How Many Words Are in the KJV Bible? The Official Count

Here’s a question that sounds simple but isn’t. Maybe it hits you during a long sermon. Or perhaps you’re just picking up a hefty, leather-bound King James Version Bible from a shelf. You feel its weight. You see the impossibly thin pages, crammed with tiny columns of text, and you can’t help but wonder: exactly how many words are in the KJV Bible?

I actually asked my Sunday school teacher that exact question when I was a kid. She just smiled and gave me a very teacherly answer: “More than you can count, and every one of them is important.” A spiritually sound reply, for sure. But it didn’t scratch the itch. I wanted a number. A real, concrete answer.

Getting that single, official number is a bit more of a puzzle than you’d think. But don’t worry. We’re going to solve it. Together, we’ll look at the official counts, figure out why you might see different numbers floating around, and uncover some truly fascinating facts about the KJV’s structure. The journey to the answer is just as interesting as the number itself.

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Key Takeaways

• The Official Count: The most widely accepted word count for the standard Protestant King James Version (KJV) Bible is 783,137 words.
• Old vs. New Testament: This total is split into 602,587 words for the Old Testament and 180,550 words for the New Testament.
• Why Counts Vary: You’ll see different word counts because of different counting methods. It often depends on whether you include things like chapter headings, translator’s notes, or the Apocrypha from the original 1611 edition.
• More Than a Number: Beyond the word count, the KJV has 31,102 verses, 1,189 chapters, and 66 distinct books. Its statistical landscape is as rich as its prose.

So, What’s the Big Number Everyone Talks About?

Alright, let’s cut to the chase. If someone puts you on the spot and asks for the word count of the King James Bible, the number you should give them is 783,137.

That’s the figure. It’s the most frequently cited, most trusted number for the standard 66-book Protestant edition of the KJV. It’s what you’ll get from reputable biblical scholars and most text analysis software.

That massive number isn’t just one big block of text, either. It’s split between the Bible’s two main sections. The Old Testament, with its epic histories, prophecies, and poetry, holds the lion’s share of the text, clocking in at 602,587 words. The New Testament, which focuses on the life of Jesus and the birth of the early church, makes up the remaining 180,550 words.

It’s a staggering thought. My grandfather’s KJV Bible sat on his bedside table my whole life. The cover was soft and worn, the edges of the pages almost feathery from being turned so many times. To think his fingers had traced over three-quarters of a million words in that one volume always filled me with a sense of awe.

It’s not just a book; it’s a library.

But Why Do I See Different Numbers Online?

This is where our simple question gets a little messy. You might do a quick search and find a source claiming the KJV has 788,280 words, or maybe 791,328 words.

Are they wrong?

Well, not exactly. The difference usually boils down to one simple thing: what, precisely, is being counted?

Does “The” Count as Much as “Transgression”?

First, there’s the method. It sounds silly, but you have to ask, “What is a word?” Is “God-breathed” one word or two? How does a computer program handle hyphenation? These are minor points, but when you’re dealing with a text this huge, tiny differences can add up.

The real variations, however, pop up when you consider which parts of the book get included in the count. That 783,137 number almost always refers only to the biblical text. Nothing else. It’s the purest count of scripture, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.

Are We Counting the Apocrypha?

Here it is. This is the biggest reason for those wildly different numbers. The original King James Bible, the one published back in 1611, was not the 66-book version most of us own today. It also contained a section of 14 books called the Apocrypha, tucked neatly between the Old and New Testaments.

Books like Tobit, Judith, and 1 & 2 Maccabees were part of the Greek Septuagint, which was the Old Testament translation widely used in Jesus’s time. They were not, however, part of the original Hebrew canon.

If you add the Apocrypha to the total, you’re adding a massive 152,185 words. That brings the word count of the original 1611 KJV to an incredible 935,322 words. Since most modern KJV printings leave out the Apocrypha, the 783,137 number has become the accepted standard.

What About All Those Little Notes and Headings?

Grab a Bible from your shelf. Look at the top of a chapter. Does it have a little summary, like “The Creation of the World” over Genesis 1? Do you see small notes in the margins from the translators? The classic KJV is full of these. It even kicks off with a long-winded epistle, “To the Most High and Mighty Prince James.”

If the counting method includes these chapter summaries, headings, and dedications, the word count will obviously be higher. That explains most of the smaller variations you might see. For a truly accurate scriptural count, you have to exclude all of that.

How Does the KJV Compare to Other Bibles?

It’s only natural to wonder how the KJV’s word count stacks up against other popular English Bibles. The differences are fascinating because they tell a story about translation philosophy. Is the goal a literal, word-for-word rendering, or a more fluid, thought-for-thought meaning? The answer directly impacts the final word count.

Let’s compare:

• King James Version (KJV): Around 783,137 words. Famous for its literal translation and its majestic, if sometimes tricky, Jacobean English.
• New King James Version (NKJV): Around 770,430 words. This version updated the KJV’s vocabulary and grammar but kept the classic style, making it a bit leaner.
• English Standard Version (ESV): Around 760,000 words. An “essentially literal” translation that tries to balance word-for-word accuracy with modern readability.
• New International Version (NIV): Around 727,969 words. The NIV is one of the shortest major translations because it aims to capture the original thought in natural, contemporary English rather than translating every single word literally.

The KJV is one of the longest English Bibles out there. This is a direct result of its formal, word-for-word translation style. The 17th-century translators often used more words to make sure they captured every last bit of nuance from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

Why Does Knowing the Word Count Even Matter?

You might be thinking, “This is interesting, but is it important?” It’s a fair question. The spiritual value of the Bible isn’t something you can measure with numbers. But the numbers do hold a certain significance.

Isn’t It Just Trivia?

On one hand, sure, it’s a great piece of trivia. It quantifies the immense scale of the Bible. But it’s also incredibly practical. For instance, it’s a huge help in creating Bible-reading plans. If you know there are over 780,000 words, you can figure out that reading the whole thing in a year means tackling just over 2,100 words per day. Suddenly, it feels manageable.

This scale also gives you a deeper respect for the scribes and translators throughout history who copied these texts by hand. For them, every single word was sacred. The total count is a monument to their incredible dedication.

Can This Tell Us Anything About the Language?

Absolutely. The KJV’s stats are a goldmine for language lovers. The KJV uses a surprisingly small vocabulary to tell its grand story. While the total word count is enormous, the number of unique root words is only around 12,143. For perspective, the average English-speaking adult has a vocabulary of 20,000–35,000 words.

This shows the sheer power and precision of the KJV’s language. It achieves its depth and beauty by carefully using a core set of powerful words again and again. For a deeper look at the data, resources like the Bible Gateway blog offer amazing analyses that break down the text in ways the original translators never could.

I’ll never forget my college literature professor showing us how much the KJV influenced English. He had us hunt for words and phrases coined or popularized by its translators. “Scapegoat,” “long-suffering,” “the salt of the earth.” I realized then that this book’s impact goes way beyond theology; it’s baked into the very words we speak today.

What’s the Longest and Shortest of It All?

Once you start digging into the numbers, you find all sorts of fun facts. The Bible isn’t one book; it’s a library, with pamphlets and epics sitting side by side.

Which Book Takes the Crown for Length?

The longest book in the Bible is Psalms, and it’s not even close. With over 42,000 words spread across 150 chapters, it is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the KJV. As a collection of songs, prayers, and poems covering every human emotion, its length feels just right.

If you’re talking about a single, continuous story, however, the Book of Jeremiah is a top contender, detailing the prophet’s long and difficult ministry.

And the Shortest Book?

This is a fun one. The shortest book by word count is 3 John. It’s a brief, personal letter with only about 294 words. You can read it in under a minute.

But, the shortest book by verse count is 2 John, which has only 13 verses, while 3 John has 14.

What About Verses?

The details get even more interesting when you zoom all the way in. Here are a few KJV records:

• Longest Book: Psalms (42,705 words)
• Shortest Book: 3 John (294 words)
• Longest Chapter: Psalm 119 (176 verses)
• Shortest Chapter: Psalm 117 (2 verses)
• Longest Verse: Esther 8:9, a monster of a sentence with 89 words describing the king’s decree.
• Shortest Verse: John 11:35, the famously powerful, “Jesus wept.”

Those two words—”Jesus wept”—are the perfect reason why word counts are so fascinating. In a book of 783,137 words, the translators used just two to convey a universe of sorrow and humanity. It’s a masterclass in literary and theological power. It proves that sometimes, the fewest words carry the most weight.

How Could Anyone Possibly Count All Those Words?

Today, counting the words in the Bible is easy. You run a simple command on a digital file, and you get an answer in a fraction of a second. For most of history, though, this was an almost impossible task done entirely by hand.

Ancient Jewish scribes, the Masoretes, were among the first to meticulously count the words and letters of the Hebrew Old Testament. This wasn’t for fun. It was their version of quality control. By counting the letters in a scroll and finding the exact middle letter, they could ensure that their copies were perfect, with nothing added or left out. Their dedication was simply astonishing.

By the time the King James Version was translated, this practice was well-established. Early printers and scholars would have relied on brutally tedious manual counts. We can thank the digital age for our precise numbers, but we owe the words themselves to the scribes who counted them one by one.

The Final Word on the Word Count

So, back to our question: how many words are in the KJV Bible? The best, most honest answer is 783,137.

But the real story is so much bigger than that one number. It’s the story of what the number represents: a library of 66 books, written over thousands of years, painstakingly preserved, meticulously translated, and delivered into English in a form so powerful it literally changed the world.

The final count is a measure of the Bible’s size, not its worth. The true weight of the KJV isn’t in its word count, but in the enduring power of those words to inspire, comfort, challenge, and change lives.

And that is something no number can ever capture.

Frequently Asked Questions – How Many Words Are in the KJV Bible