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
"...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." ~ Isaiah 2:4 KJV (Bible verse across the street from the United Nations Building in New York City)
- 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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Isaiah chapter 40, verse 8 in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and German, with the verse analysed word-by-word. In English, this verse is translated "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." (from Elias Hutter, 1602)
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Chapters and verses of the Bible Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.