How many chapters a day to read the Bible in a year (with finish-date tables)
How many chapters a day to read the Bible in a year: 3.26 (1,189 chapters in 365 days). Tables for 1 to 13 chapters a day, finish dates and minutes.
In this article
To read the Bible in a year, you need about 3.26 chapters a day: the Bible has 1,189 chapters, and 1,189 divided by 365 is 3.26. In practice, read 3 chapters on weekdays and 4 on Saturdays and Sundays (23 a week), and you'll finish in 362 days. Exactly 3 a day takes 397 days; 4 a day takes 298.
"Chapters a day" hides a lot, though. Chapters range from 2 verses to 176. Some readers only read on weekdays. Some want to finish by Easter, or in 90 days, or in two years.
So below are the tables: chapters a day for every common goal, finish dates if you start on January 1, 2027, minutes per day, and simple weekday-and-weekend patterns that land on exactly one year.
The quick answer: 3.26 chapters a day
All counts on this page come from the King James Version text in our app. The verse and chapter totals match the standard KJV numbering.
| Part of the Bible | Books | Chapters | Chapters a day for 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole Bible | 66 | 1,189 | 3.26 |
| Old Testament | 39 | 929 | 2.55 |
| New Testament | 27 | 260 | 0.71 |
Two neat facts fall out of these numbers. The New Testament alone, at one chapter a day, takes 260 days, almost exactly the number of weekdays in a year (52 weeks of 5 days). And the whole Bible at one chapter a day is 1,189 days, a little over three years.
Want the exact breakdown by book? Our page on how many chapters and verses are in the Bible lists every book.
Chapters a day and your finish date
If you start on January 1, 2027, here's when you'll finish at each pace. Minutes are for silent reading at an average adult speed of 238 words per minute (from a 2019 meta-analysis by Marc Brysbaert), using our word count of the KJV, 790,892 words.
| Chapters a day | Days to finish | Finish date (start Jan 1, 2027) | Minutes a day (silent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,189 | April 3, 2030 | about 3 |
| 2 | 595 | August 17, 2028 | about 6 |
| 3 | 397 | February 1, 2028 | about 8 |
| 3.26 | 365 | December 31, 2027 | about 9 |
| 4 | 298 | October 25, 2027 | about 11 |
| 5 | 238 | August 26, 2027 | about 14 |
| 6 | 199 | July 18, 2027 | about 17 |
| 7 | 170 | June 19, 2027 | about 20 |
| 8 | 149 | May 29, 2027 | about 22 |
| 10 | 119 | April 29, 2027 | about 28 |
| 13 | 92 | April 2, 2027 | about 36 |
Starting a different day? Just add the "days to finish" to your start date. And if you'd like to read the minutes column with pauses, notes and rereading included, add about half again: 9 minutes of reading is closer to 15 minutes at the table.
If you want the app to set your pace and keep the calendar for you, Bible Academy's reading plan lets you choose 1 to 5 chapters a day.
Chapters a day for other goals
Not everyone wants exactly one year. Here's the daily load for common time frames:
| Goal | Days | Chapters a day | Minutes a day (silent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 30 | 39.6 | about 111 |
| 40 days (Lent-style) | 40 | 29.7 | about 83 |
| 60 days | 60 | 19.8 | about 55 |
| 90 days | 90 | 13.2 | about 37 |
| 120 days | 120 | 9.9 | about 28 |
| 6 months | 180 | 6.6 | about 18 |
| 9 months | 270 | 4.4 | about 12 |
| 1 year | 365 | 3.26 | about 9 |
| 18 months | 548 | 2.2 | about 6 |
| 2 years | 730 | 1.6 | about 5 |
| 3 years | 1,095 | 1.1 | about 3 |
A 90-day plan is popular and very doable for a focused season, but 13 chapters is more than half an hour every day. Our 90 day Bible reading plan guide is honest about who it suits. On the other end, a one chapter a day Bible reading plan is the gentlest way to read everything, as long as you're happy with a three-year timeline.
Weekday and weekend patterns that finish in a year
Reading the same amount every single day isn't how most people live. These patterns use whole chapters and land close to one year:
| Weekdays (Mon to Fri) | Weekends (Sat and Sun) | Chapters a week | Days to finish | Finish (start Fri, Jan 1, 2027) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 23 | 362 | December 28, 2027 |
| 4 | 2 | 24 | 348 | December 14, 2027 |
| 5 | 0 (weekends off) | 25 | 334 | November 30, 2027 |
| 3 | 5 | 25 | 333 | November 29, 2027 |
| 4 | 3 | 26 | 321 | November 17, 2027 |
| 4 | 0 (weekends off) | 20 | 418 | February 22, 2028 |
| 3 | 2 | 19 | 439 | March 14, 2028 |
Our favorite is the first row: 3 on weekdays, 4 on weekends. It's easy to remember, it finishes just before New Year's Eve, and it gives you three spare days to absorb a missed day or two.
If weekdays are your only quiet time, 5 chapters Monday to Friday with weekends off also finishes in under a year, about 14 minutes a weekday. If weekends are packed, try 4 on weekdays and 2 on weekends.
You can build any of these with a simple rule. Our 3 chapters a day Bible reading plan covers the 2, 3 and 5 chapter variants in detail.
Why "chapters a day" isn't the whole story
A chapter is not a fixed unit of length. Chapter divisions were added to the Bible many centuries after it was written, as a reference system, not as equal reading portions. By our count of the KJV:
| Chapter | Words | |
|---|---|---|
| Shortest | Psalm 117 | 33 |
| Second shortest | Psalm 134 | 48 |
| Third shortest | Psalm 131 | 66 |
| Average chapter | about 665 | |
| Third longest | Deuteronomy 28 | 2,075 |
| Second longest | 1 Kings 8 | 2,139 |
| Longest | Psalm 119 | 2,467 |
Psalm 117 is short enough to quote in full:
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.
Psalm 119 is about 75 times longer, about 10 minutes of reading on its own. So a plan that gives you "3 chapters" every day will have some 1-minute days and some 20-minute days.
The biggest effect is the Psalms. The book of Psalms has 150 chapters, 12.6% of all chapters in the Bible, but only about 5.5% of the words. In a chapter-based plan, you'll fly through the Psalms in early summer and then slow down noticeably in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Prophets like Jeremiah average about 820 words a chapter, compared with about 290 in the Psalms.
Two ways to handle it:
- Accept the variation. Use short Psalm days to catch up or to reread.
- Use a plan balanced by length. Our Bible in a year reading plan splits the Old Testament into 52 weeks of roughly equal reading time, so every week takes about an hour.
You can preview the Psalms with our book of Psalms summary and test yourself on them afterward:
Quick quiz: Psalms
Which word opens the first psalm?
The book opens with “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.” “Why” opens Psalm 2. Psalms 1:1
Which psalm begins with “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”?
It is Psalm 23, a psalm of David: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalms 23:1
Which psalm begins with “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name”?
Psalm 103, by David, opens this way and urges us not to forget “all his benefits.” Psalms 103:1–2
There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.
How to pick the right number for you
Use the smallest number you can keep on a hard week, not the biggest number you can manage on a good one.
- 1 chapter a day if you're new to the Bible, in a demanding season, or want to read slowly and reflect. It still covers everything.
- 2 chapters a day if you want a full read-through in about a year and a half with almost no strain (about 6 minutes).
- 3 to 4 chapters a day for the classic one-year plan.
- 5 chapters a day if you have 15 minutes and want to finish in about 8 months, or read Monday to Friday only.
- 10 or more only for a dedicated season, like a 90 or 120 day challenge.
The daily number also depends on what else you do with the reading. If you write a SOAP journal entry or take a quiz after each reading, add a few minutes. For more on fitting reading into your actual schedule, see our guide on how to read the Bible in a year, which includes monthly checkpoints and where readers usually stall, or how long it takes to read the Bible for reading times by book.
Track your chapters without a spreadsheet
Bible Academy's reading plan is built around this exact question. You choose 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 chapters a day, and the app shows your calendar, your streak and your progress through all 66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses. Each reading ends with a short quiz, with every answer explained by the verse it comes from, so your chapters a day turn into things you actually remember.
You can read in the KJV or the ASV, offline, with highlights and notes, and you can start any day of the year. Browse the book summaries first if you want to see the shape of what's ahead.
Frequently asked questions
How many chapters a day do I need to read to finish the Bible in a year?
You need 3.26 chapters a day on average, because the Bible has 1,189 chapters and a year has 365 days. A simple pattern is 3 chapters Monday to Friday and 4 on Saturday and Sunday, which is 23 a week and finishes in 362 days. Reading exactly 3 a day takes 397 days; 4 a day takes 298 days.
How long does it take to read 3 chapters of the Bible?
About 8 to 9 minutes of silent reading, on average. The average KJV chapter is about 665 words by our count, and an average adult reads non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute. Reading aloud takes about 11 minutes. Times vary a lot by chapter: three short psalms can take 2 minutes, while three long chapters in Kings or Jeremiah can take 20.
How many chapters are in the Bible?
The Protestant Bible has 1,189 chapters in 66 books: 929 chapters in the 39 Old Testament books and 260 chapters in the 27 New Testament books. In the King James Version these contain 31,102 verses. Psalms has the most chapters (150), and five books have just one chapter: Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John and Jude.
How long does it take to read the Bible at one chapter a day?
At one chapter a day, it takes 1,189 days, or about 3 years and 3 months. If you start on January 1, 2027, you'd finish on April 3, 2030. Each day is only about 3 minutes of reading on average. Reading just the New Testament at one chapter a day takes 260 days, roughly the number of weekdays in a year.
How many chapters a day to read the New Testament in a year?
The New Testament has 260 chapters, so reading it in a year takes about 0.71 chapters a day, or simply one chapter every weekday (52 weeks of 5 days is 260). To read it in 6 months, read about 1.4 chapters a day; in 90 days, about 3 a day; in 30 days, about 9 a day.