Reading Through the Bible - The 10 Shortest Books in the Bible

We are looking at the 10 Shortest books in the Bible.

You might be surprised at what they actually are.

There are 3 ways of deciding on the sizes of Bible books.

Number of Chapters.

Number of Verses.

Number of Words.

You can see a chart comparing these in my Reading Plan by Order of Size of Books

OR - if time is more important to you Number of minutes, hours & days

Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Chapters

The First 5 each only contain 1 chapter.

None of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

1. Second John (1 chapter)
2. Third John (1 chapter)
3. Jude (1 chapter)
4. Obadiah (1 chapter)
5. Philemon (1 chapter)
6. Haggai (2 chapters)
7. Habakkuk (3 chapters)
8. Nahum (3 chapters)
9. Titus (3 chapters)
10. Zephaniah (3 chapters)

Note: In my Reading Plan I have combined   1,2 & 3 John,  1 & 2 Peter,  1 & 2 Timothy,  1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians and  as it seemed more logical to me to read these letters to the same churches consecutively as well as the 1st & 2nd books in the Old Testament because they logically & historically followed on from each other.

Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Verses

The First 5 each only contain 1 chapter.

Only one of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

1. Second John (13 verses)
2. Third John (14 verses)
3. Obadiah (21 verses)
4. Philemon (25 verses)
5. Jude (25 verses)
6. Haggai (38 verses)   2
7. Titus (46 verses    3
8. Nahum (47 verses)   3
9. Jonah (48 verses)    4
10. Zephaniah (53 verses)   3

Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Words

The First 5 are each only contain 1 chapter.

None of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

1. Third John (219 words)
2. Second John (245 words)
3. Philemon (430 words)
4. Jude (608 words)
5. Obadiah (669 words)
6. Titus (896 words)
7. Haggai (1130 words)
8. Nahum (1284 words)
9. Jonah (1320 words)
10. Habakkuk (1475 words)

If TIME is more important to you

Number of Minutes, Hours, Days can be considered.

Of course then it would have to be the number of words to calculate from because people have worked out how long it takes to read a certain number of words and hence from that how long it takes to read the various books of the Bible.

For Example in:

30 mins  you could read the book of Ecclesiastes.

1 hour & 30 mins  you could read the Gospel of Mark.

5 hours  you could read the Book of Psalms.

10 hours  you could read the 4 Gospels and the Book of Acts

This is all to do with reading the Bible.

If you would like to start in the whole bible then why not try my Plan

 Reading Through the Bible from Shortest to Longest Book 

Studying and memorizing of course will take longer.

If you are interested in studying you may find these  Devotionals  

and  Bible Studies  helpful 

or 

if you are thinking of trying to memorize more of the Bible then try our page on Memorizing Scripture  to get help and advice (we even have videos of songs there).

OTHER POSTS ABOUT THE BIBLE & BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR

 READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

Reading Through the Bible - HABAKKUK

Some Books of the Bible are very short and this is one of the shortest. 

HABAKKUK  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY 

35th book of the OT 

35th book of the Bible

What is it?

The Book of Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.

Who Wrote it?

The Prophet Habakkuk  

How does it start?

It starts with a question from the prophet Habakkuk to God ch. 1 v.2-4    

Haggai is crying out to God about justice

How Long is it?

It has only 3 chapters.

What does it contain?

It covers

•  2 questions from Habakkuk to God and God's reply,
•  a prayer by Habakkuk
•  God's comparison between the proud and the just in ch. 2v4

•  God's proclamation on the wicked

but even through the judgement of the wicked there is always hope for the world.

When was it written?

It covers the period of 615 - 605 BC.

Prophecies come true in the period 608 - 598 BC

Why was it written?

It is to encourage people to turn to God and rely on Him to do what is right though prayer and praise.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Habakkuk pleads with God to stop the injustice and violence in Judah, but is surprised to find that God will use the even more violent Babylonians to do so."

 

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"The Prophecy is in response to heartfelt prayer and has been an encouragement to people to cry out in times of trouble."

What format does this book take?

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

1. Habakkuk asks when God will judge Judah (Hab 1:1–4)
2. God will judge Judah with the Chaldeans (Hab 1:5–11)
3. Habakkuk asks why God would use the wicked Chaleans (Hab 1:12–17)
4. God pronounces judgment on the Chaldeans (Hab 2)
5. Habakkuk responds with a song of worship (Hab 3)

How does it end?

With a Hymn of Faith in ch. 3 v 17-19

where we get the very well known passage acknowledging that we can trust God through everything.

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE