How Long Does It Take to Read the Bible?

If you read at an average adult pace of about 200 to 250 words per minute, the whole Bible takes roughly 55 to 75 hours. Most people find 60 to 70 hours a fair estimate. That is about 12 minutes a day for a year, or about an hour a week for a year and a half.

The Bible is long, but it is not as long as people expect. It has 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and around 780,000 words in English. The Old Testament is about three times the length of the New Testament. If you only want the New Testament, that is closer to 18 to 20 hours.

So the honest answer is: a weekend if you do nothing else, a month at two hours a day, or a year at twelve minutes a day. The question that matters more is not how fast you can finish it, but how you read it.

How many hours does it take to read each part?

Here is a rough breakdown at 200 to 250 words per minute:

The whole Bible: about 60 to 70 hours.
The Old Testament: about 45 to 55 hours.
The New Testament: about 18 to 20 hours.
The Psalms: about 4 hours.
The Gospel of Mark: about 1.5 hours.
The Gospel of John: about 2 hours.
Romans: about 1 hour.
Revelation: about 1 hour 15 minutes.

These are estimates, not measurements. Your pace changes with the kind of text. Narrative moves quickly; genealogies, laws, and prophecy slow you down. Reading out loud takes longer than reading silently.

If you want a single number to hold in your head, use 70 hours. That is a generous, realistic figure for the entire Bible.

What do the different reading plans actually require?

Once you know the total, the plan is simple arithmetic.

Read the Bible in a year: about 3.25 chapters a day, or roughly 12 to 15 minutes. This is the most common plan and the most sustainable for most people.
Read the Bible in six months: about 6.5 chapters a day, or 25 to 30 minutes.
Read the Bible in three months: about 13 chapters a day, or 50 to 60 minutes.
Read the Bible in a month: about 40 chapters a day, or 2.5 to 3 hours. Possible, but hard to absorb.
Read the New Testament in a year: about one chapter a day on weekdays, or 5 minutes a day.
Read the New Testament in 90 days: about 3 chapters a day, or 15 minutes.

A chapter a day, five days a week, gets you through the New Testament in under a year and is one of the easiest plans to keep. If you miss a day, do not try to catch up by doubling up for a week. Just pick up where you left off.

Why does reading speed matter less than reading well?

Paul told Timothy that Scripture is God’s own breathed-out word, useful for teaching, correcting, and training. Speed is not the point.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (BSB)

Peter makes the same point about where the Bible came from.

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation. For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. — 2 Peter 1:20-21 (BSB)

If the Bible is God speaking, then rushing through it to hit a number is the wrong goal. Reading it slowly, asking what God is saying, and praying back what you read will do more for you than a fast finish.

The Bereans give a good model. They received the message with great eagerness and then examined the Scriptures every day to see if what they were told was true.

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. — Acts 17:11 (BSB)

That is daily, careful, verifying reading. It is not a race.

How do you fit Bible reading into a normal day?

Most people do not fail at Bible reading because they cannot read. They fail because they have no plan and no fixed time.

A few practical steps:

Pick a fixed time. Morning or evening, the same slot each day. Psalm 90 ties wisdom to numbering our days, and a fixed time helps us do that.

So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom. — Psalm 90:12 (BSB)

Pick a plan you can keep. Twelve minutes a day for a year is better than three hours on one Saturday and nothing for a month.
Read in a translation you understand. The Berean Standard Bible, the King James Version, and the American Standard Version are all faithful and readable.
Keep a notebook. Write down one verse and one sentence about what it means.
Do not skip the hard parts. Genealogies and laws are part of the whole counsel of God. Read them, even quickly, and keep moving.
Listen when you cannot read. Audio Bibles let you use commute or chore time. Listening counts.

If you fall behind, do not quit. Start again the next day. Consistency over months matters far more than a perfect streak.

What if you want to go deeper instead of faster?

Once you have read the whole Bible once, the next step is not to read it faster. It is to read it more carefully.

Read one book at a time, several times in a row.
Use a study Bible or a good commentary for background.
Read whole chapters, not just verses, so you see the context.
Ask three questions of every passage: What does it say? What does it mean? What should I do?
Memorize a verse a week. Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is living and active, and hiding it in your heart changes how you think.

Jesus told His hearers to search the Scriptures because they testify of Him.

You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me. — John 5:39 (BSB)

That is the goal. Not finishing a book, but finding Christ in it.

A simple plan to start today

If you want a concrete starting point:

Week 1: Read the Gospel of Mark. It takes about 90 minutes total, so 15 minutes a day for six days.
Weeks 2-4: Read the rest of the New Testament at three chapters a day.
Months 2-12: Read the Old Testament at three chapters a day.

That gets you through the whole Bible in about a year at 12 to 15 minutes a day. If you want to start even smaller, read one chapter a day and do not worry about the calendar.

Whatever plan you choose, read prayerfully. Ask God to teach you before you open the book. Read with other believers. A local church is the ordinary place where Scripture is read, taught, and applied, and a pastor or mature believer can help you when a passage is hard. The Bible is God’s word, and He uses it to make His people wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Open it today, and keep opening it.

Common questions

How long does it take to read the Bible out loud?

Reading aloud is slower than silent reading, usually around 130 to 150 words per minute. At that pace the whole Bible takes roughly 85 to 100 hours. The New Testament alone would take about 25 to 30 hours.

Is it better to read the Bible in a year or take longer?

Either can be faithful. A one-year plan builds the habit of daily reading and gives you the whole story. A slower plan lets you go deeper into each book. The important thing is to keep reading, not to hit a deadline.

Can I skip the genealogies and laws?

You can read them more quickly, but they are part of Scripture and they matter. They show God’s faithfulness across generations and the seriousness of His covenant. Read them, even briefly, and keep moving.

What is the shortest book of the Bible to start with?

The letter of 2 John is the shortest book by word count, and 3 John and Philemon are close behind. Each takes only a few minutes to read. The Gospel of Mark is a good first longer book, taking about 90 minutes total.