Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV) by Anonymous
Published 2007 · 1,243 pages · 341,825 words · about 27 hours at an average pace · Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction
How hard is Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV) to read?
Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV) scores 59 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 50 out of 100
- The ESV keeps the formal register of the Tyndale and King James tradition, with terms like propitiation, covenant, and tabernacle. Most sentences use plain words, so it reads easier than Moby-Dick but with more archaic and theological terms than The Great Gatsby.
- Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
- Its word-for-word method yields long, chained sentences in Paul's letters, with strings of 'and' and nested clauses in Romans and Ephesians. Narrative books such as Genesis and the Gospels run in short, parallel clauses, so the overall load sits near Anna Karenina's moderate range.
- Abstraction: 65 out of 100
- Genesis, Exodus and the Gospels tell concrete stories, while Romans, Ecclesiastes and John's prologue argue about sin, grace, and the Word. The mix lands between The Brothers Karamazov's philosophical drama and the concreteness of The Road.
- Information density: 70 out of 100
- Sixty-six books bring genealogies, laws, histories, prophecy and letters, with constant cross-references between them. The density approaches that of Moby-Dick's digressive encyclopedia, though many narrative stretches move slowly.
How Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV) is regarded
Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV) holds a literary regard score of 79 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.