The Books of the Bible by Average Length
Big Data Analysis
| Books byAverage Verse Length
Last Updated: 4-Nov-2025 |
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| Book & No. of Chapters | Word Count |
| Short Poetry | |
| David’s Song (2 Sam 22: 2-51) (1) | 7.30 |
| Proverbs (31) | 7.54 |
| Job (42) | 7.97 |
| Psalms (150) | 8.19 |
| Medium-Length Poetry | |
| Song of the Sea (ex 15: 1b-19) (1) | 9.84 |
| Song of Songs (8) | 10.73 |
| Song of Ha’azinu (Deut 32: 1-43) (1) | 10.74 |
| Long Poetry | |
| Lamentations (5) | 11.69 |
| Song of Deborah (Jud 6: 2-30) (1) | 11.83 |
| David’s Lament (2 Sam 1: 19-27) (1) | 12.22 |
| Short Prose | |
| Numbers (36) | 13.10 |
| Isaiah (66) | 13.36 |
| Genesis (50) | 13.51 |
| Ecclesiastes (12) | 13.63 |
| Exodus (40) | 13.94 |
| Genesis 1 (1) | 14.00 |
| Leviticus (27) | 14.03 |
| Medium-Length Prose | |
| Deuteronomy (34) | 15.08 |
| Judges (21) | 15.99 |
| 2 Samuel (24) | 16.25 |
| 1 Samuel (31) | 16.52 |
| Long Prose | |
| Esther (10) | 18.18 |
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First suggestion: When TwoHillsLab is used to analyze AVL (average verse length) in the book of Isaiah, the stylistic data does not support the “three Isaiahs” hypothesis. From the standpoint of just AVL, Isaiah patterns like a single, largely unified composition.
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Second suggestion: Applying TwoHillsLab to study AVL (average verse length) in the first four books of the Pentateuch shows that all four display very similar behavior in this stylistic feature. With respect to AVL, they constitute a relatively homogeneous group. This is interesting, given that one might expect Leviticus—typically viewed as primarily Priestly (P)—to differ in its verse-length pattern from the other three books, which are usually considered composites of multiple textual-critical sources.