How long should you read the Bible a day? 5, 10 or 15 minutes
What 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes of Bible reading a day covers: the whole Bible, the New Testament or the Gospels at two reading speeds, and a year in every canon.
The short answer
No verse sets a daily amount, so the useful question is what your minutes will cover. About 11 minutes a day reads the 66-book Protestant Bible in a year, and 12 the 73-book Catholic Bible. At 10 minutes a day the whole Bible takes 10 to 13 months, depending on how fast you read; at 15 minutes, 7 to 8½ months; at 5 minutes, about two years. Five minutes a day still reads the New Testament in under six months.
In this guide
- How long should you read the Bible a day?
- What 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes a day cover
- How many minutes a day to read the Bible in a year
- If you read the Bible 15 minutes a day
- Is 5 minutes a day enough?
- Minutes or chapters: which daily target works better?
- Making ten minutes fit a busy day
- What to do on a day you get zero minutes
- Questions people ask
- Sources
People who ask how long they should read the Bible a day are usually short on time and want to know whether the time they have is enough. Scripture sets no daily quota, so the more useful question is what a given number of minutes will cover. We timed it from our own word count of a public-domain translation, at two reading speeds, so each answer below is a range rather than one optimistic number.
- 11 mina day reads the Protestant Bible in a year
- 15 mina day reads any of the five canons in a year
- under 6 monthsfor the New Testament at 5 minutes a day
- 3 minan average chapter, at a relaxed pace
How long should you read the Bible a day?
There is no required amount. No verse names a number of minutes or chapters, and Christian traditions describe the place of daily Scripture reading in their own ways. In practice, the amount that lasts is the one you could keep on an ordinary busy day. Here is roughly what the common choices cover:
- 5 minutes reads the New Testament in under six months and the whole Bible in about two years.
- 10 minutes reads the 66-book Protestant Bible in about a year, a little under or a little over depending on how fast you read.
- 15 minutes reads any of the five canons in a year, from the Protestant Bible’s 1,189 chapters to the Ethiopian Bible’s 1,564, with days to spare.
- 30 minutes reads the Protestant Bible in about four months.
Time is one of the most common reasons people give for not reading more. In a Lifeway Research survey of 1,200 Americans, conducted in 2024, those asked why they don’t read the Bible more answered that they don’t prioritize it (24 percent), don’t have time (15 percent) or are intimidated by its size (11 percent). The same survey found that among people who have read at least part of the Bible, 34 percent say they systematically read through a section a little each day, up from 22 percent in 2016. Among those aged 18 to 34 it was 47 percent. A little each day is already how many people read.
What 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes a day cover
Ten minutes a day reads the whole Protestant Bible in 315 to 392 days, and every other daily amount scales from there. The first figure is at the average adult silent reading speed of 238 words a minute, from a 2019 review of 190 reading studies. The second is at a relaxed 3.3 minutes a chapter, about 200 words a minute, a comfortable pace that leaves room for the longer chapters. Both are timed against our count of the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation of 750,220 words.
| A day | Chapters, relaxed pace | The whole Bible, average pace | The whole Bible, relaxed pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 1½ | 630 days, about 21 months | 785 days, about 26 months |
| 10 minutes | 3 | 315 days, about 10½ months | 392 days, about 13 months |
| 15 minutes | 4½ | 210 days, about 7 months | 262 days, about 8½ months |
| 20 minutes | 6 | 158 days, about 5 months | 196 days, about 6½ months |
| 30 minutes | 9 | 105 days, about 3½ months | 131 days, a little over 4 months |
| 60 minutes | 18 | 53 days, under 2 months | 65 days, about 2 months |
The spread between readers is real. The same review found that most adults read non-fiction at between 175 and 300 words a minute, so at ten minutes a day a fast reader might finish in about eight months (250 days) and a slower one in about fourteen (429 days). The translation matters a little too: by our count the King James Version runs to 790,676 words, about 5 percent more than the World English Bible, which adds two to three weeks at ten minutes a day. Our guide to how long it takes to read the Bible has the hours for every book.
Shorter goals at the same pace
Not every goal is the whole Bible. The times below are counted from each part’s words, at 238 and at 200 words a minute, rather than from its chapters, because chapters vary: a psalm averages about 275 words, and a chapter of the Gospels about 900.
| Reading | 5 minutes a day | 10 minutes a day | 15 minutes a day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant Old Testament (929 chapters) | 16 to 19 months | 8 to 9½ months | 5½ to 6½ months |
| New Testament (260 chapters) | 147 to 175 days | 73 to 87 days | 49 to 58 days |
| The four Gospels (89 chapters) | 67 to 80 days | 34 to 40 days | 22 to 27 days |
| Paul’s 13 letters (87 chapters) | 36 to 43 days | 18 to 22 days | 12 to 14 days |
| Psalms (150 chapters) | 35 to 41 days | 17 to 21 days | 12 to 14 days |
| Mark (16 chapters) | 12 to 14 days | 6 to 7 days | 4 to 5 days |
How many minutes a day to read the Bible in a year
About 11 minutes a day reads the 66-book Protestant Bible in a year, and about 12 reads the 73-book Catholic Bible. A year needs 3.26 Protestant chapters a day (1,189 over 365 days), and at 3.3 minutes a chapter that comes to just under 11 minutes. The wider canons ask a little more:
| Bible | Chapters | Chapters a day for a year | Minutes a day, relaxed pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant (66 books) | 1,189 | 3.3 | about 11 |
| Catholic (73 books) | 1,334 | 3.7 | about 12 |
| With Apocrypha (76 books) | 1,360 | 3.7 | about 12 |
| Orthodox (78 books) | 1,386 | 3.8 | about 13 |
| Ethiopian (80 books) | 1,564 | 4.3 | about 14 |
At the average reading speed the same year is closer to 9 minutes a day for the Protestant Bible and 10 for the Catholic. The chapters a day for every other timeline are in our guide to how many chapters a day to read the Bible, and reading the Bible in a year covers the plans and the slow stretches.
If you read the Bible 15 minutes a day
Fifteen minutes a day reads the Protestant Bible in about 7 to 8½ months: 210 days at an average pace, 262 at a relaxed one. That is about four and a half chapters a day. The same fifteen minutes reads the New Testament in seven or eight weeks, the four Gospels in three to four weeks, and Psalms in under two weeks.
As a one-year plan, 15 minutes is generous in every canon. A year of 15-minute days is 5,475 minutes, enough at the relaxed pace for about 1,660 chapters, which is more than even the Ethiopian Bible’s 1,564. In the Protestant Bible that leaves room for about a hundred days that don’t go to plan, and in the Catholic Bible about seventy.
Thirty minutes a day doubles that pace. It comes to about nine chapters, reads the Protestant Bible in 105 to 131 days, three and a half to just over four months, and reads the New Testament in 24 to 29 days.
Is 5 minutes a day enough?
Five minutes a day is enough to read the whole Bible. It comes to about one and a half chapters a day and finishes the Protestant Bible in about 21 to 26 months. Along the way it covers real ground:
- Mark’s Gospel in about two weeks.
- Psalms in five to six weeks.
- The four Gospels in ten to eleven weeks.
- The New Testament in 147 to 175 days, about five to six months.
Five minutes also fits into days a longer plan doesn’t. Most psalms take under two minutes to read, and Psalm 23 takes about half a minute. If five minutes becomes easy it can grow to ten, and nothing about starting small stops you reading more on a day you have time.
Minutes or chapters: which daily target works better?
Neither suits everyone. A minutes target protects a fixed slot in the day; a chapters target gives a clear place to stop and something definite to record. The difference matters because chapters vary so much. The average Protestant chapter is 631 words by our count, about three minutes, but Psalm 117 is two verses and 24 words, while Psalm 119 is 176 verses and about 2,300 words, or 10 to 12 minutes. Numbers 7, the tribal leaders’ offerings for the altar, runs to about 1,900 words. So ten minutes might be two chapters of Luke, or seven or eight psalms.
- A minutes target suits a fixed slot: a commute, a lunch break, the time before the children wake. On a day of long chapters you read fewer, and on a day of psalms more.
- A chapters target suits a plan with a finishing date and makes progress easy to count, but a long chapter can turn a ten-minute day into a twenty-minute one.
- A mix is the practical middle: let the minutes decide roughly how many chapters, then read to the end of the chapter you are in.
Making ten minutes fit a busy day
Ten minutes fits most easily when it is attached to something that already happens every day, and when the passage is chosen before you sit down.
- Hang it on a fixed point. The first coffee, the train, lunch, the last thing before the light goes out. A Bible left next to the coffee maker needs no decision.
- Decide the passage beforehand. A plan, or one book read in order, means the ten minutes go on reading rather than choosing.
- Listen when your hands are busy. An audio Bible on a commute, a walk or the dishes covers the same chapters.
- Read five days a week, not seven. Ten minutes on weekdays only still reads the whole Bible in about 14½ to 18 months, and the 5-day Bible reading plan keeps weekends free in the same way.
- Start with short books. Ruth, Jonah and Philippians each fit in one or two ten-minute sittings, so a whole book is finished in the first week.
Our guide to reading the Bible every day covers what habit research says about making a routine stick.
Bible reading for busy moms and new parents
With a baby or young children, the reliable minutes are often the ones nobody schedules: a feed, a nap, the quiet before everyone wakes. A few things help them count:
- One psalm or one chapter is a full day’s reading. Most psalms take under two minutes.
- Read on a phone, or listen, during a night feed or a nap, when a paper Bible would need a free hand.
- Read aloud to the baby. People read aloud at about 183 words a minute, by the 2019 reading-rate review, so an average chapter takes about three and a half minutes, and a chapter read aloud is a chapter read.
- Let a season be lighter. A year at five minutes a day reads the New Testament more than twice over.
What to do on a day you get zero minutes
Nothing. The next day is an ordinary day, not a catch-up day: read that day’s amount and carry on. Reading two days’ worth turns the day after a miss into the heaviest of the week, which also makes it the easiest one to put off. If you follow a dated plan, you can pick up at today’s date and read the missed passage on a lighter day, or slide the whole plan back a day; either way the plan carries on. Our guide to catching up on a Bible reading plan covers longer gaps.
A small amount you come back to covers more of the Bible than a large one you are waiting to have time for.
Questions people ask
Is reading the Bible 15 minutes a day good?
Fifteen minutes a day is enough to read the whole Bible in under a year in any of the five canons. It comes to about four and a half chapters a day, which finishes the 66-book Protestant Bible in 7 to 8½ months and the New Testament in seven or eight weeks. What you take in matters more than the number, and 15 minutes leaves room to read slowly.
How long does it take to read the Bible at 30 minutes a day?
About 105 to 131 days for the 66-book Protestant Bible, three and a half to just over four months. The first figure is at the average silent reading speed of 238 words a minute, the second at a relaxed 3.3 minutes a chapter. Thirty minutes is about nine chapters a day. The 73-book Catholic Bible takes 120 to 147 days, and the New Testament alone 24 to 29.
How much of the Bible should I read a day?
As much as you could keep on a busy day, since no verse sets an amount. One chapter, about three minutes, reads the Protestant Bible in 1,189 days, a little over three years. Three chapters, about ten minutes, takes around 13 months. On the hardest days a single psalm is a full reading; most take under two minutes, and Psalm 117 is two verses.
How many hours a day should you read the Bible?
Far less than an hour covers most goals. An hour a day reads the whole 66-book Protestant Bible in 53 to 65 days, about two months, and the New Testament in about two weeks. A one-year plan needs 9 to 11 minutes a day, because the whole Protestant Bible is about 52 hours of silent reading at an average pace and about 65 at a relaxed 3.3 minutes a chapter.
How long does it take to read one chapter of the Bible?
About three minutes on average. By our count of the World English Bible, the average chapter of the Protestant Bible is 631 words, which takes 2.7 minutes at the average silent reading speed of 238 words a minute and 3.2 minutes at a relaxed 200. Chapters vary widely, though. Psalm 117 takes seconds, and Psalm 119, at 176 verses, takes 10 to 12 minutes.
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047.
- World English Bible, verse-per-line edition (public domain), eBible.org
- King James Version, verse-per-line edition (public domain), eBible.org
- Americans Judge the Good Book More Positively, But Still Often by Its Cover, Lifeway Research (May 13, 2025)
