What is the shortest verse in the Bible? John 11:35, and a surprise in the Greek
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, "Jesus wept." See the 12 shortest verses with KJV counts, why 1 Thessalonians 5:16 wins in Greek, and more.
In this article
- The shortest verses in the Bible, ranked
- The Greek surprise: 1 Thessalonians 5:16
- KJV vs ASV: does the translation change the answer?
- Why "Jesus wept" matters
- The shortest verse in the Old Testament
- The longest verse in the Bible
- Who decided where verses start and end?
- Test yourself on John
- Frequently asked questions
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, "Jesus wept." In the King James Version it has 2 words and 9 letters, shorter than any other verse in the English Bible. The runner-up is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice evermore." In the original Greek, though, the order flips: 1 Thessalonians 5:16 is two words and John 11:35 is three.
So the trivia answer is John 11:35, and it holds in the KJV, the ASV and most English translations. But it's worth knowing why the Greek gives a different result, and why such a short verse carries so much weight.
Below: the shortest verses in the KJV ranked by our own count, the Greek nuance, the shortest verse in the Old Testament, the longest verse in the Bible, and what "Jesus wept" tells us about Jesus.
The shortest verses in the Bible, ranked
We ranked every one of the 31,102 verses in the KJV text used in the Bible Academy app by number of letters (alphabetic characters only, no spaces or punctuation) and by number of words.
| Rank | Verse | Text (KJV) | Words | Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John 11:35 | Jesus wept. | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | 1 Chronicles 1:25 | Eber, Peleg, Reu, | 3 | 12 |
| 3 | 1 Chronicles 1:1 | Adam, Sheth, Enosh, | 3 | 14 |
| 4 | 1 Thessalonians 5:16 | Rejoice evermore. | 2 | 15 |
| 5 | 1 Chronicles 1:26 | Serug, Nahor, Terah, | 3 | 15 |
| 5 | Nehemiah 10:15 | Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, | 3 | 15 |
| 7 | Luke 17:32 | Remember Lot's wife. | 3 | 16 |
| 7 | Exodus 20:13 | Thou shalt not kill. | 4 | 16 |
| 7 | Deuteronomy 5:17 | Thou shalt not kill. | 4 | 16 |
| 10 | Nehemiah 10:13 | Hodijah, Bani, Beninu. | 3 | 17 |
| 10 | Nehemiah 10:17 | Ater, Hizkijah, Azzur, | 3 | 17 |
| 10 | Nehemiah 11:33 | Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, | 3 | 17 |
| 10 | Exodus 20:15 | Thou shalt not steal. | 4 | 17 |
| 10 | 1 Thessalonians 5:25 | Brethren, pray for us. | 4 | 17 |
By words, only two verses in the KJV have just two words: John 11:35 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16. John 11:35 wins on letters, 9 against 15. Forty-one KJV verses have three words or fewer, by our count. Most of them are lists of names in 1 Chronicles and Nehemiah.
For comparison, the average verse in the KJV has about 25 words.
A few of these short verses are worth memorizing, not just counting. "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32) is a whole sermon in three words, and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is one of the easiest passages to learn by heart:
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
You'll find more like it in our list of short Bible verses to memorize.
If you enjoy questions like "which verse is shortest?", the app has thousands more, and each answer comes with the verse it's based on.
The Greek surprise: 1 Thessalonians 5:16
The New Testament was written in Greek, and verse lengths in English depend on the translation. In Greek, the two verses look like this:
| Verse | Greek | Greek words | English (KJV) |
|---|---|---|---|
| John 11:35 | ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς | 3 | Jesus wept. |
| 1 Thessalonians 5:16 | Πάντοτε χαίρετε | 2 | Rejoice evermore. |
Greek puts an article before the name ("the Jesus"), so John 11:35 needs three words. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 is just "always rejoice", two words, and fewer letters too. That's why some Bible teachers say the shortest verse in the Greek New Testament is 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
Both answers are correct for their language. If a quiz asks about "the Bible" in English, the expected answer is John 11:35. If it asks about the Greek New Testament, it's 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, with a few chapters in Aramaic, so its verse lengths in English are just as translation-dependent. We've only counted the English text here.
KJV vs ASV: does the translation change the answer?
Not for first place. Both translations in the app render John 11:35 identically: "Jesus wept." But the rest of the list moves a little.
| Verse | KJV | ASV |
|---|---|---|
| John 11:35 | Jesus wept. (9 letters) | Jesus wept. (9 letters) |
| 1 Thessalonians 5:16 | Rejoice evermore. (15 letters) | Rejoice always; (13 letters) |
| Luke 20:30 | And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. | and the second: (12 letters) |
There's one more twist in the ASV. It leaves 16 verse numbers empty in the New Testament, for example Matthew 17:21 and Acts 8:37, because its translators followed Greek manuscripts that don't include those verses. The verse numbers stay so that references still line up with older Bibles. Technically, then, the "shortest verses" in the ASV have zero words. That's a different question from the trivia one, but it's a good illustration of why translations differ. Our guide to KJV vs ASV explains the manuscript question more fully.
Why "Jesus wept" matters
John 11:35 is famous for its length, but it deserves to be famous for its meaning. Read it in context.
Jesus' friend Lazarus has died. Jesus already knows he will raise him; he tells his disciples, "I go, that I may awake him out of sleep" (John 11:11). Then he arrives at Bethany, meets Mary in tears, and sees the mourners weeping with her:
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
Jesus didn't weep because he lacked hope. Minutes later he would call, "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43). He wept because death is wrong, because his friends were grieving, and because he loved them (John 11:5). The God who would defeat death still stood at a grave and cried.
This is not the only time the Gospels record Jesus weeping. He wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and Hebrews 5:7 speaks of his "strong crying and tears" in prayer. A Christian faith that has no room for grief isn't following Jesus very closely. Paul's instruction is the same: "weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15).
You can read the whole account in the raising of Lazarus story and learn more about the family on our page on Martha and Mary of Bethany.
The shortest verse in the Old Testament
In the KJV, the shortest Old Testament verse is 1 Chronicles 1:25: "Eber, Peleg, Reu," with 3 words and 12 letters. It's part of the genealogy that opens Chronicles, which compresses the generations from Adam to Abraham into a list of names (1 Chronicles 1:1-27). There are no two-word verses in the KJV Old Testament.
The shortest Old Testament verse that is a full sentence is "Thou shalt not kill." (Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17), with 4 words and 16 letters. "Thou shalt not steal." (Exodus 20:15) is one letter longer.
The longest verse in the Bible
At the other extreme is Esther 8:9, with 90 words in the KJV and 90 in the ASV. It's the royal order allowing the Jews to defend themselves, sent to "an hundred twenty and seven provinces" from India to Ethiopia. You can read it in our Esther book overview or in the app.
| Rank | Verse | Words (KJV) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esther 8:9 | 90 |
| 2 | Jeremiah 21:7 | 83 |
| 3 | Ezekiel 46:9 | 81 |
| 4 | Joshua 8:33 | 80 |
| 4 | 2 Chronicles 2:14 | 80 |
| 4 | Jeremiah 44:12 | 80 |
| 4 | Ezekiel 48:21 | 80 |
Esther 8:9 has 45 times as many words as John 11:35.
Who decided where verses start and end?
The biblical authors didn't write in verses. Chapter divisions were added in the Middle Ages; Stephen Langton, an archbishop of Canterbury, is usually credited with the system we use, in the early 1200s. New Testament verse numbers were added by the printer Robert Estienne (Stephanus) in his 1551 Greek New Testament. The Geneva Bible of 1560 was the first English Bible to number the verses throughout, and the KJV of 1611 followed the same pattern.
So "the shortest verse" is really a fact about how editors divided the text, not about the authors. It's still a useful fact: it points you straight to John 11, one of the most moving chapters in the Gospels. For more records like this, see the shortest book in the Bible and the longest chapter in the Bible.
Test yourself on John
Here are three questions from the app's quiz on the Gospel of John:
Quick quiz: John
What is the first miracle of Jesus recorded by John?
After the water turned into wine at the wedding, John notes: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee.” John 2:9–11
Which Pharisee comes to Jesus by night and learns that one must be born again?
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night”; Jesus tells him he must be born again. John 3:1–3
How does John the Baptist point out Jesus as he sees him coming to him?
Seeing Jesus coming to him, John says: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.
The full John quiz has many more, and there's a dedicated quiz on Jesus Christ too. In the app, the quiz path starts at your level and runs from beginner to expert, explaining every answer with its verse.
Frequently asked questions
What is the shortest verse in the Bible?
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, "Jesus wept." In the King James Version it has 2 words and 9 letters, and it is the shortest verse in most English translations. It describes Jesus weeping at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, shortly before he raised him from the dead.
Is "Jesus wept" the shortest verse in Greek?
No. In the Greek New Testament, John 11:35 has three words (ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς), because Greek puts an article before the name. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice evermore", is only two words in Greek (Πάντοτε χαίρετε) and has fewer letters, so it is the shortest verse in the Greek New Testament.
What is the second shortest verse in the Bible?
By word count, the second shortest verse in the KJV is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice evermore.", the only other two-word verse. By letters, 1 Chronicles 1:25, "Eber, Peleg, Reu," is shorter (12 letters against 15), though it has three words. Most quizzes accept 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
What is the shortest verse in the Old Testament?
In the King James Version, the shortest Old Testament verse is 1 Chronicles 1:25, "Eber, Peleg, Reu," with 3 words and 12 letters. It is part of a genealogy from Adam to Abraham. The shortest complete sentence in the Old Testament is "Thou shalt not kill." in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17.
What is the longest verse in the Bible?
The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9, with 90 words in both the KJV and the ASV. It records the royal decree, written at Mordecai's direction, that was sent to all 127 provinces of the Persian empire allowing the Jews to defend themselves. The next longest is Jeremiah 21:7, with 83 words in the KJV.