What is the middle chapter of the Bible?

The arithmetic

The Protestant Bible contains 1,189 chapters. The exact midpoint — chapter 595 from either direction — is Psalm 117. There are 594 chapters before it (Genesis 1 through Psalm 116) and 594 chapters after it (Psalm 118 through Revelation 22).

Psalm 117 itself

Psalm 117 is also the shortest chapter in the Bible, containing only two verses:

“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.” (Psalm 117, BSB)

In Hebrew, the psalm runs to 17 words (one of the shortest psalms by word count as well). It is universal in scope — addressing all nations and all peoples — and brief in form: an opening call to praise, a stated reason (God’s hesed — steadfast love — and emet — faithfulness), and a closing “Hallelujah.”

The Psalm 118:8 claim

A piece of devotional folklore notes that Psalm 118:8 — “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man” — is sometimes said to be the middle verse of the Bible. This claim is not accurate by direct verse-counting (the Bible contains around 31,100 verses, and the midpoint falls elsewhere depending on the count). But the claim is repeated because Psalm 118:8 sits structurally near the centre of the chapter-divided Bible and expresses a memorable thought.

The actual middle verses of the Bible (by verse count) vary by canon and methodology:

• Counting all 31,102 verses of the KJV, the middle verses are Psalm 103:1-2.
• Counting verses excluding the apocrypha, results vary.
• Different counts produce different answers, none of which is decisively “the” middle verse.

The deeper point

The “middle chapter” claim is a piece of structural curiosity — the kind of fact that goes viral on social media and prompts further reflection on the canon as a literary whole. It is not a doctrinal claim or a hidden message. But it is true: Psalm 117 sits at the structural centre of the chapter-divided Bible, and that the shortest chapter is also the one that addresses every nation and people is a small but striking observation.