The Bible has 783,137 words in the King James Version. That is the standard count for the 66-book Protestant Bible.
It is written in 3,116,480 letters. Those letters make 31,102 verses, and those verses sit inside 1,189 chapters.
Change the version and the number changes. The NIV carries roughly 728,000 words. The NLT carries fewer, the ESV sits in the middle, and the NASB comes close to the King James total again. Each figure is correct for the text it describes — and wrong for every other text.
You do not have to take anyone’s word for it. Paste a Bible text into a word processor and the counter will finish in seconds.
Table of contents
- Where the 783,137 Figure Comes From
- Word Counts for Major English Versions
- Old Testament vs New Testament
- Why Word Counts Differ
- The Longest and Shortest Books
- How Big Is That, Really?
- How Long Does It Take to Read?
- Does Every Language Give the Same Count?
- Common Questions
- What the Number Can and Cannot Tell You
Where the 783,137 Figure Comes From
The number belongs to the King James Version. Count its words and you land on 783,137.
The same text gives 3,116,480 letters, 12,143 different English words, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses. Because the text is fixed, every copy of that edition repeats the same totals. If you want the verse side of the question, see how many verses are in the Bible.
One caution: you will also see 788,280 quoted for the King James Bible. That figure comes from 1611 editions, which differ slightly from the standard text people read today. Both numbers are real. They just describe different printings.
Word Counts for Major English Versions
Here are the counts most often reported for the main English translations. Treat them as figures for a particular edition, not as law.
| Translation | Reported word count |
| King James Version (KJV) | 783,137 |
| New American Standard Bible (NASB) | 782,815 |
| New King James Version (NKJV) | 770,430 |
| English Standard Version (ESV) | 757,439 |
| New International Version (NIV) | 727,969 |
| New Living Translation (NLT) | about 708,000 |
A per-book count of the same translations gives slightly different totals — 790,678 for the KJV, 756,846 for the ESV, 727,993 for the NIV. The gap is small, and it comes from how words are counted, not from missing text.
Old Testament vs New Testament
The Old Testament carries most of the words — roughly 77% of the whole Bible. The New Testament carries the rest, about 23%.
| Section | Reported words (KJV) | Share |
| Old Testament | 602,585 | about 77% |
| New Testament | 180,552 | about 23% |
| Total | 783,137 | 100% |
Those two parts add up to the total exactly. A separate per-book count splits the same text as 610,296 and 180,382 instead, which adds up to 790,678. Counting rules explain the difference, and both methods keep the Old Testament near three-quarters of the Bible.
The Old Testament is longer because it holds long histories, law codes, poetry and the prophets. The New Testament is shorter because it centres on the life of Jesus, the early church and its letters. Length says nothing about importance — both halves are read as Scripture.
Why Word Counts Differ
Four things move the total.
Translation choices.
One team renders a phrase in four words, another in six. Repeat that across thousands of verses and the gap grows large.
Edition differences.
Some counts include headings, notes or book introductions. Others count only the biblical text.
Original language length.
Hebrew and Greek do not need the same number of words as English to say the same thing. Jeremiah is the longest book in the original languages at 33,002 words. In English, Psalms overtakes it with 43,738 words, because Hebrew poetry needs more English words to carry across.
Which books are included.
Catholic Bibles carry 73 books, Orthodox editions more again. Added books add words.
The Longest and Shortest Books
By word count, the extremes are easy to name.
- Longest in English: Psalms, about 43,738 words in the KJV.
- Longest in the original languages: Jeremiah, about 33,002 words.
- Shortest in the KJV: 3 John, about 294 words.
- Shortest by chapter count: Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John and Jude, at one chapter each.
The shortest book still fits on a single page. The longest fills more pages than many complete modern books.
How Big Is That, Really?
Numbers this large stop meaning anything on their own, so here is the scale.
- A 1,200-page Bible averages about 650 words on every page.
- A typical novel runs 80,000 to 109,000 words. The Bible is 7 to 10 times longer.
- The whole Harry Potter series comes in at about 1,084,170 words — still 28% shorter than the King James Bible.
- Typed at 60 words a minute without stopping, the KJV would take about 217 hours.
If page counts interest you more than word counts, see how many pages are in the Bible.
How Long Does It Take to Read?
At 200 words a minute, 783,137 words take about 65 hours. Faster readers finish sooner.
| Reading speed | Time for the whole Bible |
| 200 words per minute | about 65 hours |
| 238 words per minute (average adult) | about 55 hours |
| 300 words per minute | about 44 hours |
Spread across a year, 65 hours works out to about 11 minutes a day. That is one short chapter, most mornings.
If you want the day-by-day version of this plan, see how long it takes to read the Bible.
Does Every Language Give the Same Count?
No. A Hindi, Arabic or Spanish Bible will not match an English count, and it should not.
Languages pack meaning differently. One may need four words where another needs two. The Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew with some Aramaic, and the New Testament mainly in Greek. The KJV renders both in English using 12,143 different words — a number that exists only in English.
So a word count always answers a narrower question than it appears to. Name the language, the translation and the edition, or the number means little.
Common Questions
How many words are in the Bible?
The King James Version has 783,137 words. Other translations give their own totals, from about 708,000 to 790,000.
How many words are in the King James Bible?
783,137, spread across 3,116,480 letters, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses.
Which Bible translation has the most words?
Among the versions compared here, the NASB has the highest count at 782,815, followed by the NKJV at 770,430. Standard KJV editions sit at 783,137, and some 1611 editions report 788,280. The NLT has the lowest, near 708,000.
How many words are in the New Testament?
About 180,552 words in the King James Version, roughly 23% of the whole Bible.
How long would it take to type the whole Bible?
At 60 words a minute with no breaks, about 217 hours.
Can I read the Bible in one year?
Yes. About 11 minutes a day at 200 words a minute covers it, and most one-year plans use a similar pace.
What the Number Can and Cannot Tell You
The Bible holds 783,137 words in the King James Version. That total is a fact about one text — useful when someone asks how big the book is, and useless as a measure of anything else.
It cannot tell you how clear a translation reads, how close it stays to the original, or what the words ask of you. Those are questions for reading, not counting.
So take the figure, put it in your pocket, and pick up the book itself. A chapter a day gets you through it in about three years. If you would rather know what the Bible claims about its own words, start with God’s Word.
Christian writer and Bible study leader from Charleston, South Carolina. She writes about comfort, prayer, and trusting God in everyday struggles.
