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 - PHILEMON

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

PHILEMON  -  NEW TESTAMENT  -  EPISTLE 

18th book of the NT 

57th book of the Bible

What is it?

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

Who was it written to?

It was written to Philemon, a Christian and church leader, who owned a slave Onesimus.

Who Wrote it?

The Apostle Paul (previously called Saul) 

Although Paul does include Timothy in the first line of the letter

"Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother"

How does it start?

It starts with a greeting v.1-3    

This is not only to Philemon but also to the church who meet in His house.

pronouncing a blessing of Grace and Peace on them all.

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

Then it continues straight away in verse 4 with an encouraging statement that they are not forgotten and are prayed for regularly.

How Long is it?

It has only 1 chapter which contains 25 verses.

When was it written?

It is generally thought to have been written around 60AD.

Why was it written?

It was written so that believers would accept a slave, called Onesimus, as a brother in Christ since he had met Paul and got saved.

Paul actually sent the letter with Onesimus to Philemon and asks Philemon to whom Onesimus had been a slave to forgive him for running away but also requests that he may let him return to stay with Paul.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Paul strongly recommends that Philemon accept his runaway slave as a brother, not a slave."

 

which is seen in verse 16

 "no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord."

 

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Paul's message is that even though slavery was an accepted part of Roman society, we should treat each other as equals, like he encouraged Philemon to treat his slave like a brother "

What format does this book take?

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

1. Paul greets and affirms Philemon (Phm 1–7)
2. Paul requests that Onesimus be accepted as a brother (Phm 8–19)
3. Paul anticipates Philemon’s obedience (Phm 20–25)

How does it end?

With greetings from 5 others that are with Paul in verses 23 & 24

and with a blessing

 

An example of how we should remember to bless others

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