The Chinese Bible in Numbers

Questions answered with one number

• Chinese Characters in the Bible: 921,149 — 921,149
• The Chinese Bible Uses 2,996 Characters — 2,996
• Distinct Words in the Chinese Bible: 11,739 — 11,739
• Verses in the Chinese Bible: 31,021 — 31,021
• 971 Characters Cover 95% of the Bible — 971
• 3,548 Words Cover 95% of the Bible — 3,548
• HSK 3 Covers 60.5% of the Chinese Bible — HSK 3 = 60.5%
• Easiest Book of the Bible in Chinese — John — 72.7% HSK 1-3
• Hardest Book of the Bible in Chinese — Nahum — 51.2% HSK 1-3
• All 66 Bible Books Ranked by Difficulty — 66 books ranked
• The 40 Easiest Bible Chapters in Chinese — Psalms 131
• The Average Bible Verse Is 30 Characters — 30 characters
• The Average Chapter Is 775 Characters — 775 characters
• The Longest Bible Verse in Chinese — Jeremiah 43:5 — 97 characters
• The Shortest Bible Verse in Chinese — 耶稣哭了 — 4 characters
• 2,578 Words Appear Only Once in the Bible — 2,578
• 32 Characters Appear in All 66 Books — 32
• 5,280 Words Are Old Testament Only — 5,280
• 1,341 Words Are New Testament Only — 1,341
• 22.2% of Bible Words Are Not in HSK — 22.2%
• About 1,300 Proper Names in the Bible — 1,300
• Reading the Chinese Bible: About 59 Hours — 59 hours
• How Long to Learn to Read the Chinese Bible — 12 months at 10 words a day
• 1,909 Characters Differ Between the Scripts — 1,909
• 1,183 Pinyin Syllables in the Chinese Bible — 1,183
• 神 Appears 4,361 Times in the Chinese Bible — 4,361 times
• 耶和华 Appears 6,960 Times in the Bible — 6,960 times
• 耶稣 Appears 1,492 Times in the Bible — 1,492 times
• 爱 Appears 388 Times in the Chinese Bible — 388 times
• 信 Appears 473 Times in the Chinese Bible — 473 times
• 恩典 Appears 59 Times in the Chinese Bible — 59 times
• 光 Appears 162 Times in the Chinese Bible — 162 times
• 心 Appears 633 Times in the Chinese Bible — 633 times
• The Chinese Bible Follows Zipf's Law (α 0.992) — α = 0.992
• Writing the Chinese Bible: 6,505,819 Strokes — 6,505,819 strokes
• The Fourth Tone Is 32% of the Chinese Bible — 32% fourth tone
• 18 Characters Share One Sound: yì — 18 characters read yì
• 244 Radicals Build the Chinese Bible — 244 radicals
• New Words Appear at N^0.492 While Reading — β = 0.492
• A Chinese Bible Character Carries 8.77 Bits — 8.77 bits
• Isaiah's Words Unlock 89% of the Bible — Isaiah — 89%
• The Gospels' 3,971 Words Cover 88.7% — 88.7% of the Bible
• 62.9% of Bible Words Are One Character — 62.9%
• Numbers 29 Repeats Itself Most in Chinese — Numbers 29 — 8.29×
• HSK Order Explains Little of Bible Frequency (r 0.309) — r = 0.309
• 79.2% of New Testament Words Are in the Old — 5,118 shared words

Reading coverage by HSK level

• HSK 1 45.1%
• HSK 2 53.8%
• HSK 3 60.5%
• HSK 4 63.9%
• HSK 5 68.3%
• HSK 6 72%
• HSK 7-9 77.8%
• Beyond HSK 22.2%

Vocabulary profile of every book

All 66 books, easiest first by the share of word tokens at HSK 1-3.

• John72.7%
• Matthew68.6%
• Mark68.4%
• Luke68.2%
• 2 John68%
• 1 John67.9%
• Revelation65.7%
• James65.3%
• Genesis65.1%
• 2 Corinthians64.4%
• Song of Solomon64.1%
• 2 Thessalonians64%
• Acts63.9%
• 3 John63.9%
• Ruth63.2%
• 1 Corinthians63%
• Philemon62.2%
• Exodus61.9%
• Deuteronomy61.9%
• 1 Thessalonians61.9%
• Psalms61.8%
• Galatians61.8%
• Jonah61.6%
• Ecclesiastes61.5%
• Colossians61.4%
• Philippians61.3%
• Hebrews61%
• Ezekiel60.8%
• Judges60.6%
• Job60%
• Romans59.5%
• Ephesians59.5%
• Jeremiah59.2%
• Leviticus59.2%
• Lamentations59.2%
• 1 Samuel59.1%
• Joshua59%
• Numbers58.9%
• Jude58.9%
• 2 Timothy58.7%
• Zechariah58.6%
• 2 Peter58.5%
• 1 Kings58.2%
• Malachi58.1%
• Daniel57.6%
• Isaiah57.5%
• 2 Samuel57.5%
• 1 Timothy56.9%
• 2 Kings56.8%
• Haggai56.8%
• Nehemiah56.4%
• Titus56.3%
• Esther56%
• 1 Peter56%
• Amos55.9%
• Micah55.9%
• Joel55.7%
• Habakkuk54.7%
• Zephaniah54.5%
• Hosea54.4%
• Obadiah54.1%
• 2 Chronicles53%
• Ezra53%
• Proverbs52.9%
• 1 Chronicles51.8%
• Nahum51.2%