I recently discovered I like math, and I was curious yesterday afternoon how much of the Bible the average person could memorize in one year if they ONLY memorized during the shower, and spent a total of 30 minutes in the shower per week. Just curious! What I discovered blew my mind.
If they spent those 30 minutes in the shower each week memorizing Scripture, they could memorize... well, let me run you through it!
Based on the fact that there are 781,137 words in the King James Bible, (757,439 words in ESV and 770,430 words in NKJV - do the math yourself if you use one of these versions 😄), and there are 31,102 verses in the Bible, this means that the average verse in the Bible contains approximately 25 words per verse.
If the average person can memorize about 375 words per hour, this means that at this rate, the average person can memorize 15 verses per hour. (I got this number from an article that said that the average person can store 50 words in their long term memory in about 8 minutes.)
Okay, 15 verses per hour... is that a good number to use? Based on my years of memorization, I know that it is possible, but... a bit high for average. I can usually only do it when I have worked up to it and am in practice. So instead, let's say about 5 verses per hour for the average person.
Well, if you spend 30 minutes in the shower per week, that is 26 hours per year!
If you memorize 5 verses per hour for each of those 26 collective hours that you spend in the shower, this means you can memorize...
156 verses per year in the shower!
So I quickly looked up how many verses are in some of the epistles. Guess what... the book of Ephesians contains 155 verses! That leaves you one verse to spare! (So you can memorize John 11:35, too, right? 😉😂)
Wow. Amazing, huh?
But how does one memorize verses in the shower?
One method for audio learners is to put Ephesians on your phone and play it in the background. (Biblegateway.com has an audio Bible, and YouTube does as well.)
For all the visual learners, I went ahead and put together some sheets that you can laminate and hang up in your shower in the top 3 versions. (I recommend printing them double-sided.)
English Standard Version:
New King James Version:
King James Version:
It is a great time to be memorizing Scripture. Besides the fact that it causes us to put our trust in the Lord and know and understand His will, who knows when you might be sitting in a prison cell some day soon, thanking me for challenging you to memorize this book during your showers?
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~
(I also made sheets for James... don't ask me why, but you're welcome! 😁)
P.S. If you're one of those people who spends 45 minutes in the shower per week, guess what? You can memorize 234 verses per year! That's equivalent to the books of James & 1 Peter, and Psalm 145!
(Found these graphics on the internet and especially liked them. Don't remember who to give credit to, but thanks to whoever made them! : )