Bible by the numbers
Counts, lengths, and ranking facts about the Bible. Each tile links through to the full curiosity entry — browse all curiosities.
Approximate counts in the BSB. See each entry for methodology and how the count varies across translations. Click any tile to read the full entry →
More than 800 mentions across the Bible. Silver alone (Hebrew kesef) appears over 400 times in the Old Testament.
Approximately 230 mentions of wine and strong drink across the canon (KJV/BSB lemma counts). Word counts vary significantly by translation and search method — all figures here are approximate.
Esther 8:9 — about 90 words in the KJV. The verse describes a single act of writing royal decrees in the Persian court.
'Jesus wept.' — John 11:35. Two words in English. The Greek New Testament's shortest verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
Protestant Bibles: 66 books. Catholic: 73. Eastern Orthodox: 78–81. The New Testament (27 books) is the same across all three.
The Protestant Bible: 1,189 chapters (929 OT + 260 NT). Chapter divisions are medieval, not original.
Three: Hebrew (most of OT), Aramaic (parts of Daniel and Ezra), and koinē Greek (all of NT).
150 psalms in the Protestant and Catholic Bible. Some Eastern Orthodox traditions include Psalm 151.
About 290 mentions of angels across English Bibles. Both Hebrew malach and Greek angelos mean "messenger" — divine or human.
About 320 occurrences. Hebrew berit (286 in OT) and Greek diathēkē (33 in NT) — the central organising concept of biblical theology.
About 250 mentions of faith — mostly in the NT (pistis, 243×). The OT vocabulary emunah is closer to "faithfulness, loyalty."
Around 150 mentions of forgiveness across the Bible. Hebrew has three main words for it; Greek uses aphiēmi about 142 times.
About 4,000 occurrences of "God" in major translations. Counting "the LORD" (YHWH) too, the total is closer to 8,000.
About 850 references to the heart across the Bible. In biblical usage, the heart is the seat of thought and will, not just feeling.
About 400 occurrences of the justice-vocabulary across the Bible. Hebrew mishpat: 425 in OT; Greek dikaiosynē: 92 in NT.
Around 550 occurrences of "love" across the Bible — though counts range from ~300 to ~700 depending on the translation.
Around 110 occurrences of "prayer" or "pray" in major English translations — and many more underlying Hebrew/Greek forms.
About 170 mentions across the Bible. The Sabbath is rooted in the creation account (Genesis 2) and established as the fourth commandment.
About 700 mentions of sin across the Bible. Three Hebrew words for it; Greek hamartia means "missing the mark."
About 230 mentions across the Bible. Hebrew chokmah (152 in OT) and Greek sophia (51 in NT) — the wisdom literature concentrates them.
The popular "365 times" claim is folklore. Careful counts give about 100–110 commands not to fear across the Bible.
About 27 occurrences of "fear of the LORD" alone in the KJV. Including related constructions, about 90 across the Bible.
KJV: 54 "hells." Most modern translations: ~13. The KJV used one English word for three distinct biblical terms.
About 280 references to the Spirit of God across the Bible. Concentrated in Luke-Acts and the Pauline epistles.
About 970 mentions of "Jesus" by name in the NT. Adding "Christ" (~540) and titles brings the total much higher.
KJV: ~783,000 words (593K OT, 190K NT). Original-language counts: ~305K Hebrew, ~138K Greek.
Psalm 117 — the middle and shortest chapter of the Bible. Two verses, with 594 chapters on either side.