What is the shortest verse in the Bible?

In the King James Version and most English translations, the shortest verse is John 11:35: "Jesus wept." Just two words long, it is also one of the most moving verses in Scripture. It comes in the story of Lazarus, whose sisters Mary and Martha had sent for Jesus when their brother fell ill. By the time Jesus reached Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days. Seeing Mary and the mourners weeping, Jesus "groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (John 11:33), and then he wept, even though he knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Onlookers said, "Behold how he loved him!" (John 11:36). The verse has long comforted grieving believers, showing that Jesus fully shares in human sorrow and that grief is not a lack of faith. In the original Greek, however, John 11:35 has three words and sixteen letters, while 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice evermore," has two words and fourteen letters, making it technically the shortest verse in the Greek New Testament. It is worth remembering that chapter and verse numbers were not part of the original writings. The New Testament verse divisions we use were introduced by the printer Robert Estienne in the 1550s, so the title of "shortest verse" is really a feature of our modern reference system rather than of the text itself.

Key Passages