How Many Words in Each Book of the Bible
This article follows on from our earlier article “How Many Words in the Bible” in which we discuss the total number of words in the Bible, and cite 20+ different sources, with different word counts for different versions of the Bible.
We thought you might find it interesting to also see some more facts and figures about the Bible’s 66 different books. So immediately below is a sortable table, showing the number of chapters, verses and words in each book of the Bible. You can sort the table by clicking on any of the headings or search for words or word portions in the search box.
We have used the information from this site for the counts of chapters and verses, and the information here for the count of words. The word count – 788,280 is based on the KJV and seems to be almost exactly as we’d expect (see our page on How Many Words in the Bible for more information on this).
There are some variations between versions with included/excluded text and verses, however, for the purpose of establishing the relative lengths of each book, these counts are very helpful.
| # | Book | Chapters | Verses | Words | Author | Genre | OT/NT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis | 50 | 1533 | 38262 | Moses | Law | OT |
| 2 | Exodus | 40 | 1213 | 32685 | Moses | Law | OT |
| 3 | Leviticus | 27 | 859 | 24541 | Moses | Law | OT |
| 4 | Numbers | 36 | 1289 | 32896 | Moses | Law | OT |
| 5 | Deuteronomy | 34 | 959 | 28352 | Moses | Law | OT |
| 6 | Joshua | 24 | 658 | 18854 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 7 | Judges | 21 | 618 | 18966 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 8 | Ruth | 4 | 85 | 2574 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 9 | 1 Samuel | 31 | 810 | 25048 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 10 | 2 Samuel | 24 | 695 | 20600 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 11 | 1 Kings | 22 | 816 | 24513 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 12 | 2 Kings | 25 | 719 | 23517 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 13 | 1 Chronicles | 29 | 942 | 20365 | Ezra | History | OT |
| 14 | 2 Chronicles | 36 | 822 | 26069 | Ezra | History | OT |
| 15 | Ezra | 10 | 280 | 7440 | Ezra | History | OT |
| 16 | Nehemiah | 13 | 406 | 10480 | Nehemiah | History | OT |
| 17 | Esther | 10 | 167 | 5633 | Unknown | History | OT |
| 18 | Job | 42 | 1070 | 18098 | Unknown | Poetry | OT |
| 19 | Psalms | 150 | 2461 | 42704 | Various | Poetry | OT |
| 20 | Proverbs | 31 | 915 | 15038 | Solomon | Poetry | OT |
| 21 | Ecclesiastes | 12 | 222 | 5579 | Solomon | Poetry | OT |
| 22 | Song of Solomon | 8 | 117 | 2658 | Solomon | Poetry | OT |
| 23 | Isaiah | 66 | 1292 | 37036 | Isaiah | Prophecy | OT |
| 24 | Jeremiah | 52 | 1364 | 42654 | Jeremiah | Prophecy | OT |
| 25 | Lamentations | 5 | 154 | 3411 | Jeremiah | Poetry | OT |
| 26 | Ezekiel | 48 | 1273 | 39401 | Ezekiel | Prophecy | OT |
| 27 | Daniel | 12 | 357 | 11602 | Daniel | Prophecy | OT |
| 28 | Hosea | 14 | 197 | 5174 | Hosea | Prophecy | OT |
| 29 | Joel | 3 | 73 | 2033 | Joel | Prophecy | OT |
| 30 | Amos | 9 | 146 | 4216 | Amos | Prophecy | OT |
| 31 | Obadiah | 1 | 21 | 669 | Obadiah | Prophecy | OT |
| 32 | Jonah | 4 | 48 | 1320 | Jonah | Prophecy | OT |
| 33 | Micah | 7 | 105 | 3152 | Micah | Prophecy | OT |
| 34 | Nahum | 3 | 47 | 1284 | Nahum | Prophecy | OT |
| 35 | Habakkuk | 3 | 56 | 1475 | Habakkuk | Prophecy | OT |
| 36 | Zephaniah | 3 | 53 | 1616 | Zephaniah | Prophecy | OT |
| 37 | Haggai | 2 | 38 | 1130 | Haggai | Prophecy | OT |
| 38 | Zechariah | 14 | 211 | 6443 | Zechariah | Prophecy | OT |
| 39 | Malachi | 4 | 55 | 1781 | Malachi | Prophecy | OT |
| 40 | Matthew | 28 | 1071 | 23343 | Matthew | Gospel | NT |
| 41 | Mark | 16 | 678 | 14949 | Mark | Gospel | NT |
| 42 | Luke | 24 | 1151 | 25640 | Luke | Gospel | NT |
| 43 | John | 21 | 879 | 18658 | John | Gospel | NT |
| 44 | Acts | 28 | 1007 | 24229 | Luke | History | NT |
| 45 | Romans | 16 | 433 | 9422 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 46 | 1 Corinthians | 16 | 437 | 9462 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 47 | 2 Corinthians | 13 | 257 | 6046 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 48 | Galatians | 6 | 149 | 3084 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 49 | Ephesians | 6 | 155 | 3022 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 50 | Philippians | 4 | 104 | 2183 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 51 | Colossians | 4 | 95 | 1979 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 52 | 1 Thessalonians | 5 | 89 | 1837 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 53 | 2 Thessalonians | 3 | 47 | 1022 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 54 | 1 Timothy | 6 | 113 | 2244 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 55 | 2 Timothy | 4 | 83 | 1666 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 56 | Titus | 3 | 46 | 896 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 57 | Philemon | 1 | 25 | 430 | Paul | Letter | NT |
| 58 | Hebrews | 13 | 303 | 6897 | Unknown | Letter | NT |
| 59 | James | 5 | 108 | 2304 | James | Letter | NT |
| 60 | 1 Peter | 5 | 105 | 2476 | Peter | Letter | NT |
| 61 | 2 Peter | 3 | 61 | 1553 | Peter | Letter | NT |
| 62 | 1 John | 5 | 105 | 2517 | John | Letter | NT |
| 63 | 2 John | 1 | 13 | 298 | John | Letter | NT |
| 64 | 3 John | 1 | 14 | 294 | John | Letter | NT |
| 65 | Jude | 1 | 25 | 608 | Jude | Letter | NT |
| 66 | Revelation | 22 | 404 | 11952 | John | Prophecy | NT |
Old and New Testament Lengths
According to our table of data above, there are 609,269 words in the Old Testament and 179,011 words in the New Testament, making a total of 788,280 words.
Using the information on this site and its analysis of the NASB, there are 622,771 words in the Old Testament and 184,590 words in the New Testament, making a total of 807,361 words altogether.
Some Other Bible Word-Related Facts
To offer you some more interesting facts and figures, according to this website, the longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and the middle and shortest chapter is Psalm 117.
The middle chapter of the Old Testament is Job 29 and the middle chapter of the New Testament is Romans 13.
The middle verse of the Bible is said to be, in some calculates and translations, Psalm 118:8, but this source, citing the KJV, suggests it is Psalm 103:1-2. The middle verse of the Old Testament is [2 Chronicles 20:17], and the middle verse of the New Testament is Acts 17:17.
When using the KJV, there are 929 chapters and 23,145 verses in the Old Testament and 260 chapters and 7,957 verses in the New Testament. This gives a total of 31,102 verses, which is an average of 26.2 verses per chapter, and 25.3 words per verse.
Note that these calculations will vary slightly based on the Bible translation you use.
And, talking about Psalm 119, did you know it is an acrostic Psalm with 22 sections with eight lines. Each of the eight lines in each section starts with a Hebrew letter in the alphabet. The entire Hebrew alphabet outlines the chapter.
An acrostic is a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words. In this case, of course, it is the first letter of each line.
