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 - JUDE

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

JUDE  -  NEW TESTAMENT  -  EPISTLE 

26th book of the NT 

65th book of the Bible

It starts with a great greeting v.1-2  -  believers are beloved by God and kept for Jesus

and also pronounces a blessing on the believers.

I love the blessings pronounced in God's Word and they are still blessings to us as well.

What is it?

The Book of Jude is one of the Epistles in the New Testament which means it is a letter.

How Long is it?

It only has 1 chapter which contains 25 verses.

When was it Written?

It is generally thought to have been written between 60 & 80 AD

Who Wrote it?

Jude

The first half of verse 1 tells us who Jude was

"Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,"

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Jude is the half-brother of Jesus who did not believe in Him until after the resurrection."

Jude was of the same earthly family as Jesus but was also a believer.

He himself said he was the brother of James and this is the James who was the brother of Jesus.

Other verses in the bible name brothers of Jesus as James and Judas and Simon but it is also known that the name Judas could also be used as Jude.

Who was it Written to?

It was written to believers as we see in verse 1

 "To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ"

Why was it Written? 

It was written as a warning to the believers about ungodly people who portray themselves as believers to change the meaning of God's Word and that the believers are to stand firm in the Word.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"A letter encouraging Christians to contend for the faith, even though ungodly persons have crept in unnoticed."

which is what verses 3 & states

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"The purpose of this book is to address false teaching.   An attempt by an early Church leader to keep errors out of Believers' thinking."

Jude verse 3 reminds me of advice Paul gave to the people in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 16 v 13

What is it normally well-known for?

Instruction about scoffers in the end times and those who will infiltrate the church with false teaching.

verses 17 -19

"But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.” These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit."

Who does Jude refer to from the Old Testament?

Angels v 6 & 9

Moses  v 9

Enoch  v 14

What new info is found here and not in the Old Testament?

Enoch prophesied that the Lord would come in judgement against the ungodly.

What does Jude write to encourage the believers? 

He writes about their faith, prayer, the love of God and the mercy of Jesus in verses 20 & 21

How does it end?

The best way possible in verses 24 & 25

 in a prayer of praise to God

reminding the saints of what is before them,

 the upholding hand of God.

This prayer is also a great example of how the early believers ended their letters in praise of God.

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