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:

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; 13^th 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:

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.

I am anticipating reading through the Psalms once a week for the next 3-5 months. Based on the number of verses in each Psalm, here is reading schedule that divides the Psalms into 7 roughly even sections:

Prior to this year, I had read through the book of Psalms 25 times, including twice in the LXX. This year began with my reading through the book in January and in February.

Because of a work project concerning Christian music, I have read through Psalm 101 again so far in March. At this pace, I expect to finish the book by the end of this week, which would bring my total times through the book to 28. Reading through one more time by the end of March would make my total 29 times.

Then, to get to 50 times through the book, I would need to read through the book 21 more times by the end of the year. With 9 more months left in 2012, I would need to read through the book at least twice a month each month and also read through it a third time in at least 3 of the 9 remaining months.

Reading through twice a month requires reading an average of 10 chapters a day for 30 days. Three times a month would require reading 15 chapters a day for 30 days.

Although 10-15 chapters a day sounds like a lot, many of the chapters are fairly short, so it is not as much as it might seem initially. If God leads me to persevere with this project and enables me to do so, I will have read the book through 25 times in 2012.

I look forward to seeing how God is going to open my understanding of this marvelous book through this intensive study!

For several years now, I have not read through the NT in the order that most Bibles today have for the books of the NT: Gospels; Acts; Epistles; Revelation. Instead, I have been reading through the NT in the following order, which is likely the chronological order in which the books were first given to the Church by God:

James

Galatians

Matthew

1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Corinthians; Romans

Luke

Ephesians; Colossians; Philemon; Philippians

Acts

1Timothy

1 Peter

Titus

2 Peter

2 Timothy

Mark

Hebrews

Jude

John

1 & 2 & 3 John

Revelation

Reading the NT in chronological order repeatedly, I hope to have a better sense of how the early Church would have understood the relationship between various books of the NT. In particular, reading in this way has helped me, I believe, to have a greater understanding of the contemporary value of Acts and John.

For example, a strong contemporary emphasis on the current topical order of the NT books can easily lend itself to a flawed perspective that the Pauline Epistles somehow are more important than Acts for our understanding of what the actual gospel message was that the apostles preached. On the contrary, Acts was written after perhaps as many as ten of Paul’s Epistles had already been written and careful attention to this fact and the full content of Acts corrects some wrong notions about apostolic ministry of the gospel message that some have espoused through their placing undue emphasis on selected teachings of the Synoptics and the Pauline Epistles.

In a related manner, a lumping of John with the Synoptics lends itself to a lack of appreciation that John is a Gospel that was written many years after all the Pauline Epistles were written. We should then take care that our handling of the Gospel of John informs our understanding of apostolic ministry of the gospel at least as much as the Synoptics and the Pauline Epistles do.

I praise the Lord that He has sustained me throughout this year and allowed me to make it through the Bible this year in both Greek and English!

*Includes listening to 410 chapters of the OT from the Bible on MP3

Counting these two times through the Bible, God has now allowed me to make it through the Bible in English 24 times and in Greek twice since I was saved in January of 1990!

There were many times when it seemed that there would be no way that I would make it through in either Greek or English this year. Two changes that I made late in the year helped me to catch up and finish:

(1) Listening to the KJV on CD, including many times at fast speed; and,

(2) Reading many chapters in the GNT one verse at a time using BibleWorks 7.

As God directs and grants grace, I hope to read through the Bible again in both Greek and English each year for the next several years.

Ten more days to go, and I am getting close to making it through the Bible in both Greek and English in 2011!

*Includes listening to 369 chapters of the OT from the Bible on MP3