Psalm 23:4 is Bible Gateway’s Top Searched Verse for 2025

Bible Gateway, the internet’s premier Bible reading and research tool, received hundreds of billions of views last year by more than 20 million unique visitors per month in many languages around the globe.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of the BIBLE ]

The number one verse read out of those billions of views is Psalm 23:4 —

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Bible Use Is on the Rise Again in America, According to State of the Bible 2025 ]

Its article, Bible Gateway Year in Review 2025: Top 100 Verses and More. draws the following conclusions from the top 100 Bible verses read on Bible Gateway in 2025:

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness: How Long Does It Take to Read the Bible? ]

The most popular book (by far) was again the Psalms, claiming well over a third (40) of the top 100 verses (mostly thanks to Psalms 23, 91, and 121, as mentioned above) — one more verse than last year, and six more than 2023.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Latest Biblical Archaeology Research ]

The second most popular book was a three-way tie at 1 Corinthians, Matthew, and Isaiah, with six verses each (Isaiah gained two over last year, while Matthew gained one).

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Self-Defense In Spiritual Warfare: Know Your Enemies ]

The most popular chapters (also by far) remained Psalm 23, which retained its claim to the first six verses on the list, and Psalm 91, with all 16 verses still in the top 25. (This suggests readers are usually reading these entire psalms, rather than isolated verses. See the Methodology section below for more on how we process that data.)

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Too Little Faith to Be an Atheist ]

The most popular New Testament chapter was again tied between 1 Corinthians 13 and Philippians 4, also typically read as a block, both with five verses in the top 100. Paul was again well represented, with 31 verses from Pauline epistles (though not the same 31 as last year).

[ See the SemperVerus section, GOOD NEWS ]

The top 100 is divided almost evenly between Old and New Testaments, with the Old Testament taking 51 of the top 100 verses, including the first #1 through #23. Remember, though, that 40 of those OT verses are from the Psalms, and another six are from Isaiah, leaving only five verses from the rest of the Old Testament books.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The Reality of God is Plain Enough ]

With Psalms and Paul combined totaling over one-third of the top 100, that leaves only 29 verses from the entire rest of the Bible combined. Eleven of those verses are from the Gospels (Matthew and John, to be precise; neither Mark nor Luke made the list), so that’s only 18 verses from the remaining 50 books of the Bible.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, 100 Million Christians Lack Access to the Bible ]

See all 100 verses and read the complete article here.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Discover the Compelling Evidence Proving the Reliability of the Bible ]

YouVersion, which says it’s the creator of the world’s most downloaded Bible apps with more than one billion installs, reports the most engaged-with verse throughout 2025, marking the fourth time in six years this verse has claimed the top spot, was Isaiah 41:10 —

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of SPIRITUAL FITNESS ]

And, aggregating 76 million Bible study sessions among 3.4 million people across 164 countries and 35 territories, including the USA, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, South Korea, and Singapore in 2025, Logos Chronicled, the annual report by the Bible study software platform Logos,
the most-studied Bible verse in 2025 was 2 Timothy 3:16 —

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”

The Gospel of Matthew was the most-studied book of the Bible in 2025, followed by Psalms, the Gospels of John and Luke, and the book of Romans, according to Logos’ report.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Free Online Educational Resources to Grow Your Spiritual Knowledge ]

With Millennials and Generation Z leading the way, particularly among men, Bible reading among US adults in 2025 is at its highest level in the last 15 years, according to the “State of the Church” initiative by Barna Group and Gloo, based on collected data from 12,116 online interviews conducted between January and October of 2025. The research indicates that approximately 50% of self-identified Christians report reading the Bible weekly, the highest level of Bible reading among Christians in more than a decade.

See Barna Group’s Top Trends of 2025, Part 1 and Part 2.

Also see Social Issues and Worldview: A National Survey of Churchgoing Americans 2025 by George Barna and the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Fewer American Adults Are Engaging the Bible in 2024 ]

Invite SemperVerus^® to present its 5 life-changing success-generating components—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

Join the SemperVerus Brotherhood™!