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 

There is a Green Hill Far Away - A Hymn of Encouragement

I was born in the city of Londonderry, Northern Ireland and that means I have a hometown that is famous for various things.

• It is a walled city
• There was a siege in 1689
• For political reasons it now has to be referred to as as both Londonderry and Derry on the news.
• It has produced many well-known song writers

Perhaps the one who wrote most pieces was actually the Hymn Writer and Poet 

Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander

One of her hymns is a great one for Easter Time and especially for Good Friday

There is a Green Hill Far Away

When this was first published in 1848 it was in a selection of "Hymns for Little Children" and in various hymn books it has been classified in the children's sections.

Hymnology Archive

Each verse is a great tool for teaching young children about the sacrifice Christ made for us and can be said to have been based around various verses of scripture including  John 3 v 16

and  Romans 5 v 8

Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander was the wife of  William Alexander who was the Bishop of Londonderry and later became the Archbishop of Armagh.

The Bishop was based in St. Columb's Cathedral which along with their home sat within the Walls of Londonderry and outside those walls Mrs Alexander would have had a view of the hills around the city which would have reminded her of the hill on which her saviour died.  Hence these lovely words were penned:

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good;
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by his precious Blood.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.

O dearly, dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming Blood,
And try his works to do.

and because of the short verses of 4 lines each would have been easily remembered by everyone. 

DON'T FORGET TO DOWNLOAD THIS FREE PRINTABLE 

(Available in both A4 & Letter Size) 

So we have a great hymn sung to a peaceful tune that is a great reminder of Good Friday and in fact a good reminder everyday of the love of Jesus.

You can find Songs for Kids at  Kids Resources

You can find Other Easter Posts at  EASTER

All my Free Printables can be found by going to Sandra's Ark Resource Library

Reading Through the Bible - PHILIPPIANS

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

PHILIPPIANS  -  NEW TESTAMENT  -  EPISTLE

11th book of the NT 

50th book of the Bible

It starts with a lovely greeting of Grace & Peace in verse 2

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Then in verses 3 & 4 it continues into thanksgiving for the Philippians and assures them of Paul's Prayers for them. 

This makes the letter feel so personal and loving.

Verse 6 brings the Philippians encouragement by reminding them of the way God is working in their lives.

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Considered to be one of the most encouraging epistles for those under trial"

What is it?

The Book of Philippians is one of the Epistles in the New Testament which means it is a Letter.

How Long is it?

It has 4 chapters.

When was it Written?

It was written between 60 & 62 AD

Who Wrote it?

The Apostle Paul

The first verse of the book tells us that Timothy was included with Paul in the sending of this letter.

"Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:"

Who was it Written to?

It was written to the church at Philippi which was a Greek city in the region of Macedonia.

CREDIT:User:Alecmconroy, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Why was it Written? 

It was written as encouragement to the people of the church in Philippi which was the church that had been started in the house of Lydia and we read about Paul's ministry there in Acts ch. 16.

Timothy and Silas had also been in Philippi with Paul and of course that is where Paul & Silas were in prison when there was the earthquake at midnight and their jailer got saved.

Paul talked about their Saviour and His death and what His focus was

Paul also encouraged them as to what they shoud think about

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"An encouraging letter to the church of Philippi from Paul, telling them how to have joy in Christ."

which is seen the whole way through this book

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"The Apostle Paul did not write Philippians to address a crisis, like he did with other letters. Instead, he wrote to express his appreciation and affection for the believers in the church at Philippi."

What is unique to this book?

It is considered to be the happiest book in the Bible even though it was written from a prison.

The words "joy" or "rejoice" in some form or another are found 16 times in this book.

chapter 1

   v4(joy), v18(rejoice)twice, v25(joy), v26(rejoicing)

chapter 2 

   v2(joy), v16(rejoice), v17(rejoice), v18(rejoice), v28(rejoice)

chapter 3  

   v1(rejoice), v3(rejoice) 

chapter 4  

   v1(joy), v4(rejoice)twice, v10(rejoiced)

How does it end?

With a blessing in the last verse of chapter 4

 "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

The Overview Bible  gives us the following

Quick outline of Philippians

1. Rejoice! Christ is our life (Phil 1)
2. Rejoice! Christ is our example (Phil 2)
3. Rejoice! Christ is our glory (Phil 3)
4. Rejoice! Christ is our strength (Phil 4)

Easter Kids Dice Game for Families - Plus FREE PRINTABLE

This is a simple dice game for all ages in the family.

OBJECTIVE of the Game:   

To help the children understand more about Easter and to be able to practice talking about it with the aid of the pictures.

EQUIPPMENT required:    

2 special dice (templates of the 2 different cubes to make the dice are in the FREE PRINTABLE)

Instructions (included with the templates of the dice)

White or coloured card

Scissors

Glue or sticky tape.

INSTRUCTIONS for Preparation:

1.   Print out the templates of the dice

2.   Cut out the templates of the dice 

3.   Fold up & stick together to make into 2 dice

INSTRUCTIONS for Playing 2 Dice Game:

1.   Each player takes a turn at throwing the 2 dice

2.   The player has to tell something about Easter which links the 2 pictures together 

(eg. First die shows the donkey, second die shows the tomb  -  The donkey was essential for the start of the Easter story and the empty tomb was essential for the end of the Easter story) 

INSTRUCTIONS for Playing a Simpler version:

1.   Each player takes a turn at throwing one of the dice

2.   That person must then tell a short bit of the Easter Story which includes whichever picture shows

(eg. for the church below - we go to church to celebrate that Jesus is alive forever) 

INSTRUCTIONS for Playing with very young children:

1.   Each player takes a turn at throwing one of the dice

2.   That person simply tells what the picture represents and the parents can teach them a small fact about the object.

(eg. for the donkey above - it was a donkey that Jesus rode to come into the city) 

If you want to you can enjoy playing the game while you enjoy your chocolate Easter Eggs.

What's Included in the FREE PRINTABLE?

1.   The 2 templates A4 size or Letter size as shown above

2.   A page with the instructions similar to above.

3.   A smaller version of the 2 templates on one page A4 size or Letter size as shown below

Don't forget to download your

 FREE PRINTABLE

More Kids Resources

More EASTER Posts