Included is the number of books, chapters, verses and words in the Bible. These are based on the English Standard Version (ESV) 2007 version, main text. Footnotes, chapter numbers, verse numbers, and book names are excluded. Psalm introductions are included. Word count is via LibreOffice. A brief manual check suggests this is more accurate than the OpenOffice word count I used previously. Verse count is from Biblegateway.com looking at the final verse number for each chapter. It will be incorrect for chapters that miss verses*. Verse data is cross checked on this data and this data. I diverge from the former slightly which uses a Catholic translation, I am concordant with the latter excepting the Psalm title count.
I realise chapters and verses are artificial constructs. Chapters were inserted into the Bible circa 1228 by Stephen Langton. The Old Testament was possibly divided into verses by Isaac Nathan circa 1448 and the New Testament by Robert Stephanus in 1551.
| Book | Chapters | Verses | Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Testament | |||
| Genesis | 50 | 1533 | 36321 |
| Exodus | 40 | 1213 | 30881 |
| Leviticus | 27 | 859 | 23431 |
| Numbers | 36 | 1288 | 30950 |
| Deuteronomy | 34 | 959 | 27528 |
| Joshua | 24 | 658 | 17935 |
| Judges | 21 | 618 | 18281 |
| Ruth | 4 | 85 | 2425 |
| 1 Samuel | 31 | 810 | 24118 |
| 2 Samuel | 24 | 695 | 19734 |
| 1 Kings | 22 | 816 | 23415 |
| 2 Kings | 25 | 719 | 22760 |
| 1 Chronicles | 29 | 942 | 18522 |
| 2 Chronicles | 36 | 822 | 24779 |
| Ezra | 10 | 280 | 6889 |
| Nehemiah | 13 | 406 | 9842 |
| Esther | 10 | 167 | 5478 |
| Job | 42 | 1070 | 17603 |
| Psalms | 150 | 2577 | 42284 |
| Proverbs | 31 | 915 | 14530 |
| Ecclesiastes | 12 | 222 | 5333 |
| Song of Solomon | 8 | 117 | 2533 |
| Isaiah | 66 | 1292 | 35244 |
| Jeremiah | 52 | 1364 | 40432 |
| Lamentations | 5 | 154 | 3251 |
| Ezekiel | 48 | 1273 | 37184 |
| Daniel | 12 | 357 | 11224 |
| Hosea | 14 | 197 | 4964 |
| Joel | 3 | 73 | 1895 |
| Amos | 9 | 146 | 4047 |
| Obadiah | 1 | 21 | 604 |
| Jonah | 4 | 48 | 1298 |
| Micah | 7 | 105 | 3000 |
| Nahum | 3 | 47 | 1111 |
| Habakkuk | 3 | 56 | 1356 |
| Zephaniah | 3 | 53 | 1556 |
| Haggai | 2 | 38 | 1083 |
| Zechariah | 14 | 211 | 6050 |
| Malachi | 4 | 55 | 1738 |
| OT Total | 929 | 23261 | 581609 |
| New Testament | |||
| Matthew | 28 | 1071 | 22640 |
| Mark | 16 | 678 | 14344 |
| Luke | 24 | 1151 | 24605 |
| John | 21 | 879 | 18882 |
| Acts | 28 | 1007 | 23464 |
| Romans | 16 | 433 | 9467 |
| 1 Corinthians | 16 | 437 | 9268 |
| 2 Corinthians | 13 | 257 | 6050 |
| Galatians | 6 | 149 | 3102 |
| Ephesians | 6 | 155 | 3010 |
| Philippians | 4 | 104 | 2144 |
| Colossians | 4 | 95 | 1934 |
| 1 Thessalonians | 5 | 89 | 1841 |
| 2 Thessalonians | 3 | 47 | 1065 |
| 1 Timothy | 6 | 113 | 2315 |
| 2 Timothy | 4 | 83 | 1631 |
| Titus | 3 | 46 | 926 |
| Philemon | 1 | 25 | 457 |
| Hebrews | 13 | 303 | 6903 |
| James | 5 | 108 | 2317 |
| 1 Peter | 5 | 105 | 2389 |
| 2 Peter | 3 | 61 | 1550 |
| 1 John | 5 | 105 | 2490 |
| 2 John | 1 | 13 | 298 |
| 3 John | 1 | 15 | 303 |
| Jude | 1 | 25 | 604 |
| Revelation | 22 | 404 | 11450 |
| NT Total | 260 | 7958 | 175449 |
| Bible | |||
| Grand total | 1189 | 31219 | 757058 |
This information may be more useful if derived from the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament texts, though there would still be disagreement over which texttype or critical text to use. The Greek New Testament has ~138000 words.
If I have my calculations correct the number of words in the ESV Bible is 757058 excluding book titles and 757143 including them.
* Such as Matthew 12:47; Matthew 17:21; Matthew 18:11; Matthew 23:14; Mark 7:16; Mark 9:44; Mark 9:46; Mark 11:26; Mark 15:28; Luke 17:36; Luke 23:17; Luke 24:40; John 5:4; Acts 8:37; Acts 15:34; Acts 24:7; Acts 28:29; Romans 16:24.
Thanks for the nice work here. I'm thinking about this data in terms of averages and general communications on how to mentally approach and comprehend the Bible. I prefer the ESV so it was nice to find someone who already made the investment.
ReplyDeleteI've been using the chapter counts, but will have fun with the verse and word counts. Using chapters, the 4 gospels are ~1/3 of the NT. Once you get through the first 8 books of the NT, you've read more than half of it (19 books to go but it's all downhill from there, with speed bumps at Hebrews and Revelation). The NT is ~20%, 1/5, of the Bible. All the longest books are in the OT, with the major prophets and books of Moses dominating the top 10. Approximately half of the books of the Bible (45%) are under 10 chapters.
Fun stuff like that, to help me build a mental framing of what's inside!
Victoria Greer
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