Read the Bible in 90 Days: Daily Chapters and Time

To read the Bible in 90 days, plan on about 13 chapters a day. In the ESV that comes with Berean, that works out to roughly 8,500 words a day. At an assumed silent reading pace of 250 words a minute, that takes about 34 minutes. If you listen at Berean's narration pace of 155 words a minute, allow about 55 minutes. Chapters vary a lot in length, so some days will run short and others long.

In short

1. The ESV in Berean has 1,189 chapters. Over 90 days that comes to about 13.2 chapters a day: 13 on most days and 14 on 19 of them.

2. Its 767,456 words average about 8,530 a day. At 250 words a minute, that is roughly 34 minutes of reading.

3. Listening at 155 words a minute takes about 55 minutes a day, close to an hour.

4. A 90-day pace suits a read-through for the big picture. A slower plan leaves more room to stop and think.

How many chapters a day to read the Bible in 90 days?

Divide 1,189 chapters by 90 days and you get about 13.2. If you read 13 a day, you would come up 19 chapters short at the end. So add a fourteenth chapter on 19 of the days. You can spread those days through the plan or put them on days you expect to be quieter, like a weekend.

Now compare that with a year. Over 365 days, the same 1,189 chapters come to about 3.3 a day. A 90-day plan asks for about four times that daily amount, because 365 divided by 90 is a little over four. That is the trade. You finish in a quarter of the time by reading four times as much each day. The guide to how many chapters a day for a one-year plan works through the slower version step by step.

Counting chapters helps you keep your place. It does a poor job of telling you how long a day will take, and the next two sections explain why.

How long does each day take?

Words make a better clock than chapters. The ESV in Berean has 767,456 words. Divide that by 90 and you get about 8,530 words a day. Then divide by your pace.

At 250 words a minute, 8,530 words take about 34 minutes. That pace is an assumption. It is a common figure for adult silent reading, but your own pace may differ. If you read more slowly, the minutes go up in step. Across the whole Bible, 250 words a minute adds up to about 51 hours. That total is the same one behind how long it takes to read the whole Bible. A 90-day plan keeps the total the same and fits it into fewer days.

Listening takes longer. Berean's narration runs at about 155 words a minute, a figure measured from its own audio. At that pace the whole text takes about 82.5 hours. Over 90 days that comes to about 55 minutes a day.

Daily averages from the 767,456 words and 1,189 chapters of the ESV in Berean

Over a week, the 90-day pace adds up to about four hours of reading, or about six and a half hours of listening. It helps to see that number before day one. That way the plan fits into the week you actually have.

Why do some days run longer than others?

The average chapter has about 645 words, which is 767,456 divided by 1,189. At 250 words a minute, an average chapter takes a little over two and a half minutes. Very few chapters are average, though. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and Psalm 117, two chapters earlier, is one of the shortest. A day of short psalms can finish well under 34 minutes. A day of long chapters of story or prophecy can run well past it. The post on the longest and shortest chapters shows how wide that range is.

You have two fair ways to handle the difference:

1. Count chapters. Read 13 or 14 each day and let the minutes vary. This keeps the plan easy to track.
2. Count minutes. Read for about 34 minutes, stop at the end of a paragraph, and pick up there tomorrow. Then check your progress once a week. Ninety days at this pace comes to about 92 or 93 chapters a week.

Either way works. The first suits people who like a checklist. The second suits people whose free time is fixed and who would rather have the reading fit that time.

Who does a 90-day overview suit?

A 90-day plan is an overview. It moves fast enough to keep the long story in view. You can see a promise made in Genesis and notice it come up again weeks later, while the first mention is still fresh. If you have read the Bible in pieces and never seen how the pieces connect, that speed can help.

It also suits a season with more free time than usual, or a group that wants a shared goal with a clear end date. Reading alongside friends gives you someone to talk with about what came up that week.

It is less suited to slow study. At 13 chapters a day, you will read past things you would like to stop on. If you are new to the Bible, a shorter daily amount may serve you better. A plan for beginners or a year-long plan gives each passage more room.

Psalm 119:105 pictures God's word as a lamp for your feet and a light for your path. A lamp lights the next step, not the whole road at once. That picture fits a slow pace and a fast one alike, and you can find more on the verse in Psalm 119:105 meaning.

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

What if you miss a day?

At this pace, a missed day costs a lot. Catching up means reading 26 or 27 chapters the next day, about 68 minutes of reading or close to two hours of listening. Most people cannot do that often.

You have better options than doubling up. You can push the end date back by a day. You can add one or two extra chapters a day over the next week until you are even again. Or you can stretch the whole plan. At 120 days, the daily load drops to about 10 chapters and 26 minutes of reading. A plan you keep reading is worth more than a deadline you give up on. The post on falling behind on a reading plan has more ways to start again.

Before you begin, decide on an order. Reading straight from Genesis to Revelation is the simplest. Mixing Old and New Testament readings gives you variety on long days. The guide to what order to read the Bible in compares a few choices. Then pick a time of day, set aside the 34 minutes, and start with day one.