How long does it take to read the Bible? Five plans, in minutes per day

A Bible plan often fails for a plain reason: arithmetic, not lack of faith. A plan that quietly asks for 40 minutes meets a morning that has ten. This guide puts a number on every popular plan so you can match it to the time you really have.

The whole Bible in numbers

We counted chapters and words in two public-domain translations. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute, a round figure for attentive reading, so treat it as a planning number rather than a promise.

Translation	Chapters	Words	Hours at 200 words per minute
World English Bible (WEB)	1,189	about 755,000	about 63
King James Version (KJV)	1,189	about 790,000	about 66

The Old Testament has 929 chapters and the New Testament 260. That is more than three times as many Old Testament chapters, which is why a plan that runs front to back feels so different in January and in November.

Five plans, minutes per day

All figures use the WEB. A chapter-based plan will not give you the exact same minutes each day, because chapters vary in length, but the averages hold.

Plan	Days	Chapters a day	Minutes a day
Proverbs in a month	31	1	about 2 to 3
Psalms in 30 days	30	5	about 7
The Gospels in 40 days	40	about 2.2	about 10
The New Testament in 90 days	90	about 2.9	about 10
The Bible in a year	365	about 3.3	about 10
The Bible in 90 days	90	about 13	about 42

Two things stand out. First, three of the plans land at almost the same ten minutes a day, so the choice between them is about what you want to read, not how long it takes. Second, the 90-day Bible is a different kind of commitment altogether.

Choose by what you want

If you want	Start with	Why
The lightest possible start	Proverbs in a month	One chapter, a few minutes, and a complete book in a month
Prayers to borrow in a hard season	Psalms in 30 days	Five short psalms a day, easy to read aloud
To know Jesus first	The Gospels in 40 days	Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 89 chapters in all
The whole New Testament	The New Testament in 90 days	260 chapters, under three a day
The full story	The Bible in a year	About 3.3 chapters a day, and a long game

If you have never kept a daily habit with Scripture, start with the first row, even if the last row is where you want to end up. A finished small plan teaches you more than an abandoned large one. Our guide on how to start reading the Bible covers the first week in detail.

The wall in week six

A plain front-to-back plan sends you through Genesis (50 chapters), Exodus (40) and Leviticus (27) first. That is 117 chapters. At 3.3 chapters a day you reach the end of Leviticus around day 36. This is where many plans in the year-long category stall, because the story slows into law and ritual just as the new-year energy runs out.

Two ways around it. Choose a plan that mixes the Old Testament, a Psalm and a New Testament passage on the same day, so there is always a story or a prayer nearby. Or begin with the New Testament plan and come back to the Old Testament once you have a habit. Neither is a shortcut; both simply respect how people actually read.

A nine-minute day made from two small plans

You can combine the two lightest plans on the calendar. Read five psalms and one chapter of Proverbs each day for a month. Using our averages, that is about 7 minutes for the psalms and 2 to 3 for the Proverb, so roughly nine minutes in all. It is a good first month if you want variety without a heavy commitment, and by the end you will have read the whole Psalter and the whole of Proverbs.

Pair the plan with one small method

A plan tells you what to read. It does not tell you what to do with it. Add one sentence of your own after each reading, as in the SOAP Bible study method, and ten minutes becomes a conversation instead of a chore. If you only manage the reading on some days, that is a good start rather than a failure.

Falling behind

Everyone does. The honest fix is to skip forward to today's reading instead of catching up, and to let the missed days go. If you use a printed plan, cross the missed boxes out with a single line and carry on. A plan is a guide for what to read next. It does not keep score.

Keep the plan where you will see it

A plan on paper is easy to lose. Put today's reading on the lock screen or in an app, and the next step is always one tap away. We explain how in putting a Bible verse on your lock screen. For a gentle first week, use the 7-day starter plan, which sets out the Gospel of Mark day by day.