Chapters and verses of the Bible facts for kids
The Bible is a compilation of many shorter books written at different times by a variety of authors, and later assembled into the biblical canon. All but the shortest of these books have been divided into chapters, generally a page or so in length, since the early 13th century. Since the mid-16th century, each chapter has been further divided into "verses" of a few short lines or sentences.
Chapters
- There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament.
- 187 chapters in the Pentateuch
- 249 chapters in the Historical books
- 243 chapters in the Poetic books ("Wisdom")
- 183 chapters in the Major prophets
- 67 chapters in the Minor prophets
- There are 260 chapters in the New Testament.
- 89 chapters in the Gospels
- 28 chapters in Acts
- 87 chapters in the Pauline Epistles (excluding Hebrews)
- 34 chapters in the General Epistles (including Hebrews)
- 22 chapters in Revelation
- This gives a total of 1,189 chapters (on average, 18 per book).
- Psalm 117 is the middle chapter of the Bible, being the 595th Chapter.
- Psalm 117 is also the shortest chapter of the Bible.
- Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the Bible.
- Five books are a single chapter: Obadiah, Philemon, 2 & 3 John, Jude. In many printed editions, the chapter number is omitted for these books, and references just use the verse numbers.
Book / Division | Chapters | ||
---|---|---|---|
Pentateuch | 187 | ||
Genesis | 50 | ||
Exodus | 40 | ||
Leviticus | 27 | ||
Numbers | 36 | ||
Deuteronomy | 34 | ||
Historical Books | 249 | ||
Joshua | 24 | ||
Judges | 21 | ||
Ruth | 4 | ||
1 Samuel | 31 | ||
2 Samuel | 24 | ||
1 Kings | 22 | ||
2 Kings | 25 | ||
1 Chronicles | 29 | ||
2 Chronicles | 36 | ||
Ezra | 10 | ||
Nehemiah | 13 | ||
Esther | 10 | ||
Books of Wisdom (or "Poetry") | 243 | ||
Job | 42 | ||
Psalms | 150 | ||
Proverbs | 31 | ||
Ecclesiastes | 12 | ||
Song of Solomon | 8 | ||
Major Prophets | 183 | ||
Isaiah | 66 | ||
Jeremiah | 52 | ||
Lamentations | 5 | ||
Ezekiel | 48 | ||
Daniel | 12 | ||
Minor Prophets | 67 | ||
Hosea | 14 | ||
Joel | 3 | ||
Amos | 9 | ||
Obadiah | 1 | ||
Jonah | 4 | ||
Micah | 7 | ||
Nahum | 3 | ||
Habakkuk | 3 | ||
Zephaniah | 3 | ||
Haggai | 2 | ||
Zechariah | 14 | ||
Malachi | 4 |
Book / Division | Chapters | ||
---|---|---|---|
Gospels | 89 | ||
Matthew | 28 | ||
Mark | 16 | ||
Luke | 24 | ||
John | 21 | ||
History | 28 | ||
Acts | 28 | ||
Pauline Epistles | 87 | ||
Romans | 16 | ||
1 Corinthians | 16 | ||
2 Corinthians | 13 | ||
Galatians | 6 | ||
Ephesians | 6 | ||
Philippians | 4 | ||
Colossians | 4 | ||
1 Thessalonians | 5 | ||
2 Thessalonians | 3 | ||
1 Timothy | 6 | ||
2 Timothy | 4 | ||
Titus | 3 | ||
Philemon | 1 | ||
General Epistles | 34 | ||
Hebrews | 13 | ||
James | 5 | ||
1 Peter | 5 | ||
2 Peter | 3 | ||
1 John | 5 | ||
2 John | 1 | ||
3 John | 1 | ||
Jude | 1 | ||
Apocalyptic Writings | 22 | ||
Revelation | 22 |
Images for kids
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Chapters and verses of the Bible Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.