How many chapters are in Deuteronomy?
Deuteronomy has 34 chapters and 959 verses. The King James Version text of Deuteronomy runs 28,365 words, about 1 hour 59 minutes of reading at 238 words a minute. It is book 5 of the 66 books of the Bible (5th of the 39 Old Testament books) and the 8th longest by word count.
Verses in each chapter of Deuteronomy
The longest chapter is Deuteronomy 28 with 68 verses; the shortest is Deuteronomy 34 with 12.
Longest and shortest verse in Deuteronomy
Longest: Deuteronomy 13:5, 73 words in the KJV.
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
Shortest: Deuteronomy 5:17, 4 words in the KJV.
Thou shalt not kill.
How Deuteronomy begins and ends
First verse, Deuteronomy 1:1
These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
Last verse, Deuteronomy 34:12
And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.
and in all the mighty hand, and in all the awesome deeds, which Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Deuteronomy in our topic collections
43 verses from Deuteronomy appear on our Bible verse topic pages, most often in these topics:
- Bible Verses About Fathers (7 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Idolatry (5 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Debt (4 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Courage (3 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Dreams (3 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Rest (3 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Loneliness (2 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Hard Times (2 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Fear (2 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Family (2 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Children (2 from Deuteronomy)
- Bible Verses About Tattoos (2 from Deuteronomy)
Deuteronomy: common questions
How many chapters are in the book of Deuteronomy?
Deuteronomy has 34 chapters. The longest chapter is Deuteronomy 28 with 68 verses; the shortest is Deuteronomy 34 with 12.
How many verses are in Deuteronomy?
Deuteronomy has 959 verses in the King James Version, and the same number in the World English Bible.
How long does it take to read Deuteronomy?
About 1 hour 59 minutes at an average silent reading speed of 238 words a minute. The KJV text is 28,365 words and the World English Bible text is 26,895 words.
What is the longest verse in Deuteronomy?
Deuteronomy 13:5 is the longest verse in Deuteronomy, at 73 words in the King James Version. The shortest is Deuteronomy 5:17 (4 words): "Thou shalt not kill."
Compare all 66 books on how many books are in the Bible, see the Bible by the numbers, or work out how long it takes to read the Bible at your own pace.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-02.