Random Bible Chapter Generator

Press the button and the Random Bible Chapter Generator names one of the 66 books of the Bible, such as Habakkuk, 2 Corinthians or Ruth, on a card with a copy button. You can leave the dropdown on Random to draw from the whole Bible, or narrow it to the 39 books of the Old Testament or the 27 of the New Testament. You then open that book and pick a chapter to read.

To be precise about what it does: the tool chooses the book, not the chapter number. It does not know that Psalms has 150 chapters and Obadiah has one, and it does not show any scripture text. If you want an actual verse with its wording and reference, the Random Bible Verse Generator draws from 1,463 verses by topic. This page is for the moment when you have decided to read but not what.

How to turn a book into a chapter

The simplest method is to open the book at random, but a couple of habits make the result more useful.

• Short books: read the whole thing. Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John and Jude are one chapter each. Haggai, Habakkuk, Nahum, Titus, 2 Thessalonians and 2 Peter are three or fewer. If the tool lands on one of these, you have your reading.
• Long books: use the date. For Psalms (150 chapters), Isaiah (66), Jeremiah (52), Genesis (50) or Ezekiel (48), read the chapter that matches today's day of the month. It gives you a repeatable rule without a second tool.
• Narrative books: start at chapter one. Ruth, Esther, Jonah, Acts and the Gospels read best in order. Drawing the book is enough; begin at the start and continue tomorrow.

What is in the two lists

The Old Testament option covers the 39 books of the Protestant canon in the traditional order: the five books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), the twelve history books (Joshua through Esther), the five poetic books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon), the five major prophets (Isaiah through Daniel) and the twelve minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi). The New Testament option covers the four Gospels, Acts, Paul's thirteen letters (Romans through Philemon), the eight general letters (Hebrews through Jude) and Revelation. The deuterocanonical books used in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees) are not in the list.

Because the draw is uniform across books, a Random pick lands on a minor prophet about one time in five and on a Gospel about one time in sixteen. If that skews your reading too far toward short prophetic books, use the New Testament filter for a while.

Ways people use it

• Breaking a reading rut. Most people who read the Bible regularly circle the same dozen books. A random draw sends you to Nahum or Titus, which you may not have opened in years.
• Group study. Generate one book per week and have everyone read a chapter of their choice from it, then compare notes on which chapter each person picked and why.
• Sermon and lesson prep. When the calendar is open, a random book is a fair way to choose the next series rather than defaulting to the familiar.
• Memory drills. Draw a book and, before looking, say where it sits in the order and what it is about. The Old Testament filter makes this harder.

If you would like something to read that is not scripture, the Random Book Generator suggests titles, and the Audiobook Speed Calculator will tell you how long a long book takes at 1.5x. Both are listed under all books, quotes and poetry tools.