A list of books in the bible by number of chapters

When preparing Bible Studies, or thinking about what book to study over the course of a term’s worth of small groups, or just planning a sermon series where you are reading an entire chapter of Scripture and preaching on it, it is helpful to have a list of books of the Bible with the number of chapters they contain.

Of course, this is a blunt instrument – some chapters are longer than others – but given that a faithful preacher can generate a sermon from a single verse of scripture (I’d recommend Colossians 3:17, personally) or even a single word, I wanted to at least for myself collect together a list of the books of the Bible ordered by the number of chapters in each book.

To start with, here’s the basic data: Book titles, and the number of chapters…

 

[2022 Update – I’m gradually adding links to each book of the Bible to the posts/reviews I’ve done on/around the specific book of the Bible.]

 

(Old Testament)

Genesis – 50
Exodus – 40
Leviticus – 27
Numbers – 36
Deuteronomy – 34
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
Job – 42
Psalms – 150
Proverbs – 31
Ecclesiastes – 12
Song of Solomon – 8
Isaiah – 66
Jeremiah – 52
Lamentations – 5
Ezekiel – 48
Daniel – 12
Hosea – 14
Joel – 3
Amos – 9
Obadiah – 1
Jonah – 4
Micah – 7
Nahum – 3
Habakkuk  – 3
Zephaniah – 3
Haggai – 2
Zechariah – 14
Malachi – 4

(New Testament)

Matthew – 28
Mark – 16
Luke – 24
John – 21
Acts – 28
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
Hebrews – 13
James – 5
1 Peter – 5
2 Peter – 3
1 John – 5
2 John – 1
3 John – 1
Jude – 1
Revelation – 22


Hope that’s helpful. I’ll add to this post over time with different ways of having the data visualised.

33 Responses

  1. Marvin D Vawter

    Can you give me the order of chapters to read the Bible in?
    I’m wanting to learn the right way and people say not to read
    from cover to cover…Thanks….

    • Paul

      Marvin,

      I see that this is a very old post and maybe you have already figured it out. If not, there are several ways that you can go about it and there a many reading plans already out there. With 150 Psalms and 31 Proverbs, you can read 1 Proverbs and 5 Psalms a day and cover praise and wisdom once a month. People separate the New and Old testament like it is almost a completely different mindset, but Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to change it. Going through the gospels and understanding who Jesus really is helps put a better understanding of how all of the books fit together. Regardless of your actual plan, I believe that God will bless you in this pursuit.

    • Cade Griffith

      Perhaps it’s a little late. But if this response is still valuable for you, I see nothing wrong with reading cover to cover. I think it provides wonderful continuity of God’s work through time. That said, I’ve only ever made it to Jeremiah, so I may not be the best authority on that. I mainly read anywhere, trusting that, as all of the bible is good, I’ll come to somewhere that is profitable for me to read and pray with God about, and live out.

  2. Nandaala Mark

    Thanks for the work, God bless. But total up the chapters. What about the verses? Who made divided the chapters and when, where, why?

  3. Marvin fluff

    I would like to have the Bible chapeters new and old separated for me to have is it possibil.i would like them separated for my own personal use.

  4. JEFF

    I THINK THAT YOU HAVE DONE A FINE JOB EXCEPT FOR Michah – 4 WHICH SHOULD READ Micah – 7. HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK!

  5. Chelsea

    Good morning. I want to thank you all for supplying the list of Books of the Bible with how many chapters are in each book. I try to help others update information as it needs it (it takes a village). Esther has 10 books and Micah has 7.

    Thank you all for providing this resource! It is a blessing.

  6. Chelsea

    It takes a village. I am commenting on my own comment. Esther has 10 chapters and Micah has 7 chapters. Not books. Sorry about that. Oh and you do not have to post these comments to your site. My goal is just to have you update the information. No need to post these.

    Blessings,
    Chelsea

  7. Jon

    Thank you Tom, I think you made a typo, Micah (Michah) has 7 chapters. May God bless you richly.

  8. Jon

    Thank you Tom, I think you made some typos, Micah (Michah) has 7 chapters, and Esther has only 10 chapters. May God bless you richly.

  9. Desiree

    Errors: Esther has 10 chapters, Micah has 7 chapters.
    Thanks for the post.

  10. A Guy

    Thanks for doing this, however:
    Esther has 10 chapters, not 13,
    Micah has one ‘h’ and 7 chapters.

  11. Jake

    Studying far class I’m teaching and was looking for this information thank you very much.

    • Grace

      Hosea
      Joel
      Amos
      Obadiah
      Jonah
      Micah
      Nahum
      Habakkuk
      Zephaniah
      Haggai
      Zechariah
      Malachi. 12 minor prophets
      Isaiah
      Jeremiah
      Lamentation
      Ezekiel
      Daniel. 5 major…

  12. Pam Robinson

    This will be useful!

    I have audio bibles bought on Audible and there are no references for book, chapter or verse in any of these bibles.

    It is crazy, you can’t look anything up. You can listen at any point through the Bible but if you do you have to work out which book, chapter and verse.

    If I want to do this I would need to work out how many chapters for each book and add them all up and calculate how many chapters in is the book or reading I’m looking for.

    Thanks for what you’ve done here!

  13. Starla

    Thank you so much for your post. God bless you it’s October 3 2023 and it’s still helping people out.

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