Today, I analyzed all the books of the Bible for the number of chapters, verse, and words in each book. These data and some derivative information bring out some interesting statistics for Bible readers.
I. Using the numbers of chapters, verses, and words in each book, I calculated three other statistics: average number of verses/chapter; average number of words/chapter; and average number of words/verse.
-Psalms has the most chapters (150), verses (2,461), and words (43,738)
-Five books have only one chapter (Obadiah; Philemon; 1 John; 2 John; and Jude); 2 John has the fewest verses (13), and 3 John has the fewest words (294)
The following chart shows the derivative statistics for the book having the highest number in each category and the book having the lowest:
| Book | Verses/Chap | Book | Words/Chap | Book | Words/Verse |
| Luke | 47.96 | I Kings | 1114.23 | Esth | 33.73 |
| Jonah | 12.00 | Psalms | 291.59 | Prov | 16.43 |
The differences between the highest and lowest values in each category are remarkable.
II. A comparison between Psalms and each of the books with the highest values in the derivative categories likely explains why Psalms is one of the easiest books to read:
-Luke (47.96 verses/chapter) vs. Psalms (16.41 verses/chapter; 13th lowest)
-1 Kings (1114.23 words/chapter) vs. Psalms (291.59 words/chapter; lowest)
-Esther (33.73 words/verse) vs. Psalms (17.77 words/verse; fourth lowest)
III. A different comparison should help put reading through the Psalms into better perspective:
| Book |
Words |
Verses |
Chapters |
| Psalms |
43738 |
2461 |
150 |
| Luke |
25939 |
1151 |
24 |
| Acts |
24245 |
1007 |
28 |
|
50184 |
2158 |
52 |
|
| Luke |
25939 |
1151 |
24 |
| John |
19094 |
879 |
21 |
|
45033 |
2030 |
45 |
|
| John |
19094 |
879 |
21 |
| Acts |
24245 |
1007 |
28 |
|
43339 |
1886 |
49 |
This data shows that reading through either Luke-Acts or Luke-John entails reading more words than Psalms (6446 more words for Luke-Acts; 1295 more words for Luke-John). Reading John-Acts, you read 399 fewer words than reading Psalms.
Many people may have read Luke-Acts, Luke-John, or John-Acts through in a week. If so, you should be able to read the Psalms through in a week with a similar amount of effort!
For more information, see my PDFs: Statistical Analysis of the Books of the KJV Bible and my Six-fold Analysis of the Books of the KJV Bible. The first one gives the information for all the books in Bible order; the second lists the books in order from lowest to highest in each category.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
