The event is being billed by Youversion as the largest and fastest Bible-reading event in history.

People around the world are being invited to read an assigned portion of the King James Bible in no more than 400 seconds.

On May 2, participants will read their passages out loud and share photos and posts on Twitter and Facebook.

YouVersion will also be switching the default online Bible version to the King James Version on the same day.

“We’re celebrating history by making history,” said Bobby Gruenewald, innovation leader at Lifechurch.tv, the creators of YouVersion.

“Access to the Bible was greatly increased with the King James Version. Now 400 years later, people are still being influenced by this translation.”

YouVersion and the Bible App were created by a team at Lifechurch.tv in Edmond, Oklahoma, to help increase access and engagement with the Bible.

YouVersion.com launched in September 2007 and the Bible app in July 2008, allowing users to bookmark verses, share Scripture through email, Twitter and Facebook, and journal their thoughts.

The global Bible reading follows on from YouVersion’s digital Bible giveaway earlier in the year. It teamed up with Zondervan and Biblica to mark the KJV’s 400th anniversary by giving away one million digital Bibles in 400 hours.

YouVersion features more than 100 different translations and nearly 40 languages, and is the most downloaded Bible on iTunes.

Gruenewald said: “I believe this global Bible reading event shows just how far we have come and where we are going with access and interaction with the Bible.”

Anyone interested in participating in the global Bible reading can sign up at www.youversion.com/kjv400