How many verses in the the old testament

Old Testament Statistics - New American Bible
compiled by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Several other websites list the number of chapters and verses in each book of the Bible. Almost all of these websites, however, base their statistics on the King James Version (KJV) or a related Protestant translation of the Bible (such as the RSV or NRSV). Thus, when considering the "Old Testament," they usually do not include the "Apocrypha" or "Deuterocanonical Books" (Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach/Ecclesiastes, and Baruch). Yet these seven books, as well as additional chapters in the books of Esther and Daniel, are also considered "canonical" (part of the Bible) by Catholics and Orthodox Christians throughout the world.

There are also many slight differences in the number of verses per chapter and/or the total number of verses and chapters in various modern English translations of the Bible, due to discrepancies in the versifications of the Hebrew Bible (HB), the Septuagint (LXX), the Vulgate (Vulg), and other ancient and medieval editions. For a detailed analysis of these many differences, please see the related webpage: OT Statistics Compared (warning: large page; may take some time to download) .

The tables below, using the order in which the 46 OT books are normally arranged in Catholic Bibles, provide the following statistics, based on the New American Bible translation:

The Pentateuch / Torah

# Book Name #Ch. Total Vv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Avg. Vv/Ch
1 Genesis 50 1533 31 25 24 26 32 22 24 22 29 32 32 20 18 24 21 16 27 33 38 18 34 24 20 67 34 35 46 22 35 43 54 33 20 31 29 43 36 30 23 23 57 38 34 34 28 34 31 22 33 26 30.66
2 Exodus 40 1213 22 25 22 31 23 30 29 28 35 29 10 51 22 31 27 36 16 27 25 26 37 30 33 18 40 37 21 43 46 38 18 35 23 35 35 38 29 31 43 38 . . . . . . . . . . 30.33
3 Leviticus 27 859 17 16 17 35 26 23 38 36 24 20 47 8 59 57 33 34 16 30 37 27 24 33 44 23 55 46 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.81
4 Numbers 36 1289 54 34 51 49 31 27 89 26 23 36 35 16 33 45 41 35 28 32 22 29 35 41 30 25 19* 65 23 31 39 17 54 42 56 29 34 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.81
5 Deuteronomy 34 959 46 37 29 49 33 25 26 20 29 22 32 31 19 29 23 22 20 22 21 20 23 29 26 22 19 19 26 69 28 20 30 52 29 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.21

*Note on Num 25: The NAB follows the Hebrew Bible in numbering a 19th verse, although it prints the three words of v. 19 at the beginning of Num 26; most other ancient and modern Bibles (LXX, Vulg, KJV, RSV, NRSV, etc.) have only 18 verses in Num 25, and include the three words in question as the beginning of Num 26:1.

The Historical Books

# Book Name #Ch. Total Vv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Avg. Vv/Ch
6 Joshua 24 658 18 24 17 24 15 27 26 35 27 43 23 24 33 15 63 10 18 28 51 9 45 34 16 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.42
7 Judges 21 618 36 23 31 24 31 40 25 35 57 18 40 15 25 20 20 31 13 31 30 48 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.43
8 Ruth 4 85 22 23 18 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.25
9 1 Samuel 31 810 28 36 21 22 12 21 17 22 27 27 15 25 23 52 35 23 58 30 24 42 16 23 28 23 43 25 12 25 11 31 13 . . . . . 26.13
10 2 Samuel 24 695 27 32 39 12 25 23 29 18 13 19 27 31 39 33 37 23 29 32 44 26 22 51 39 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.96
11 1 Kings 22 817 53 46 28 20 32 38 51 66 28 29 43 33 34 31 34 34 24 46 21 43* 29 54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.14
12 2 Kings 25 719 18 25 27 44 27 33 20 29 37 36 20 22 25 29 38 20 41 37 37 21 26 20 37 20 30 . . . . . . . . . . . 28.76
13 1 Chronicles 29 943 54 55 24 43 41 66 40 40 44 14 47 41 14 17 29 43 27 17 19 8 30 19 32 31 31 32 34 21 30 . . . . . . . 32.52
14 2 Chronicles 36 821 18 17 17 22 14 42 22 18 31 19 23 16 23 14 19 14 19 34 11 37 20 12 21 27 28 23 9 27 36 27 21 33 25 33 26 23 22.81
15 Ezra 10 280 11 70 13 24 17 22 28 36 15 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.00
16 Nehemiah 13 405 11 20 38 17 19 19 72 18 37 40 36 47 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.15
17 Tobit 14 245 22 14 17 21 22 18 17 21 6 14 18 22 18 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.50
18 Judith 16 340 16 28 10 15 24 21 32 36 14 23 23 20 20 19 14 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.25
19 Esther 16 272 22 23 15 17* 14 14 10 17 32 3 17 8 30 16 24 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.00
20 1 Maccabees 16 922 63 70 59 61 68 63 50 32 73 89 74 53 53 49 41 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.63
21 2 Maccabees 15 556 36 32 40 50 27 31 42 36 29 38 38 46 26 46 39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.07

* Note on 1 Kings 20: Most print editions of the NAB have only 42 verse numbers for this chapter, accidentally omitting the reference for v. 43, although the full text is included; this error is corrected in the NAB online edition.
* Note on Esther 4: The NAB numbers only 16 verses in this chapter, but prints what most ancient and modern Bibles call 4:17 as an unnumbered verse at the beginning of Esther C. See the NAB online edition .

The Wisdom Books

# Book Name # Ch. Total Vv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Avg. Vv/Ch
22 Job 42 1068 22 13 26 21 27 30 21 22 35 22 20 25 28 22 35 22 16 21 29 29 34 30 17 25 6 14 21 28 25 31 40 22 33 37 16 33 24 41 30 32 26 17 . . . . . . . . . 25.43
23a Psalms (1-50) . . 6 11* 9 9 13 11 18 10 21 18 7 9 6 7 5 11 15 51 15 10 14 32 6 10 22 11 14 9 11 13 25 11 22 23 28 13 40 23 14 18 14 12 5 27 18 12 10 15 21 23 . .
23b Psalms (51-100) . . 21 11 7 9 24 14 12 12 18 14 9 13 12 11 14 20 8 36 37 6 24 20 28 23 11 13 21 72 13 20 17 8 19 13 14 17 7 19 53 17 16 16 5 23 11 13 12 9 9 5 . .
23c Psalms (101-150) 150 2526 8 29 22 35 45 48 43 14 31 7 10 10 9 8 18 19 2 29 176 7 8 9 4 8 5 6 5 6 8 8 3 18 3 3 21 26 9 8 24 14 10 8 12 15 21 10 20 14 9 6 . 16.83
24 Proverbs 31 915 33 22 35 27 23 35 27 36 18 32 31 28 25 35 33 33 28 24 29 30 31 29 35 34 28 28 27 28 27 33 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.52
25 Ecclesiastes 12 222 18 26 22 17 19 12 29 17 18 20 10 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.50
26 Song of Solomon 8 117 17 17 11 16 16 12 14 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.63
27 Wisdom of Solomon 19 436 16 24 19 20 23 25 30 21 18 21 26 27 19 31 19 29 21 25 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.95
28 Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 51 1372 29 18 30 31 17 37 36 19 18 30 34 18 25 27 20 28 27 33 26 30 28 27 27 31 25 20 30 26 28 25 31 24 33 26 24 27 30 34 35 30 24 25 35 23 26 20 25 25 16 29 30 26.90

* Note on Psalm 2: The 1970 edition of the NAB numbers 12 verses in this Psalm, as do most other ancient and modern Bibles; the NAB's 1986 revision of the Psalms includes the full text, but omits the reference for v. 12, possibly accidentally; note how unbalanced the longer v.11 appears in the NAB online edition.

The Major Prophets

# Book Name # Ch. Total Vv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 Avg. Vv/Ch
29 Isaiah 66 1291 31 22 26 6 30 13 25 23 20 34 16 6 22 32 9 14 14 7 25 6 17 25 18 23 12 21 13 29 24 33 9 20 24 17 10 22 38 22 8 31 29 25 28 28 25 13 15 22 26 11 23 15 12 17 13 12 21 14 21 22 11 12 19 11 25 24 19.56
30 Jeremiah 52 1364 19 37 25 31 31 30 34 23 25 25 23 17 27 22 21 21 27 23 15 18 14 30 40 10 38 24 22 17 32 24 40 44 26 22 19 32 21 28 18 16 18 22 13 30 5 28 7 47 39 46 64 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.23
31 Lamentations 5 154 22 22 66 22 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.80
32 Baruch 6 213 22 35 38 37 9 72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.50
33 Ezekiel* 48 1271 28 10 27 17 17 14 27 18 11 22 25 28 23 23 8 63 24 32 14 44 37 31 49 27 17 21 36 26 21 26 18 32 33 31 15 38 28 23 29 49 26 20 27 31 25 24 23 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.48
34 Daniel 14 530 21 49 100 34 30 29 28 27 27 21 45 13 64 42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.86

* Note on Ezekiel: Much of the text of this book has been rearranged in the NAB; some verses were placed earlier or later within the same chapter, but others have been put into an earlier or later chapter; thus one must be especially careful when counting the total number of verses per chapter; examples are easy to see in the NAB online edition.

The Twelve "Minor Prophets"

# Book Name # Ch. Total Vv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Avg. Vv/Ch
35 Hosea 14 197 9 25 5 19 15 11 16 14 17 15 11 15 15 10 14.07
36 Joel 4 73 20 27 5 21 . . . . . . . . . . 18.25
37 Amos 9 146 15 16 15 13 27 14 17 14 15 . . . . . 16.22
38 Obadiah 1 21 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
39 Jonah 4 48 16 11 10 11 . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
40 Micah 7 105 16 13 12 14 14 16 20 . . . . . . . 15.00
41 Nahum 3 47 14 14 19 . . . . . . . . . . . 15.67
42 Habakkuk 3 56 17 20 19 . . . . . . . . . . . 18.67
43 Zephaniah 3 53 18 15 20 . . . . . . . . . . . 17.67
44 Haggai 2 38 15 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
45 Zechariah 14 211 17 17 10 14 11 15 14 23 17 12 17 14 9 21 15.07
46 Malachi 3 55 14 17 24 . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33

SUMMARY:
Total Number of Chapters and Verses in the Old Testament (NAB)

OT Book Group # Chaps. # Verses
The Pentateuch / Torah 187 5853
The Historical Books 316 9186
The Wisdom Books 313 6656
The Major Prophets 191 4825
The 12 Minor Prophets 67 1050
GRAND TOTAL 1074 27570

To see how these statistics differ in other biblical translations, see OT Statistics Compared
(warning: large page; may take some time to download) .

Go to the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for a complete
Online Edition of the New American Bible.


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This page was last updated on September 2, 2005.
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