Number of Chapters and Verses in Each Book of the Bible

Whether you're planning a reading schedule, preparing a Bible quiz or just curious, it helps to know how the Bible is put together. This page gives you the chapter and verse count for all 66 books, totals for each section, the record holders (longest, shortest and middle chapters) and a short history of where chapter and verse numbers came from.

All figures use the King James Version (KJV), the standard for most English verse counts. If your Bible's numbers are slightly different, the section on why counts differ explains why.

The Bible at a glance

	Books	Chapters	Verses
Old Testament	39	929	23,145
New Testament	27	260	7,957
Whole Bible	66	1,189	31,102

On average, a chapter has about 26 verses, but chapter length varies a lot, from 2 verses (Psalm 117) to 176 (Psalm 119).

Old Testament: chapters and verses in each book

The Old Testament's 39 books are grouped into five sections: the Law (also called the Pentateuch or Torah), History, Poetry and Wisdom, the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets.

#	Book	Section	Chapters	Verses
1	Genesis	Law	50	1,533
2	Exodus	Law	40	1,213
3	Leviticus	Law	27	859
4	Numbers	Law	36	1,288
5	Deuteronomy	Law	34	959
6	Joshua	History	24	658
7	Judges	History	21	618
8	Ruth	History	4	85
9	1 Samuel	History	31	810
10	2 Samuel	History	24	695
11	1 Kings	History	22	816
12	2 Kings	History	25	719
13	1 Chronicles	History	29	942
14	2 Chronicles	History	36	822
15	Ezra	History	10	280
16	Nehemiah	History	13	406
17	Esther	History	10	167
18	Job	Poetry	42	1,070
19	Psalms	Poetry	150	2,461
20	Proverbs	Poetry	31	915
21	Ecclesiastes	Poetry	12	222
22	Song of Solomon	Poetry	8	117
23	Isaiah	Major Prophets	66	1,292
24	Jeremiah	Major Prophets	52	1,364
25	Lamentations	Major Prophets	5	154
26	Ezekiel	Major Prophets	48	1,273
27	Daniel	Major Prophets	12	357
28	Hosea	Minor Prophets	14	197
29	Joel	Minor Prophets	3	73
30	Amos	Minor Prophets	9	146
31	Obadiah	Minor Prophets	1	21
32	Jonah	Minor Prophets	4	48
33	Micah	Minor Prophets	7	105
34	Nahum	Minor Prophets	3	47
35	Habakkuk	Minor Prophets	3	56
36	Zephaniah	Minor Prophets	3	53
37	Haggai	Minor Prophets	2	38
38	Zechariah	Minor Prophets	14	211
39	Malachi	Minor Prophets	4	55
	Old Testament total		929	23,145

New Testament: chapters and verses in each book

The New Testament's 27 books are the four Gospels, Acts, Paul's thirteen letters, eight general letters and Revelation.

#	Book	Section	Chapters	Verses
1	Matthew	Gospels	28	1,071
2	Mark	Gospels	16	678
3	Luke	Gospels	24	1,151
4	John	Gospels	21	879
5	Acts	History	28	1,007
6	Romans	Paul's Letters	16	433
7	1 Corinthians	Paul's Letters	16	437
8	2 Corinthians	Paul's Letters	13	257
9	Galatians	Paul's Letters	6	149
10	Ephesians	Paul's Letters	6	155
11	Philippians	Paul's Letters	4	104
12	Colossians	Paul's Letters	4	95
13	1 Thessalonians	Paul's Letters	5	89
14	2 Thessalonians	Paul's Letters	3	47
15	1 Timothy	Paul's Letters	6	113
16	2 Timothy	Paul's Letters	4	83
17	Titus	Paul's Letters	3	46
18	Philemon	Paul's Letters	1	25
19	Hebrews	General Letters	13	303
20	James	General Letters	5	108
21	1 Peter	General Letters	5	105
22	2 Peter	General Letters	3	61
23	1 John	General Letters	5	105
24	2 John	General Letters	1	13
25	3 John	General Letters	1	14
26	Jude	General Letters	1	25
27	Revelation	Prophecy	22	404
	New Testament total		260	7,957

Chapters and verses by section

Testament	Section	Books	Chapters	Verses
Old Testament	Law	5	187	5,852
Old Testament	History	13	277	8,025
Old Testament	Poetry	5	243	4,785
Old Testament	Major Prophets	5	183	4,440
Old Testament	Minor Prophets	12	67	1,050
New Testament	Gospels	4	89	3,779
New Testament	Paul's Letters	13	87	2,033
New Testament	General Letters	8	34	734
New Testament	Prophecy	1	22	404

The Old Testament makes up about 74% of the Bible's verses, and the New Testament about 26%. The book of Psalms alone has more chapters (150) than the four Gospels and Acts put together (117).

Longest and shortest books of the Bible

Longest books by number of chapters

Psalms — 150 chapters
Isaiah — 66 chapters
Jeremiah — 52 chapters
Genesis — 50 chapters
Ezekiel — 48 chapters

Longest books by number of verses

Psalms — 2,461 verses
Genesis — 1,533 verses
Jeremiah — 1,364 verses
Isaiah — 1,292 verses
Numbers — 1,288 verses

Shortest books by number of verses

2 John — 13 verses
3 John — 14 verses
Obadiah — 21 verses
Philemon — 25 verses
Jude — 25 verses

Five books have just one chapter: Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John and Jude. When you look one of these up, the reference is usually written with the verse only, such as Jude 3 or Philemon 6.

Bible chapter and verse records

Record	Reference	Details
Longest chapter	Psalm 119	176 verses — an acrostic with a section for each of the 22 Hebrew letters
Shortest chapter	Psalm 117	2 verses
Middle chapter	Psalm 117	594 chapters before it and 594 after it
Shortest verse (KJV)	John 11:35	“Jesus wept.”
Longest verse (KJV)	Esther 8:9	About 90 words, listing the provinces from India to Ethiopia
Longest book	Psalms	150 chapters, 2,461 verses
Shortest book (verses)	2 John	13 verses

You may have seen the claim that Psalm 118 is the middle chapter of the Bible, or that Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse. Psalm 118 is close, but by the KJV's chapter count the exact middle chapter is Psalm 117. It's a fun piece of trivia, and fittingly, its two verses call on all nations to praise the Lord.

Who added chapter and verse numbers to the Bible?

The books of the Bible were not written with chapter and verse numbers. They were added much later to make it easier to find passages:

Chapters (around AD 1227): Stephen Langton, a lecturer in Paris who later became Archbishop of Canterbury, divided the Latin Bible into the chapters we still use today.
Old Testament verses (1448): Rabbi Isaac Nathan numbered the verses of the Hebrew Bible for his concordance, building on much older Jewish verse divisions.
New Testament verses (1551): the Paris printer Robert Estienne (Stephanus) numbered the verses of his Greek New Testament.
First English Bible with both (1560): the Geneva Bible was the first complete English Bible printed with chapters and verses, and the King James Version followed it in 1611.

Because these divisions are later additions, a chapter break sometimes falls in an awkward place. For example, Isaiah 53 really begins at Isaiah 52:13. When you study, always read a little before and after a verse to see its full context.

Why verse counts differ between Bibles

If your Bible doesn't match the numbers above exactly, there are three usual reasons:

Modern translations move some verses to footnotes. Translations such as the NIV and ESV are based on older Greek manuscripts and place a few New Testament verses in footnotes, including Matthew 18:11, Mark 9:44, John 5:4 and Acts 8:37. That lowers the New Testament verse count slightly.
Hebrew Bibles number some passages differently. Many psalm titles are counted as verse 1 in Hebrew, so verse numbers shift by one. Joel has 4 chapters in Hebrew (English Joel 2:28–32 is Hebrew Joel 3), and Malachi has 3 (English Malachi 4 is Hebrew Malachi 3:19–24).
Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include more books. A Catholic Bible has 73 books, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and 1–2 Maccabees, plus longer versions of Esther and Daniel.

How long does it take to read the Bible?

With 1,189 chapters, reading about 3 to 4 chapters a day takes you through the whole Bible in a year. Read aloud at a normal pace, the entire Bible takes roughly 70 to 80 hours, which works out to about 12 to 15 minutes a day for a year.

If you'd like a plan that reads the events of the Bible in the order they happened, try our free chronological Bible reading plan with a printable PDF. To learn who wrote each book, see books of the Bible and their authors.

Frequently asked questions

How many chapters are in the Bible?

There are 1,189 chapters in the 66-book Protestant Bible: 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New Testament.

How many verses are in the Bible?

The King James Version has 31,102 verses: 23,145 in the Old Testament and 7,957 in the New Testament. Some modern translations have slightly fewer because they move a handful of verses to footnotes.

What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

Psalm 119, with 176 verses. It is an acrostic poem in 22 sections of eight verses, one section for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

What is the shortest verse in the Bible?

In the King James Version it is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” In the original Greek, 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (“Rejoice evermore”) is shorter by letter count.

What is the middle chapter of the Bible?

Psalm 117. With 1,189 chapters in total, there are 594 chapters before it and 594 after it. It is also the shortest chapter in the Bible.

Which books of the Bible have only one chapter?

Five: Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John and Jude.

How long does it take to read the whole Bible?

Reading about 3 to 4 chapters a day takes you through the Bible in one year. Read aloud, the whole Bible takes roughly 70 to 80 hours.