | 13 min |
| 5 | 238 | 8 months | 14 min | 17 min |
| 10 | 119 | 4 months | 28 min | 33 min |
Two things to notice. First, chapter lengths vary a lot, so these are averages: Psalm 117 has 33 words, while Psalm 119 has 2,467. Second, three chapters a day almost gets you through in a year. To finish in exactly 365 days, read three chapters on most days and four on 94 of them, since 1,189 minus 1,095 leaves 94 extra chapters.
Our page on how many chapters a day to read the Bible in a year works through every pace in detail. If one chapter a day sounds right for you, our one chapter a day Bible reading plan lays it out, and the 3 chapters a day plan covers the one-year pace.
Bible reading time calculator: minutes per day
Maybe you think in minutes, not chapters. Here's how long the whole Bible and the New Testament take if you read a set number of minutes every day at 238 words per minute.
| Minutes a day | Days for the whole Bible | About | Days for the New Testament |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 665 | 22 months | 152 |
| 10 | 333 | 11 months | 76 |
| 15 | 222 | 7 months | 51 |
| 20 | 167 | 5.5 months | 38 |
| 30 | 111 | 3.6 months | 26 |
| 60 | 56 | 8 weeks | 13 |
The most useful row is the second one: ten minutes a day finishes the Bible in under a year for an average-speed reader.
To use your own speed, divide 790,892 by your words per minute to get your total minutes, then divide by the minutes you'll read each day.
Quick quiz: John
What is the first miracle of Jesus recorded by John?
After the water turned into wine at the wedding, John notes: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee.” John 2:9–11
Which Pharisee comes to Jesus by night and learns that one must be born again?
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night”; Jesus tells him he must be born again. John 3:1–3
How does John the Baptist point out Jesus as he sees him coming to him?
Seeing Jesus coming to him, John says: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.
How to find your own reading speed
You don't need a test website. Use the Bible itself.
- Open Mark 1. In the KJV it has 45 verses and 930 words.
- Start a timer and read it at your normal pace, the way you would on an ordinary morning.
- Divide 930 by the minutes it took. If it took 4 minutes and 30 seconds, that's 930 ÷ 4.5 = about 207 words per minute.
- Find the closest row in the tables on this page.
Don't race. A speed you can only manage with your full attention isn't the speed you'll keep up on a tired Tuesday. If anything, plan with a slightly slower number than your test.
How long does it take to read each book of the Bible?
This table gives the reading time for every book in the KJV, silently at 200 and 238 words per minute, and aloud at 183. It's the table to use when you plan a book-by-book reading or want to know whether a book fits into one sitting.
| Book | Chapters | Words (KJV) | At 200 wpm | At 238 wpm | Aloud (183 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genesis | 50 | 38,262 | 3 h 11 min | 2 h 41 min | 3 h 29 min |
| Exodus | 40 | 32,685 | 2 h 43 min | 2 h 17 min | 2 h 59 min |
| Leviticus | 27 | 24,541 | 2 h 03 min | 1 h 43 min | 2 h 14 min |
| Numbers | 36 | 32,896 | 2 h 44 min | 2 h 18 min | 3 h 00 min |
| Deuteronomy | 34 | 28,352 | 2 h 22 min | 1 h 59 min | 2 h 35 min |
| Joshua | 24 | 18,853 | 1 h 34 min | 1 h 19 min | 1 h 43 min |
| Judges | 21 | 18,966 | 1 h 35 min | 1 h 20 min | 1 h 44 min |
| Ruth | 4 | 2,574 | 13 min | 11 min | 14 min |
| 1 Samuel | 31 | 25,048 | 2 h 05 min | 1 h 45 min | 2 h 17 min |
| 2 Samuel | 24 | 20,600 | 1 h 43 min | 1 h 27 min | 1 h 53 min |
| 1 Kings | 22 | 24,513 | 2 h 03 min | 1 h 43 min | 2 h 14 min |
| 2 Kings | 25 | 23,517 | 1 h 58 min | 1 h 39 min | 2 h 09 min |
| 1 Chronicles | 29 | 20,365 | 1 h 42 min | 1 h 26 min | 1 h 51 min |
| 2 Chronicles | 36 | 26,069 | 2 h 10 min | 1 h 50 min | 2 h 22 min |
| Ezra | 10 | 7,440 | 37 min | 31 min | 41 min |
| Nehemiah | 13 | 10,480 | 52 min | 44 min | 57 min |
| Esther | 10 | 5,633 | 28 min | 24 min | 31 min |
| Job | 42 | 18,098 | 1 h 30 min | 1 h 16 min | 1 h 39 min |
| Psalms | 150 | 43,760 | 3 h 39 min | 3 h 04 min | 3 h 59 min |
| Proverbs | 31 | 15,038 | 1 h 15 min | 1 h 03 min | 1 h 22 min |
| Ecclesiastes | 12 | 5,579 | 28 min | 23 min | 30 min |
| Song of Songs | 8 | 2,658 | 13 min | 11 min | 15 min |
| Isaiah | 66 | 37,036 | 3 h 05 min | 2 h 36 min | 3 h 22 min |
| Jeremiah | 52 | 42,654 | 3 h 33 min | 2 h 59 min | 3 h 53 min |
| Lamentations | 5 | 3,411 | 17 min | 14 min | 19 min |
| Ezekiel | 48 | 39,401 | 3 h 17 min | 2 h 46 min | 3 h 35 min |
| Daniel | 12 | 11,602 | 58 min | 49 min | 1 h 03 min |
| Hosea | 14 | 5,174 | 26 min | 22 min | 28 min |
| Joel | 3 | 2,033 | 10 min | 9 min | 11 min |
| Amos | 9 | 4,216 | 21 min | 18 min | 23 min |
| Obadiah | 1 | 669 | 3 min | 3 min | 4 min |
| Jonah | 4 | 1,320 | 7 min | 6 min | 7 min |
| Micah | 7 | 3,152 | 16 min | 13 min | 17 min |
| Nahum | 3 | 1,284 | 6 min | 5 min | 7 min |
| Habakkuk | 3 | 1,475 | 7 min | 6 min | 8 min |
| Zephaniah | 3 | 1,616 | 8 min | 7 min | 9 min |
| Haggai | 2 | 1,130 | 6 min | 5 min | 6 min |
| Zechariah | 14 | 6,443 | 32 min | 27 min | 35 min |
| Malachi | 4 | 1,781 | 9 min | 7 min | 10 min |
| Matthew | 28 | 23,684 | 1 h 58 min | 1 h 40 min | 2 h 09 min |
| Mark | 16 | 15,166 | 1 h 16 min | 1 h 04 min | 1 h 23 min |
| Luke | 24 | 25,939 | 2 h 10 min | 1 h 49 min | 2 h 22 min |
| John | 21 | 19,094 | 1 h 35 min | 1 h 20 min | 1 h 44 min |
| Acts | 28 | 24,245 | 2 h 01 min | 1 h 42 min | 2 h 12 min |
| Romans | 16 | 9,438 | 47 min | 40 min | 52 min |
| 1 Corinthians | 16 | 9,480 | 47 min | 40 min | 52 min |
| 2 Corinthians | 13 | 6,083 | 30 min | 26 min | 33 min |
| Galatians | 6 | 3,090 | 15 min | 13 min | 17 min |
| Ephesians | 6 | 3,030 | 15 min | 13 min | 17 min |
| Philippians | 4 | 2,193 | 11 min | 9 min | 12 min |
| Colossians | 4 | 1,989 | 10 min | 8 min | 11 min |
| 1 Thessalonians | 5 | 1,847 | 9 min | 8 min | 10 min |
| 2 Thessalonians | 3 | 1,032 | 5 min | 4 min | 6 min |
| 1 Timothy | 6 | 2,260 | 11 min | 9 min | 12 min |
| 2 Timothy | 4 | 1,694 | 8 min | 7 min | 9 min |
| Titus | 3 | 915 | 5 min | 4 min | 5 min |
| Philemon | 1 | 439 | 2 min | 2 min | 2 min |
| Hebrews | 13 | 6,905 | 35 min | 29 min | 38 min |
| James | 5 | 2,304 | 12 min | 10 min | 13 min |
| 1 Peter | 5 | 2,476 | 12 min | 10 min | 14 min |
| 2 Peter | 3 | 1,553 | 8 min | 7 min | 8 min |
| 1 John | 5 | 2,517 | 13 min | 11 min | 14 min |
| 2 John | 1 | 298 | 1 min | 1 min | 2 min |
| 3 John | 1 | 294 | 1 min | 1 min | 2 min |
| Jude | 1 | 608 | 3 min | 3 min | 3 min |
| Revelation | 22 | 11,995 | 1 h 00 min | 50 min | 1 h 06 min |
A few things stand out in the full list:
- The longest books by words are Psalms (43,760) and Jeremiah (42,654), then Ezekiel, Genesis and Isaiah. Psalms only edges ahead of Jeremiah because its titles are counted; without them the two are close to level.
- The shortest book by words is 3 John (294 words, about a minute and a quarter), just under 2 John (298). See our article on the shortest book in the Bible.
- Twenty-nine books take under 15 minutes at average speed. You can read Ruth, Jonah, Philippians or James in one sitting with your coffee.
- Five Old Testament books take more than 2.5 hours each at 238 wpm: Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
How long does it take to read the Old Testament and the New Testament?
The Old Testament is more than three times longer than the New, both in chapters (929 to 260) and in words.
| Part | Books | Chapters | Words | At 238 wpm | At 200 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Testament | 39 | 929 | 610,324 | 42 h 44 min | 50 h 52 min |
| New Testament | 27 | 260 | 180,568 | 12 h 39 min | 15 h 03 min |
| Whole Bible | 66 | 1,189 | 790,892 | 55 h 23 min | 65 h 54 min |
The New Testament holds 22% of the Bible's chapters and 23% of its words, because its chapters are a little longer on average: about 694 words per chapter, against 657 in the Old Testament.
If you've never read the Bible through, the New Testament is a realistic first goal. At 238 words per minute it's about 12 and a half hours, or under a month at 30 minutes a day. Our guide on how long it takes to read the New Testament has the per-book times and 30, 40 and 90-day plans.
How long does it take to read the Bible out loud?
Reading aloud is slower than silent reading. At the average oral reading rate of 183 words per minute, the whole KJV takes about 72 hours: 55 h 35 min for the Old Testament and 16 h 27 min for the New.
Audio Bibles vary with the narrator, the translation and any music or pauses added. As a rough guide, a calm narration at 150 words per minute would take about 88 hours for the full KJV. Check the stated length of any recording you're considering, since they differ.
Reading aloud has an old pedigree. When Ezra read the law to the people in Jerusalem, he read "from the morning until midday":
And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
That's a few hours of public reading in one sitting, with explanation added (Nehemiah 8:8). See Ezra reads the law to the people.
Why the hours matter less than the rhythm
Fifty-five hours sounds like a lot. Spread across a year it's nine minutes a day, which is the length of one or two songs. The hard part of reading the Bible is rarely the total time. It's showing up on day 30, when you're in Leviticus and nothing seems to happen.
That's why the most practical number on this page isn't 55 hours. It's three chapters a day, or ten minutes a day, chosen once and repeated. The Bible itself describes Scripture as something to stay with "day and night" (Joshua 1:8), not to finish in a weekend.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
If your first goal is simply to start, read how to read the Bible for beginners. If you've started and stopped before, how to stay consistent reading the Bible covers the habit side.
In the app, you choose 1 to 5 chapters a day, see your finish date on a calendar, and get a short quiz after each reading so the hours actually stay with you.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours does it take to read the whole Bible?
About 55 hours at the average adult silent reading speed of 238 words per minute, based on the 790,892 words we counted in the KJV. A careful reader at 200 words per minute needs about 66 hours. Reading aloud at 183 words per minute takes about 72 hours. Faster readers at 300 words per minute need roughly 44 hours.
How long does it take to read the Bible if you read one chapter a day?
One chapter a day takes 1,189 days to finish the Bible, or about 3 years and 3 months. It costs about 3 minutes a day at average speed. Two chapters a day finishes in 595 days (about 20 months), and three chapters a day in 397 days, just over a year.
How many chapters a day do you need to read the Bible in a year?
Reading all 1,189 chapters in 365 days takes about 3.26 chapters a day. The simplest way is three chapters on most days and four chapters on 94 days. At average reading speed, that's about 9 minutes a day, or about 11 minutes if you read the KJV more slowly.
How long does it take to read the Bible out loud?
About 72 hours for the full King James Version at the average reading-aloud speed of 183 words per minute. The Old Testament takes about 55 and a half hours and the New Testament about 16 and a half. Audio Bible recordings vary by narrator and production, so check each recording's stated length.
How long does it take to read each book of the Bible?
It ranges from about a minute for 2 John or 3 John to around 3 hours for Psalms or Jeremiah at average speed. Genesis takes about 2 hours 41 minutes at 238 words per minute, Mark about 1 hour 4 minutes, and Romans about 40 minutes. The table above lists all 66 books.
Is it realistic to read the Bible in a week or a month?
A month is realistic for some: 55 hours over 30 days is just under 2 hours a day. A week would take about 8 hours a day, which turns reading into endurance. For most people, a pace of 10 to 15 minutes a day over seven months to a year leaves room to understand and remember what they read.