Jan 6, 2015 4 min read Biblical Studies

Word Count and Reading Stats for the Old Testament

Well, it’s that time of year again: that time when a lot of us commit to reading the entire Bible. So in the the spirit of Luke 14:28, I offer the below table of milestones that will hopefully give us a sense of how long it will take to get through the Old Testament.

All of the data is drawn from the NASB. I’ve included the chapter count, verse count, word count as well as a reading/listening estimate (assuming the reader has a slow pace of 150 words per minute, although I should note that Dale McConachie reads the NASB at around 170 wpm).

Hope this helps! Happy Reading!

Protestant Old Testament

	Book	Chapters	Verses	Words	Hrs
1	Genesis	50	1,533	37,357	4.2
2	Exodus	40	1,213	31,848	3.5
3	Leviticus	27	859	24,227	2.7
4	Numbers	36	1,288	31,452	3.5
5	Deuteronomy	34	959	27,637	3.1
	SUB-TOTAL	187	5,852	152,521	16.9
6	Joshua	24	658	18,503	2.1
7	Judges	21	618	18,320	2.0
8	Ruth	4	85	2,478	0.3
	SUB-TOTAL	49	1,361	39,301	4.4
9	1 Samuel	31	810	24,361	2.7
10	2 Samuel	24	695	20,087	2.2
11	1 Kings	22	816	23,638	2.6
12	2 Kings	25	719	22,740	2.5
	SUB-TOTAL	102	3,040	90,826	10.1
13	1 Chronicles	29	942	19,524	2.2
14	2 Chronicles	36	822	24,701	2.7
15	Ezra	10	280	6,799	0.8
16	Nehemiah	13	406	9,871	1.1
17	Esther	10	167	5,457	0.6
	SUB-TOTAL	98	2,617	66,352	7.4
18	Job	42	1,070	17,302	1.9
19	Psalms	150	2,461	43,179	4.8
20	Proverbs	31	915	14,847	1.6
21	Ecclesiastes	12	222	5,458	0.6
22	Song of Solomon	8	117	2,714	0.3
	SUB-TOTAL	243	4,785	83,500	9.3
23	Isaiah	66	1,292	36,111	4.0
24	Jeremiah	52	1,364	42,130	4.7
25	Lamentations	5	154	3,362	0.4
26	Ezekiel	48	1,273	37,666	4.2
27	Daniel	12	357	11,735	1.3
	SUB-TOTAL	183	4,440	13,1004	14.6
28	Hosea	14	197	5,075	0.6
29	Joel	3	73	1,941	0.2
30	Amos	9	146	4,110	0.5
31	Obadiah	1	21	627	0.1
32	Jonah	4	48	1,280	0.1
33	Micah	7	105	3,020	0.3
34	Nahum	3	47	1,185	0.1
35	Habakkuk	3	56	1,410	0.2
36	Zephaniah	3	53	1,569	0.2
37	Haggai	2	38	1,077	0.1
38	Zachariah	14	211	6,260	0.7
39	Malachi	4	55	1,802	0.2
	SUB-TOTAL	67	1,050	29,356	3.3
	TOTAL	929	23,145	592,860	65.9

Tanak (The Hebrew Bible)

	Book	Chapters	Verses	Words	Hrs
1	Genesis	50	1,533	37,357	4.2
2	Exodus	40	1,213	31,848	3.5
3	Leviticus	27	859	24,227	2.7
4	Numbers	36	1,288	31,452	3.5
5	Deuteronomy	34	959	27,637	3.1
	TORAH SUB-TOTAL	187	5,852	152,521	16.9
6	Joshua	24	658	18,503	2.1
7	Judges	21	618	18,320	2.0
8	1 Samuel	31	810	24,361	2.7
9	2 Samuel	24	695	20,087	2.2
10	1 Kings	22	816	23,638	2.6
11	2 Kings	25	719	22,740	2.5
12	Isaiah	66	1,292	36,111	4.0
13	Jeremiah	52	1,364	42,130	4.7
14	Ezekiel	48	1,273	37,666	4.2
	PROPHETS SUB-TOTAL	313	8,245	243,556	27.1
15	Hosea	14	197	5,075	0.6
16	Joel	3	73	1,941	0.2
17	Amos	9	146	4,110	0.5
18	Obadiah	1	21	627	0.1
19	Jonah	4	48	1,280	0.1
20	Micah	7	105	3,020	0.3
21	Nahum	3	47	1,185	0.1
22	Habakkuk	3	56	1,410	0.2
23	Zephaniah	3	53	1,569	0.2
24	Haggai	2	38	1,077	0.1
25	Zachariah	14	211	6,260	0.7
26	Malachi	4	55	1,802	0.2
	THE TWELVE SUB-TOTAL	67	1,050	29,356	3.3
	NEVI’IM SUB-TOTAL	380	9,295	272,912	30.3
27	Psalms	150	2,461	43,179	4.8
28	Proverbs	31	915	14,847	1.6
29	Job	42	1,070	17,302	1.9
30	Song of Solomon	8	117	2,714	0.3
31	Ruth	4	85	2,478	0.3
32	Lamentations	5	154	3,362	0.4
33	Ecclesiastes	12	222	5,458	0.6
34	Esther	10	167	5,457	0.6
35	Daniel	12	357	11,735	1.3
36	Ezra	10	280	6,799	0.8
37	Nehemiah	13	406	9,871	1.1
38	1 Chronicles	29	942	19,524	2.2
39	2 Chronicles	36	822	24,701	2.7
	KETHUVIM SUB-TOTAL	362	7,998	167,427	18.6
	TOTAL	929	23,145	592,860	65.9

[UPDATE: I went back and corrected a bunch of these numbers. Several of them were off from the Bibleworks database (even then, though, the BW database is counting 11 dashes as words, so I’m not sure what’s up with that). Anyway, these are more accurate than the ones I posted last January. I also added a table that reorders the books so they align with Tanak order.]

Protestant Old Testament

Tanak (The Hebrew Bible)

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