The 66 books of the Bible, for kids
There are 66 books in the Bible: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include additional books, so a Catholic Bible is usually counted as 73. This page lists all 66 in order, says what each one is about in a sentence, and shows how long each takes to read out loud.
By Hannah Whitford, Childhood Bible Stories · Last updated September 2026 · Data as of August 2026
The Bible by the numbers
Counted from the World English Bible, the public domain translation this site quotes. Read-aloud times assume 140 words a minute, which is the pace of reading to a child rather than reading to yourself. A different translation would give slightly different word counts.
Every book, what it is about, and how long it takes
Read the whole column of descriptions and you have the shape of the Bible in about four minutes.
| # | Book | Testament | What it is about | Chapters | Verses | Words | Read aloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis | Old | Where everything starts: a good world, a first family, a flood, and a promise made to Abraham. | 50 | 1,533 | 35,787 | 255.6 min |
| 2 | Exodus | Old | God brings a whole nation out of slavery, then gives them ten commandments to live by. | 40 | 1,213 | 30,913 | 220.8 min |
| 3 | Leviticus | Old | Instructions for worship, given to people who are learning how to come near a holy God. | 27 | 859 | 23,492 | 167.8 min |
| 4 | Numbers | Old | Forty years of wandering, counted camp by camp, while God keeps feeding them anyway. | 36 | 1,288 | 31,163 | 222.6 min |
| 5 | Deuteronomy | Old | Moses speaks to Israel one last time and asks them to remember what God has done. | 34 | 959 | 27,347 | 195.3 min |
| 6 | Joshua | Old | Israel finally walks into the land, beginning with a city whose walls come down. | 24 | 658 | 17,831 | 127.4 min |
| 7 | Judges | Old | A long, sad loop. The people forget God, trouble arrives, and God sends a rescuer. | 21 | 618 | 17,919 | 128 min |
| 8 | Ruth | Old | A widow from Moab stays with her mother-in-law and finds a home she never expected. | 4 | 85 | 2,436 | 17.4 min |
| 9 | 1 Samuel | Old | A boy who hears God at night, a king who will not listen, and a shepherd chosen instead. | 31 | 810 | 23,637 | 168.8 min |
| 10 | 2 Samuel | Old | David becomes king, makes a terrible choice, and learns what forgiveness costs. | 24 | 695 | 19,447 | 138.9 min |
| 11 | 1 Kings | Old | Solomon builds the temple, and after him the kingdom splits in two. | 22 | 816 | 23,053 | 164.7 min |
| 12 | 2 Kings | Old | Prophets keep speaking, kings keep ignoring them, and exile finally comes. | 25 | 719 | 22,224 | 158.7 min |
| 13 | 1 Chronicles | Old | The same history told again through family lists and David preparing for worship. | 29 | 942 | 19,192 | 137.1 min |
| 14 | 2 Chronicles | Old | The kings of Judah, measured against one question: did they keep worship true? | 36 | 822 | 24,678 | 176.3 min |
| 15 | Ezra | Old | Families come home from exile and start rebuilding the temple. | 10 | 280 | 7,059 | 50.4 min |
| 16 | Nehemiah | Old | A cupbearer asks the emperor for time off to rebuild a broken wall, and gets it. | 13 | 406 | 9,995 | 71.4 min |
| 17 | Esther | Old | A young queen risks her life to speak up for her people. | 10 | 167 | 5,405 | 38.6 min |
| 18 | Job | Old | A good man loses everything and asks God the hardest question there is. | 42 | 1,070 | 17,670 | 126.2 min |
| 19 | Psalms | Old | Songs and prayers for every mood, from delight to fear to plain honest complaint. | 150 | 2,461 | 41,836 | 298.8 min |
| 20 | Proverbs | Old | Short, practical sayings about wisdom, work, words, money and friends. | 31 | 915 | 14,535 | 103.8 min |
| 21 | Ecclesiastes | Old | A teacher looks back at everything he chased and asks what actually lasts. | 12 | 222 | 5,481 | 39.2 min |
| 22 | Song of Solomon | Old | Love poetry between a bride and a groom, full of gardens and springtime. | 8 | 117 | 2,553 | 18.2 min |
| 23 | Isaiah | Old | Warnings, comfort, and the promise of a servant who carries other people’s sorrow. | 66 | 1,292 | 35,543 | 253.9 min |
| 24 | Jeremiah | Old | A prophet nobody wants to hear, weeping over a city that will not turn around. | 52 | 1,364 | 41,125 | 293.8 min |
| 25 | Lamentations | Old | Five poems of grief, written while the ruins of Jerusalem were still smoking. | 5 | 154 | 3,389 | 24.2 min |
| 26 | Ezekiel | Old | Strange visions, a valley of dry bones, and a promise of hearts made new. | 48 | 1,273 | 37,660 | 269 min |
| 27 | Daniel | Old | Four friends in a foreign palace who stay faithful, lions and furnace included. | 12 | 357 | 11,277 | 80.6 min |
| 28 | Hosea | Old | A prophet’s own marriage becomes a picture of how stubbornly God keeps loving. | 14 | 197 | 5,049 | 36.1 min |
| 29 | Joel | Old | Locusts strip the fields bare, and a prophet calls the whole country back to God. | 3 | 73 | 1,933 | 13.8 min |
| 30 | Amos | Old | A shepherd tells a comfortable nation that God notices how the poor are treated. | 9 | 146 | 4,047 | 28.9 min |
| 31 | Obadiah | Old | One chapter aimed squarely at Edom’s pride, and then it stops. | 1 | 21 | 619 | 4.4 min |
| 32 | Jonah | Old | A prophet runs the other way, is swallowed by a great fish, and is sent to Nineveh anyway. | 4 | 48 | 1,271 | 9.1 min |
| 33 | Micah | Old | Judgment and hope side by side, and one famous line about doing justice and loving kindness. | 7 | 105 | 2,956 | 21.1 min |
| 34 | Nahum | Old | Nineveh hears from a prophet a second time, and this time nothing is held back. | 3 | 47 | 1,201 | 8.6 min |
| 35 | Habakkuk | Old | A prophet argues with God about why evil goes unanswered, then decides to trust him. | 3 | 56 | 1,374 | 9.8 min |
| 36 | Zephaniah | Old | A day of reckoning is coming, and on the far side of it, singing. | 3 | 53 | 1,553 | 11.1 min |
| 37 | Haggai | Old | Get back to building the temple, says a prophet to a discouraged crowd. | 2 | 38 | 1,050 | 7.5 min |
| 38 | Zechariah | Old | Night visions, and a promise about a king who arrives riding a donkey. | 14 | 211 | 6,050 | 43.2 min |
| 39 | Malachi | Old | The last word of the Old Testament, spoken to people who have grown careless. | 4 | 55 | 1,710 | 12.2 min |
| 40 | Matthew | New | The life of Jesus, written for readers who knew the prophets and were watching for a king. | 28 | 1,071 | 22,829 | 163.1 min |
| 41 | Mark | New | The quickest of the four accounts, hurrying from one thing to the next. | 16 | 678 | 14,262 | 101.9 min |
| 42 | Luke | New | A careful researcher’s account, full of the people everyone else overlooked. | 24 | 1,151 | 24,405 | 174.3 min |
| 43 | John | New | Seven signs and seven sayings that begin "I am", written so readers would believe. | 21 | 879 | 18,693 | 133.5 min |
| 44 | Acts | New | What the friends of Jesus did next, from a locked upstairs room all the way to Rome. | 28 | 1,007 | 23,140 | 165.3 min |
| 45 | Romans | New | Paul’s longest letter, explaining how God puts people right with himself. | 16 | 434 | 9,433 | 67.4 min |
| 46 | 1 Corinthians | New | Letters to a church full of arguments, about gifts, unity and what love actually is. | 16 | 437 | 9,342 | 66.7 min |
| 47 | 2 Corinthians | New | Paul defends his ministry and writes about strength that shows up in weakness. | 13 | 257 | 6,070 | 43.4 min |
| 48 | Galatians | New | A short, urgent letter with one message: grace is not something you earn back. | 6 | 149 | 3,117 | 22.3 min |
| 49 | Ephesians | New | What the church is for, and how the people in a household ought to treat each other. | 6 | 155 | 3,082 | 22 min |
| 50 | Philippians | New | A thank-you letter written from prison, and the subject of it is joy. | 4 | 104 | 2,219 | 15.9 min |
| 51 | Colossians | New | Who Jesus is, said as plainly as Paul knows how to say it. | 4 | 95 | 1,990 | 14.2 min |
| 52 | 1 Thessalonians | New | Encouragement for a young church that is worried about friends who have died. | 5 | 89 | 1,833 | 13.1 min |
| 53 | 2 Thessalonians | New | A follow-up note: keep working, keep waiting, and do not panic. | 3 | 47 | 1,036 | 7.4 min |
| 54 | 1 Timothy | New | An older mentor’s advice to a young pastor with a difficult job. | 6 | 113 | 2,267 | 16.2 min |
| 55 | 2 Timothy | New | Paul’s last letter, written near the end, still telling Timothy to keep going. | 4 | 83 | 1,611 | 11.5 min |
| 56 | Titus | New | Brief instructions for getting a church organized on the island of Crete. | 3 | 46 | 904 | 6.5 min |
| 57 | Philemon | New | A one-page letter asking a man to welcome Onesimus back, no longer as a slave but as a brother. | 1 | 25 | 444 | 3.2 min |
| 58 | Hebrews | New | A long argument that Jesus is better, ending with a roll call of people who trusted God. | 13 | 303 | 6,873 | 49.1 min |
| 59 | James | New | Faith you can watch someone do: guard your tongue, care for widows, play no favorites. | 5 | 108 | 2,249 | 16.1 min |
| 60 | 1 Peter | New | Comfort for Christians being treated badly for what they believe. | 5 | 105 | 2,416 | 17.3 min |
| 61 | 2 Peter | New | A warning about teachers who tell people exactly what they want to hear. | 3 | 61 | 1,516 | 10.8 min |
| 62 | 1 John | New | Love each other. Again. And once more, in case anyone missed it. | 5 | 105 | 2,453 | 17.5 min |
| 63 | 2 John | New | A single page to a church, about staying in the truth and who to welcome in. | 1 | 13 | 296 | 2.1 min |
| 64 | 3 John | New | A note about three men and how each of them treated visiting teachers. | 1 | 14 | 292 | 2.1 min |
| 65 | Jude | New | One chapter urging readers to hold on to what they were taught at the start. | 1 | 25 | 604 | 4.3 min |
| 66 | Revelation | New | Visions of trouble, and then a new city where God wipes away every tear. | 22 | 404 | 11,369 | 81.2 min |
| Whole Bible | Read straight through, out loud, at 140 words a minute. | 1,189 | 31,103 | 756,205 | 90 hours and 1 minute |
Learning the order without a song
Most children meet the books of the Bible as one long list and lose heart around Deuteronomy. The list is not the problem. Sixty six items in a row is more than anyone can hold. Groups of five to seven are not.
Chant one group at a time, out loud, in the same sing-song rhythm you would use for a phone number. Say it together in the car, then let your child say it alone, then add the next group only once the first one comes back without a pause. A group a week gets most children through the Old Testament in a couple of months.
The five books of law
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Five names, one breath. This is the group everyone remembers for life.
The twelve history books
Joshua through Esther. Split them in half if twelve is too many: Joshua to 2 Kings, then 1 Chronicles to Esther.
Five books of poetry
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. The middle of the Bible, and the part most families open most often.
Five long prophets, twelve short ones
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, then the twelve from Hosea to Malachi. The short twelve go faster than they look.
Four Gospels and Acts
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Say these five as one unit and the New Testament has a front door.
The letters, then Revelation
Thirteen from Paul, then Hebrews through Jude, then Revelation on its own at the end. Pauline order is easiest as Romans, the two Corinthians, then Galatians onward.
Plenty of families learn the list from one of the well known books-of-the-Bible songs, and if your child already has one stuck in their head, use it. We do not print the words to any of them here because those lyrics belong to the people who wrote them.
The 66 books, on one sheet of paper
One page, three columns, a box beside every book. Tick a box each time your child can say which book comes next without looking. It prints on plain US letter paper and it is generated straight from the same list as the table above, so the two can never disagree.
Every page here is free. Enter your email once and every printable on the site unlocks, plus we will send you our ten-favorite starter pack.
Take the rest of the printables with you
The checklist is one of ten. The starter pack adds coloring pages, a reading plan and verse cards, all free, all printable at home.
Questions families ask about the 66 books
How many books are in the Bible?
There are 66 books in a Protestant Bible: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include a number of additional books, which is why a Catholic Bible is usually counted as 73.
What order do the books of the Bible go in?
The order on this page is the standard Protestant order, starting at Genesis and ending at Revelation. It is not the order the books were written in, and it is not strictly the order events happened in. It groups the books by kind: law, history, poetry, prophets, then the Gospels, Acts, the letters and Revelation.
What is the shortest book in the Bible?
By word count in the World English Bible, 3 John is the shortest at 292 words, which is about 2.1 minutes read aloud. Psalms is the longest at 41,836 words.
How long does it take to read the whole Bible out loud?
The World English Bible runs to 756,205 words. Read aloud at 140 words a minute, an unhurried pace for reading to a child, that is roughly 90 hours and 1 minute. Spread over a year it works out at about fifteen minutes a day.
How can a child learn the books of the Bible in order?
Say them out loud in small groups rather than one long list. Learn the five books of law first, then the twelve history books, and keep going a group at a time. Most children can hold a group of five to seven names, and the groups stack up faster than a list of 66 ever does.
Which book should a child read first?
Not Genesis to Revelation in order. Start with the stories: Genesis for the beginnings, Exodus for the rescue, one of the Gospels for the life of Jesus. Our reading plan puts twenty three of those stories in the order they happened so a family can follow the thread without getting stuck in Leviticus.
Methodology and sources
Every number on this page is counted from one file, and that file is regenerated by a script rather than typed by hand. If a count here disagrees with a count somewhere else, the likely reason is the translation: verse and word counts vary between translations, and this site uses the World English Bible throughout.
Chapters, verses, words and read-aloud minutes for all 66 books
World English Bible (engwebp), verse-per-line release from eBible.org. View the source.
Licence: Public domain. The World English Bible is not copyrighted. · Source file dated August 2026 · Pulled September 2026
Verses are the translation's own versification. Words are whitespace-separated tokens of the verse text with the reference excluded. Read-aloud minutes are words divided by 140, rounded to one decimal. Five verse slots in the New Testament carry a number but no text because they are absent from the oldest manuscripts; they count as verses and add no words.
The one-line descriptions of each book are our own, written for this page. About us.
By Hannah Whitford, Childhood Bible Stories · Last updated September 2026 · Data as of August 2026
A list is a map. The stories are the journey.
Twenty three Bible stories retold gently for children, in the order they happened, each one free to read tonight.