Shortest Book in the Bible? Here Are 4 Great Candidates

If you ever wondered what is the shortest book in the Bible, you actually have a few short books to consider. Some of the shortest books in the Bible have only a single chapter. These are Obadiah, Philemon, Second John, Third John, and Jude. Of these 5 books, four are very short.

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Obviously, the word count would have been different in the original languages of Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek. To determine which book of the Bible is the shortest, it depends if you are counting the number of words or the number of verses.

Shortest Book in the Bible — Number of Verses–2 John

The shortest book of the entire Bible, counting by number of verses, is the Second Epistle of John, which is found in the New Testament. The KJV English translation of this short epistle has only 13 verses, with 298 words.

In this interesting short book, John identifies himself as “the elder,” and addresses his writing to “the elect lady and her children.” (verse 1) The Bible never divulges the identity of this chosen lady to whom the Apostle John wrote this letter, but some clues given.

Some Bible scholars believe John wrote this letter and called “the Church” the elect lady, meaning he was writing to Christian believers. But upon close examination of this epistle, it seems this individual was a specific woman. In verse 1, John addressed his writing to both the lady and “her children.”

This woman had biological children, i.e., a family. In verse 4, it also appears that John was acquainted with at least some of her children, since he told her he rejoiced when he found her children “walking in truth.” (verse 4)

The last verse of this short book of the Bible references that this lady also had a sister who had children, “The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.” — verse 13 (KJV). John was passing on greetings from this lady’s nieces and nephews, which gives another clue that the recipient of the letter was an actual female, and not a metaphor for a group of Christians or a house of worship.

Every time I would read this small letter, I wondered who the lady was. Many Bible scholars offered ideas of various names of Bible ladies. But when I heard the speculation that this lady was Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, that resonated with me, and I accepted this theory.

The Apostle John had a close relationship with Mary because Jesus, while He was on the cross, entrusted the care of her to him. This is recorded in John’s Gospel. “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” — John 19:26-27 (KJV)

Interestingly enough, in this same chapter of the Gospel of John, he recorded Mary had a sister, or perhaps a sister-in-law, named Mary, too. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas.” — John 19:25 (KJV) This other “Mary” could have been the sister John referred to in his letter.

I am not saying this is a fact. The Holy Spirit did not move John to name the recipient of his letter. While I like to think it was Mary, the mother of Jesus, it may not have been. I encourage you to think and come to your own conclusion yourself. The identity of this lady is not as important as the message of this book.

Shortest Book in the Bible — Number of Words–3 John

If you are looking for the shortest book in the Bible when using a word count alone, that book is the Third Epistle of John. With 294 words and 14 verses, this book has fewer words, but one more verse than Second John.

Third John was also written to a specific individual, this time to the “well-beloved Gaius.” (verse 1) John, again, introduced himself as “the elder.” John desired Gaius to enjoy good health in verse 2, proving that Gaius was an actual human. And in verse 4, John indicated Gaius was one of his sons since he used the phrase “my children” in verse 4. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” — 3 John verse 4 (KJV)

Whether Gaius became a son through conversion to Christianity, or he was a biological child of the apostle, it is not clear, but when the apostle learned the good news of the Godly actions of Gaius, he rejoiced.

In writing to Gaius, John mentioned two particular individuals — the prideful Diotrephes, in verse 9, and the faithful Demetrius, in verse 12. He warned Gaius about Diotrephes, telling him not to follow evil, but to follow what is good. Later in his letter, John praised the faithful Demetrius since he had heard good things about this servant of God.

Shortest Book In The Bible – The Author of These Small Books

Bible scholars have guesstimated the Johannine Epistles were written between 80 and 100 A.D., though they are uncertain where John was living at the time he wrote these early church letters. In Bible times, the ability to read and to write may have been limited to certain classes of people, usually wealthy, and not the general population.

Also, in those days, the material on which to write letters was scarce. Maybe the specific individuals to whom both letters were addressed were never taught to read. Perhaps the letters were read to the recipients, and they may have committed the words to memory while carefully storing the original manuscripts.

Even though the Apostle John wrote the two shortest books of the Bible, brevity does not distinguish all of his work. He also wrote the First Epistle John, which is five chapters in length, the Gospel of John containing 21 chapters, and the prophetic book of Revelation with 22 chapters. He obviously wrote other letters that were not included in God’s Word, since he said in 3 John verse 9 “I wrote to the church…” (KJV)

Shortest Book in the Bible by The Apostle Paul – Philemon

The shortest book of the Bible, which comes in third place, is the book of Philemon. This letter was written by the Apostle Paul is the book of Philemon. I love this book! This short book contains 25 verses and 430 words (I counted them!)

This letter is a personal letter for a kind favor from the great Apostle Paul to his friend Philemon. He wanted Philemon to accept home and forgive Philemon’s wayward slave, Onesimus. It seems from the letter not only did Onesimus run away from Philemon, but he also stole money from his master. As God would have it, the path of the runaway slave Onesimus crossed with Paul–while Paul was in prison! Paul led this slave to Christ and sent him back to his master with the letter we have preserved by God today. In this letter, Paul told Philemon to accept Onesimus not as a lowly, formerly disobedient slave but as a brother, an equal!

Shortest Book in the Bible — Old Testament Is Obadiah

The shortest book of the Old Testament and the fourth shortest book of the Bible is the Book of Obadiah; this book is categorized among the “minor” prophets. In English, this book has 1 chapter containing 21 verses with 669 words. Obviously, the original word count may have been different since the prophet Obadiah wrote his book in the Hebrew language.

All the books of the “minor prophets” are called minor because they are some of the shorter books of the Christian Bible. Their volume may be minor, but their message is just as important as the other writings of God’s Word.

Obadiah concerns the nation of Edom, and in particular, the judgment of God against the people of Edom. God instigated the downfall of Edom, and brought severe judgement against them, was because of their cruelty toward the nation of Israel.

Obadiah’s key verse that summarizes this short book is verse 15: “For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.” (KJV)

I hope now that you have a better understanding of the shortest book in the Bible.

The most important thing in reading the Word of God is not to look at the length of the book, but rather, to learn about God’s promises, the reality of the judgement of God, how to avoid His judgment, and keep yourself in the love of God.

Shortest Book In The Bible-Review/Study Questions

1. How many books of the Bible have only one chapter? 5
2. Which book of the Bible has the fewest number of verses? 2 John
3. Who may have been the recipient of 2 John? Mary, the mother of Jesus
4. Which book of the Bible has the fewest number of words? 3 John
5. Who is the subject of the book of Philemon? Philemon’s slave Onesimus
6. Which nation is the subject of the book of Obadiah? The nation of Edom

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