# Easiest Book of the Bible in Chinese

> John is the easiest book of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) to read, with 72.3% of its word tokens at HSK 1-3 — the highest share of any of the 66 books — across 23,643 characters and 1,011 distinct characters.

Question: easiest book of the Bible in Chinese
Answer: John — 72.3% HSK 1-3
Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/easiest-book-in-chinese

"Easiest" needs a definition, so here is the one used: the share of a book's word tokens that fall in HSK 1-3, tie-broken by distinct characters per 1,000 characters of text. It is a vocabulary measure, not a judgement about theology or style, and it is computed from this site's own segmentation.

By that measure the top of the list is John (72.3%), Matthew (68.1%), 2 John (67.9%), Mark (67.8%), 1 John (67.8%). The Gospels dominate because they are narrative with dialogue and a small recurring cast of words.

Length is a separate question, and for a first attempt it may matter more. The shortest books by distinct characters are 2 John (151), 3 John (171), Philemon (226), Obadiah (277) — 2 John can be read in an evening and uses fewer distinct characters than a news article.

## The fifteen easiest books

| Rank | Book | HSK 1-3 tokens | Distinct characters | Reading time |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | John | 72.3% | 1,011 | 91 min |
| 2 | Matthew | 68.1% | 1,415 | 108 min |
| 3 | 2 John | 67.9% | 151 | 2 min |
| 4 | Mark | 67.8% | 1,227 | 67 min |
| 5 | 1 John | 67.8% | 330 | 12 min |
| 6 | Luke | 67.7% | 1,493 | 117 min |
| 7 | Revelation | 65.1% | 1,068 | 52 min |
| 8 | James | 64.9% | 635 | 12 min |
| 9 | 2 Corinthians | 64.3% | 827 | 31 min |
| 10 | 2 Thessalonians | 63.8% | 361 | 5 min |
| 11 | Genesis | 63.7% | 1,502 | 172 min |
| 12 | Song of Solomon | 63.7% | 680 | 13 min |
| 13 | 3 John | 63.7% | 171 | 2 min |
| 14 | Acts | 63.2% | 1,377 | 111 min |
| 15 | 1 Corinthians | 62.9% | 954 | 47 min |

Reading time assumes 260 characters a minute.

## Questions

**Is the easiest book also the shortest?**

No. John has the simplest vocabulary; 2 John is the smallest, with 151 distinct characters in 393 characters of text.

**What about the hardest?**

1 Chronicles (49.7%), Ezra (50.8%), Nahum (51.3%) — genealogies and temple records, dense with names.

**Is there a deck for the book I choose?**

Every book has one, built from that book's own frequency list rather than a general word list.

## Method

- Text: 和合本 (Chinese Union Version), simplified script — public domain
- Words: forward maximum matching against CC-CEDICT (this site's own segmentation)
- HSK levels: HSK 3.0 levels from the complete-hsk-vocabulary list; band 7 covers HSK 7-9
- Reading times: 260 characters a minute (an assumption)
- Computed: 2026-09-22

These are reproducible counts over a public-domain text, not a peer-reviewed study. Difficulty ranks are one stated formula, not a validated readability score.


---

- Definitions: CC-CEDICT, licensed CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- If you share this file onward, keep this notice and share alike.
- Character data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License / LGPL).
- Bible text: public domain — 和合本 · World English Bible · Louis Segond 1910.
- Built with https://chinese-bible.com