Some generalities have been drawn from the haftarah choices, but they have exceptions. For example, that the haftarot have something in common, or some relevancy, with the Torah reading. But, for example, the relevance for the parsha Bamidbar is the one word, "wilderness", in (and, of course, the haftarot for special Sabbaths and holidays do not require any relation to the Torah reading for that week). Or, that the haftarah should be at least 21 verses in length, to match the minimal Torah reading, but, e.g., the haftarah for Ki Teitzei for Ashkenazim and Sephardim is only 10 verses; and the haftarah for Miketz is, for Ashkenazim and Sephardim only 15 verses, and for Italic Jews only 14 verses. The Tosefta mentions a haftarah in antiquity (before the 2nd century CE) that was just one verse, namely Isaiah 52:3, and some others that were only four or five verses. Another, that the haftarah reading should not end on a macabre or distressing verse, and therefore either the penultimate verse is repeated at the very end or else verses from elsewhere (sometimes even from different prophetic books) are used as a coda, such as with the haftarah for Tzav (Ashkenazim and Sephardim skip ahead in the same prophet to avoid concluding with the description of the dire fate of the wicked, a total of 19 verses; Chabad and Yemenite also skip ahead to avoid concluding with a different disquieting verse, a total of 16 verses; Karaites and Romaniote go back and repeat the penultimate verse, promising the reappearance of Elijah, rather than end with the word "desolation" - and the same applies when everyone else reads the same passage on "Shabbat Hagadol" ). Among the consistent characteristics is that entire verses are read; never is only a part of a verse read.