The Holy Bible:

Books:

Books in the Bible: 66

Books in the Old Testament: 39

Books in the New Testament: 27

Shortest book in the Bible: Second John

Longest book in the Bible: Psalms

Verses:

Verses in the Bible: 31,173

Verses in the Old Testament: 23,214

Verses in the New Testament: 7,959

Shortest verse in the Bible: John 11:35

Longest verse in the Bible: Esther 8:9

The shortest verses in the King James Version:

The shortest verse in the Old Testament is First Chronicles 1:25, where 17 characters make “Eber, Peleg, Reu,”.

However, the Old Testament contains many such rather boring listings with names. Therefore, excluding them, the top 10 gets rather more interesting.

Exodus 20:13	Thou shalt not kill.	[20]
Deuteronomy 5:17	Thou shalt not kill.	[20]
Exodus 20:15	Thou shalt not steal.	[21]
Job 3:2	And Job spake, and said,	[24]
Genesis 26:6	And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:	[25]
Deuteronomy 5:19	Neither shalt thou steal.	[25]
Job 6:1	But Job answered and said,	[26]
Job 12:1	And Job answered and said,	[26]
Job 21:1	But Job answered and said,	[26]
Job 26:1	But Job answered and said,	[26]

 

The ten shortest verses in the New Testament:

John 11:35	Jesus wept.	[11]
1 Thessalonians 5:16	Rejoice evermore.	[17]
Luke 17:32	Remember Lot’s wife.	[20]
1 Thessalonians 5:17	Pray without ceasing.	[21]
1 Thessalonians 5:19	Quench not the Spirit.	[22]
1 Thessalonians 5:25	Brethren, pray for us.	[22]
John 6:48	I am that bread of life.	[24]
John 10:30	I and my Father are one.	[24]
1 Thessalonians 5:20	Despise not prophesyings.	[25]
Mark 4:14	The sower soweth the word.	[26]
2 Corinthians 13:13	All the saints salute you.	[26]

 

The ten shortest verses in the Apocrypha:

2 Esdras 14:48	And I did so.	[13]
1 Maccabees 2:3	Simon; called Thassi:	[21]
Tobit 7:15	Then they began to eat.	[23]
2 Esdras 14:7	And now I say unto thee,	[24]
Baruch 4:17	But what can I help you?	[24]
2 Esdras 9:14	Then answered I and said,	[25]
2 Esdras 15:7	Therefore saith the Lord,	[25]
2 Esdras 14:28	Hear these words, O Israel.	[27]
Tobit 8:8	And she said with him, Amen.	[28]
Tobit 10:3	Therefore he was very sorry.	[28]

 

The longest verses in the King James Version:

Longest verses in the Old Testament:

Esther 8:9	“Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.”	[528]
2 Kings 16:15	And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, [..]	[443]
Jeremiah 21:7	And afterward, saith the LORD, [..]	[441]
Ezekiel 48:21	And the residue shall be for the prince, [..]	[430]
Esther 3:12	Then were the king’s scribes called on [..]	[429]
Joshua 8:33	And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, [..]	[426]
Daniel 5:23	But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; [..]	[409]
Ezra 3:8:	Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, [..]	[404]
Jeremiah 44:12	And I will take the remnant of Judah, [..]	[403]
2 Chronicles 31:1	Now when all this was finished, [..]	[394]

 

Longest verses in the New Testament:

Revelation 20:4	And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, [..]	[361]
Acts 28:17	And it came to pass, that after three days Paul [..]	[310]
Luke 6:42	Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, [..]	[309]
2 Corinthians 7:11	For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, [..]	[309]
Revelation 17:8	The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; [..]	[301]
Revelation 11:18	And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, [..]	[289]
Revelation 3:12	Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, [..]	[284]
Matthew 2:16	Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, [..]	[279]
Philippians 4:8	Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, [..]	[275]
Revelation 1:11	Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, [..]	[275]

 

Longest verses in the Apocrypha:

2 Esdras 10:22	Our psaltery is laid on the ground, [..]	[526]
Tobit 13:6	If ye turn to him with your whole heart, [..]	[507]
Tobit 6:17	And the devil shall smell it, and flee away, [..]	[476]
Tobit 3:15	And that I never polluted my name, nor the name of my father, [..]	[452]
Sirach 37:11	Neither consult with a woman touching her of whom she is jealous; [..]	[442]
Tobit 5:13	Then Tobit said, Thou art welcome, brother; [..]	[440]
Tobit 14:10	And bury me decently, and thy mother with me; [..]	[435]
Judith 7:18	Then the children of Esau went up with the children of Ammon, [..]	[432]
Tobit 10:12	And he said to his daughter, Honour thy father and thy mother in law, [..]	[428]
Tobit 4:12	Beware of all whoredom, my son, [..]	[415]

 

Chapters:

Chapters in the Bible: 1189

Chapters in the Old Testament: 929

Chapters in the New Testament: 260

Middle chapter of the Bible: Psalm 117

Shortest chapter in the Bible: Psalm 117

Longest chapter in the Bible: Psalm 119

Words:

Words in the Bible: 773,692

Words in the Old Testament: 592,439

Words in the New Testament: 181,253

Number of times “God” is mentioned: 3,358

Number of times “LORD” is mentioned: 7,736

Longest Word in the Bible: “Mahershalalhashbaz” in Isaiah 8:1

The shortest words in the KJV are “a”, “I” and “O”. They occur in all three parts of the Bible.

Longest word in the Old Testament: Mahershalalhashbaz, (Isaiah 8:1) 18 characters.

Maher-shalal-hash-baz was a son of the prophet Isaiah. The name means “speed the spoil, hasten the plunder”, and was given when the king of Assyria was en route to rob the Syrians (in Damascus) and the Israelites (in Samaria). Isaiah prophesied it would happen before the boy Mahershalalhashbaz would be able to cry ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’ — let alone pronounce his own name.

Longest words, not a name: “evilfavouredness” and “lovingkindnesses”, both with 16 characters.

Longest words in the New Testament: “covenantbreakers”, “fellow-prisoners”, and “unprofitableness”, all with 16 characters.

Longest word in the Apocrypha: a series of 15 characters words: “everlastingness”, “interpretations”, “notwithstanding”, “stumblingblocks”, and “unrighteousness”.

The first three words in the Bible are ‘in the beginning’.

The first five books of the Bible, referred to as the Pentateuch were written by Moses.

The last word in the Bible is ‘Amen’.

The two books, ‘Songs of Solomon’ and ‘Esther’ have no mention of God in them.

The word “Christian” only appears thrice in the Bible.

Books with the largest number of words:

Old Testament: Psalms (42,684 words)

New Testament: Luke (25,939 words)

Apocrypha: Wisdom of Sirach (28,272 words)

Books with the fewest words:

Old Testament: Obadiah (669 words)

New Testament: Third John (294 words)

Apocrypha: The Prayer of Manasseh (408 words)

Key Word Data:

	O.T.	N.T.	Apocrypha	Bible
Total # of Words	609,245	180,381	140,617	930,243
Unique Words	10,867	6,063	6,758	14,564
Books	39	27	15	81
Chapters	929	260	173	1362
Verses	23,145	7,957	5,717	36,819

 

The Old Testament uses over 4,000 more different words than the New Testament. This difference is partly due to the fact that in the Old Testament names many more places and persons.

Further, books in the New Testament like Mark and Matthew are very similar in content. However, this does not refute the assertion that the style of the Old Testament is linguistically, simply richer.

Words Top 10:

	Word	Count	Verses
1	the	73,611	28,261
2	and	60,382	28,352
3	of	40,029	21,249
4	to	16,372	11,679
5	that	15,778	12,040
6	in	14,482	11,285
7	he	12,425	9,022
8	shall	10,939	6,796
9	for	10,889	8,678
10	unto	10,100	8,325

Sundry Facts:

The Bible is translated into 1200 languages

Number of Bibles distributed in the U.S. every day: 170,000

Number of promises in the Bible: 1,260

Number of commands in the Bible: 6,468

Number of questions in the Bible: 3,294

Number of writers: 40

Second John and Third John have the same number of verses (13), however, John 3 wins the title of the shortest book due to its fewer number of words.

Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet, except ‘J’.

There is one verse that is repeated twice in the Bible: (Psalms 14 and Psalms 53) “The fool says in his heart, “there is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”

However, they are not mirror images of each other.

Did you know the first baptism in the Bible was conducted by Moses, who used ox’s blood to baptize the people?

The sheep is the most frequently mentioned animal in the Bible. The only domesticated animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat!

The number of promises in the Bible are 1,260.

How many have you found? 1,260 promises to claim!

The phrase ‘do not be afraid’ appears 365 times in the Bible, just as the number of days in a year. This phrase is not a suggestion, but a command.

So as we live each day, we know God has commanded us to trust Him with all our heart and be at rest!

The first mention of ‘prayer’ in the Bible is in Genesis 4:26.

The total number of questions in the Bible is 3294.

God’s first question asked in the Bible is ‘Adam, Adam where are you?”

And God’s question to us today is still the same. He calls out for his lost sheep.

Center of the Bible Stunning Facts:

Q: What is the shortest chapter in the Bible? A: Psalm 117

Q: What is the longest chapter in the Bible? A: Psalm 119

Q: Which chapter is in the centre of the Bible? A: Psalm 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalm 118

Add these numbers up and you get 1188.

Q:? What is the centre verse in the Bible? A: Psalm 118:8

Q:? Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect will for our lives? Psalm 118:8 says: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Are you in the centre of God’s word? The very centre of the Bible reminds us to trust in God over trusting in ourselves or other people.

The next time you consider making God the centre of your life, remind yourself to go to the centre of the Word. Spending time in prayer and in the Word allows you to grow closer to God and stronger in your faith. Even in the most difficult times, trusting in God is at the centre of His will for our lives. *A Caveat…

While fun facts like these draw our attention to certain verses, the “centre of the Bible” statistics are not applicable to every version of the Bible. Why? Well, Catholics use a different Bible, and Hebrews use another.

Some experts have calculated Psalm 117 as the centre of the King James Version of the Bible, while others state that there is no central verse of the Bible due to an even number of verses.

Do these varying opinions take away from the significance of Psalm 118? Well, for those that are of the opinion that it is not the central verse of the Bible all it does it take away that distinction.

It does not, however, take away the significance of the statement. Christians should make God the centre of their lives, and numerical controversy should not take away from that spiritual guidance.

Strongest, Wisest, Oldest, Tallest…

The strongest and wisest men in the Bible are the two sons: Samson and Solomon. The tallest and biggest villian in the Bible is Goliath whose height was over 9 ½ feet.

The greatest warrior in the Bible is Gideon, who defeated 135, 000 Midianites along with 300 men and 300 trumpets under God’s power.

The oldest individual in the Bible was Methuselah (Genesis 5:27), who died at the age of 969!

The oldest parable in the Bible is in Judges 9:8-15.

The Old Testament:

Comprises 17 Historical, 5 Poetical, and 17 Prophetic.

The 17 Historical Books are:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings, First Chronicles, Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

The 5 Poetical Books are:

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

The 17 Prophetic Books are:

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

The New Testament:

Comprises 4 Gospels, Acts, 21 Epistles, and Revelation. The 4 Gospels are:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The 21 Epistles are:

Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, First John, Second John, Third John, and Jude.

The Bible was written:

Over a 1500 year span (from 1400 B.C to A.D. 100) Over 40 generations Over 40 authors from many walks of life (i.e. – kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars)
In different places (i.e. – wilderness, dungeon, palaces)
At different times (i.e. – war, peace)
In different moods (i.e. – heights of joy, depths of despair)
On three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe)
In three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek)

Various passages which speak of Jesus Christ as God :– John 1:1, John 20:28, Romans 9:5, Philippians 2:11, and Colossians 1:16.

Various passages which speak of Jesus Christ’s humanity :– John1:14, Luke 2:7, Luke 2:40, Luke 8:23, John 4:6 and Hebrews 4:15.

Types of biblical prayers:

Confession (Psalm 51; Luke 18:10-24)
Praise (1 Chronicles 29:10-13; Luke 1:46-55)
Thanksgiving (Psalm 105:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Petition (Genesis 24:12-14; Acts 1:24-26)
Intercession (Exodus 32:11-13; Philippians 1:9-11)
Commitment (1 Kings 8:56-61; Acts 4:24-30)
Forgiveness (Daniel 9:4-19; Acts 7:60)
Confidence (Psalm 23; Luke 2:29-32)
Benediction (Numbers 6:24-26; Jude 24)

Note: This is a compilation from various sources.

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