Comprehensive Bible Translation Statistics: An Unprecedented Linguistic Analysis
A groundbreaking computational study of 49 English Bible translations
For the first time ever, we present a comprehensive linguistic analysis of 49 English Bible translations, examining not just verses and words, but the grammatical structure of each translation through detailed sentence, verb, and noun counts.
This groundbreaking study reveals fascinating differences in how translators have rendered the biblical text across different translation philosophies and time periods.
Key Findings at a Glance
49
Bible Translations
Analyzed
1.56M
Total Sentences
Counted
6.8M+
Verbs
Identified
10M+
Nouns
Identified
Complete Statistics: All 49 Translations
Click on any Bible translation name to explore that version in our interactive Bible reader. Click on any column header to sort the table by that metric!
| Bible Translation | Sentences | Verbs | Nouns | Words | Verses | Avg Sent/Verse | Testament Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling (Enhanced) | 60,365 | 249,965 | 406,443 | 1,564,678 | 36,010 | 1.68 | OT: 36,062 / NT: 9,071 |
| #2Translation for Translators | 52,095 | 227,499 | 255,061 | 1,038,803 | 30,640 | 1.70 | OT: 36,521 / NT: 15,393 |
| #3World English Bible | 51,400 | 166,928 | 249,249 | 919,552 | 38,029 | 1.35 | OT: 41,753 / NT: 9,624 |
| #4World English Bible Updated | 51,400 | 166,790 | 249,712 | 925,776 | 38,029 | 1.35 | OT: 41,753 / NT: 9,624 |
| #5World English Bible British Edition with Deuterocanon | 51,400 | 166,959 | 249,899 | 926,296 | 38,029 | 1.35 | OT: 41,753 / NT: 9,624 |
| World English Bible (Catholic) | 48,157 | 154,520 | 232,717 | 858,594 | 35,379 | 1.36 | OT: 38,533 / NT: 9,624 |
| Free Bible Version | 44,196 | 150,611 | 185,135 | 733,590 | 31,087 | 1.42 | OT: 33,412 / NT: 10,584 |
| Unlocked Literal Bible | 42,720 | 141,272 | 195,629 | 770,685 | 31,078 | 1.37 | OT: 32,120 / NT: 10,436 |
| World English Bible | 42,330 | 135,347 | 207,057 | 755,142 | 31,098 | 1.36 | OT: 32,706 / NT: 9,624 |
| World English Bible British Edition | 42,330 | 135,507 | 207,218 | 755,535 | 31,098 | 1.36 | OT: 32,706 / NT: 9,624 |
| World Messianic Bible | 42,330 | 135,376 | 207,062 | 755,346 | 31,098 | 1.36 | OT: 32,706 / NT: 8,192 |
| World Messianic Bible British Edition | 42,330 | 135,535 | 207,225 | 755,739 | 31,098 | 1.36 | OT: 32,706 / NT: 8,192 |
| NET Bible | 42,210 | 140,198 | 201,608 | 752,986 | 31,085 | 1.36 | OT: 32,779 / NT: 9,431 |
| Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling | 42,110 | 157,879 | 261,964 | 956,303 | 36,010 | 1.17 | OT: 23,284 / NT: 6,982 |
| American Standard Version Byzantine Text | 41,861 | 155,062 | 245,870 | 951,946 | 37,760 | 1.11 | OT: 31,417 / NT: 8,946 |
| Douay-Rheims 1899 | 40,971 | 149,323 | 221,213 | 889,787 | 35,811 | 1.14 | OT: 31,414 / NT: 9,557 |
| King James Version + Apocrypha | 40,888 | 151,494 | 237,420 | 930,289 | 36,822 | 1.11 | OT: 31,912 / NT: 8,976 |
| KJV Cambridge Paragraph Bible | 40,855 | 151,496 | 239,067 | 930,954 | 36,821 | 1.11 | OT: 30,342 / NT: 8,969 |
| Revised Version with Apocrypha (1895) | 40,731 | 151,761 | 239,828 | 936,087 | 36,836 | 1.11 | OT: 28,633 / NT: 8,919 |
| Majority Standard Bible | 39,499 | 131,783 | 200,017 | 726,903 | 31,098 | 1.27 | OT: 29,646 / NT: 9,853 |
| Berean Standard Bible | 39,252 | 131,571 | 199,177 | 724,839 | 31,086 | 1.26 | OT: 29,448 / NT: 9,804 |
| The Orthodox Jewish Bible | 36,272 | 134,754 | 248,161 | 817,480 | 31,165 | 1.16 | OT: 1,312 / NT: 942 |
| Darby Translation | 35,833 | 131,562 | 204,858 | 775,471 | 31,099 | 1.15 | OT: 26,849 / NT: 8,984 |
| Noah Webster Bible | 34,973 | 126,704 | 197,770 | 790,219 | 31,102 | 1.12 | OT: 25,992 / NT: 8,981 |
| King James (Authorized) Version | 34,893 | 127,523 | 203,718 | 789,642 | 31,102 | 1.12 | OT: 25,917 / NT: 8,976 |
| Bible in Basic English | 34,888 | 141,829 | 202,453 | 839,363 | 31,102 | 1.12 | OT: 25,934 / NT: 8,954 |
| American Standard Version (1901) | 34,771 | 126,661 | 203,756 | 783,611 | 31,086 | 1.12 | OT: 25,851 / NT: 8,920 |
| Geneva Bible 1599 | 34,400 | 121,053 | 225,264 | 783,932 | 31,090 | 1.11 | OT: 25,589 / NT: 8,811 |
| Young’s Literal Translation | 33,807 | 141,096 | 225,375 | 794,063 | 31,102 | 1.09 | OT: 25,371 / NT: 8,436 |
| Literal Standard Version | 33,015 | 155,844 | 223,890 | 790,615 | 31,104 | 1.06 | OT: 24,597 / NT: 8,281 |
| Brenton Septuagint Translation | 31,290 | 119,121 | 190,549 | 746,760 | 28,690 | 1.09 | Old Testament Only |
| LXX2012: Septuagint in British/International English 2012 | 31,066 | 120,974 | 179,468 | 746,919 | 28,323 | 1.10 | Old Testament Only |
| LXX2012: Septuagint in American English 2012 | 31,066 | 120,707 | 179,378 | 746,818 | 28,323 | 1.10 | Old Testament Only |
| Updated Brenton English Septuagint | 30,796 | 118,042 | 191,300 | 737,465 | 28,307 | 1.09 | Old Testament Only |
| JPS TaNaKH 1917 | 26,163 | 93,853 | 164,435 | 613,805 | 23,145 | 1.13 | Old Testament Only |
| Isaac Leeser Tanakh | 25,574 | 98,023 | 167,661 | 634,216 | 23,143 | 1.11 | Old Testament Only |
| George Noyes Bible | 22,086 | 72,490 | 106,326 | 421,636 | 18,213 | 1.21 | OT: 12,876 / NT: 9,210 |
| One Unity Resource Bible | 20,148 | 67,732 | 123,255 | 374,006 | 15,230 | 1.32 | OT: 14,691 / NT: 4,507 |
| Plain English Version | 19,952 | 65,794 | 75,023 | 302,984 | 7,167 | 2.78 | OT: 5,947 / NT: 14,005 |
| Wycliffe Bible | 10,846 | 32,020 | 85,504 | 232,280 | 9,622 | 1.13 | OT: 6,293 / NT: 4,553 |
| Tyndale New Testament | 10,397 | 33,396 | 47,585 | 182,000 | 7,954 | 1.31 | New Testament Only |
| Text-Critical English New Testament | 9,401 | 37,970 | 42,003 | 181,626 | 7,953 | 1.18 | New Testament Only |
| English Majority Text Version | 9,023 | 37,741 | 41,449 | 181,354 | 7,954 | 1.13 | New Testament Only |
| The New Testament with Commentary | 8,803 | 37,219 | 41,099 | 177,993 | 7,953 | 1.11 | New Testament Only |
| Anindilyakwa English Bible | 6,611 | 21,849 | 22,229 | 98,327 | 2,957 | 2.24 | OT: 2,956 / NT: 3,655 |
| Targum Onkelos Etheridge | 6,482 | 22,885 | 42,050 | 155,361 | 5,847 | 1.11 | Old Testament Only |
| Nyangumarta English Bible | 3,940 | 9,877 | 10,801 | 46,910 | 1,366 | 2.88 | OT: 2,005 / NT: 1,935 |
| Barkly Bible Portions | 2,749 | 9,616 | 11,959 | 45,625 | 1,322 | 2.08 | Old Testament Only |
| God’s Living Word | 1,240 | 5,308 | 5,647 | 21,618 | 1,012 | 1.23 | New Testament Only |
📊 Methodology
Sentence Counting: Sentences were identified using standard punctuation markers (periods, question marks, exclamation points), accounting for quotations and parenthetical statements.
Part-of-Speech Tagging: Verbs and nouns were identified using Natural Language Processing (NLP) with the NLTK library and the averaged perceptron tagger, analyzing each word in context.
Testament Classification: Books were categorized as Old Testament (including deuterocanonical books where present) or New Testament based on traditional biblical canon.
Data Source: All statistics were computed from the complete text of each translation in the Acts1Family.org database using Python-based computational linguistics tools.
📈 Key Insights
Translation Philosophy and Sentence Structure
The variation in sentences per verse reveals significant differences in translation philosophy:
- Higher sentence counts (1.3-2.2+ per verse) typically indicate more modern translations that break longer Greek and Hebrew sentences into multiple English sentences for clarity.
- Lower sentence counts (1.0-1.2 per verse) often reflect more literal, formal equivalence translations that preserve the original sentence structure.
- The King James Version averages 1.12 sentences per verse, staying close to the original structure while maintaining 17th-century English readability.
Verb and Noun Density
The ratio of verbs to nouns provides insight into the narrative style of each translation:
- Most translations show approximately 1.5-2 nouns per verb, reflecting the descriptive and narrative nature of biblical text.
- Translations with higher noun counts often include more detailed descriptive language and expanded explanatory phrases.
- Verb density remains relatively consistent across translations, as action and state-of-being concepts are fundamental to meaning.
🔍 Why This Matters
Understanding the linguistic structure of Bible translations helps readers:
- ✅ Choose translations that match their reading preferences and comprehension level
- ✅ Appreciate translation decisions and the work involved in bringing ancient texts to modern readers
- ✅ Engage in comparative study to see how different teams rendered the same passages
- ✅ Understand readability through concrete metrics rather than subjective impressions
Explore the Translations
Visit Acts1Family.org to read any of these translations, compare passages side-by-side, and explore the rich diversity of English Bible translations available today.
This analysis was conducted using computational linguistics tools on the complete Acts1Family.org Bible database. All statistics are automatically generated and verified against source texts. This represents the first comprehensive linguistic analysis of its kind across this many English Bible translations.