Well, I personally have not read or even
scanned the entire New Testament to see which one is the shortest verse, but
these are the contenders that I have found.
Is it important? Probably not,
but it is interesting. I think we tend
to like the traditional Jesus wept because we relate on an emotional
level. Truthfully, it actually depends
on what we perceive ‘the shortest verse’ to mean.
Verse English Translation Eng.
Count Greek Transliteration Actual Gr. Letter Count
Jh. 11:35 Jesus wept. 9 letters dakruo ho Iesous 16 letters
1Th. 5:16 Rejoice evermore. 15 letters pantote chairo 14 letters
1Th. 5:17 Pray without ceasing. 18 letters adialeiptos proseuchomai 22 letters
The verses are all complete
sentences. Only two have two English
translated words. Only two have two
Greek words (in the original language). They contain 9 to 18 letters in
English, 14 to 22 letters in Greek. So I
guess it’s up to the individual if the shortest verse is the shortest English
or Greek, shortest in letters for either language or just how we determine
it. Which verse would you choose as the
shortest?
In the end, it isn’t that
important, but all the verses have tremendous meaning.
Jesus wept.
We want to know that Jesus has feelings
just like us; preferably that He understands the depths of our feelings. This means He can relate to us better. Well, God created us and made us emotional
beings and we were made in His image (Gn.
Rejoice evermore.
We have great reason to rejoice. (Be happy, glad, rejoice exceedingly
even.) For God came down in the flesh
(Mt. 1:23 ) to be with us in Jesus
who taught us that the way to the Father (Jh. 14:6) was through Him. He loved us so much (Jh. 13:34 ) that He shed his blood for our salvation (Ep. 1:7),
died for our sins (1Cr. 15:3) and rose again (v.4) for our hope of eternal glory
(Tt. 1:2; Cl. 1:27 ). Our God with us, never leaving us, with the
hope of eternal life with no sin, sickness, pain, corruption or death, how can
we not rejoice?
Pray without ceasing.
The importance of prayer cannot be
emphasized enough. In the book of
Matthew alone, Jesus commands prayer seven times, exemplifies private prayer at
least twice. John 17 is 26 verses of
prayer Jesus said aloud in the disciple’s presence. Can one pray without ceasing? Well, I would say probably not (we do need
sleep J
), but there have been times in my life when I have prayed so often that I
didn’t know how it was possible.
Certainly, we need to pray more than we do… especially for others!
*some emotions of Jesus:
“…being grieved…”
Mr. 3:5 grief
“…My peace I give…” Jh. 14:27
peace
“…My joy…” Jh. 15:11 joy
“…wept over it”
Lk. 19:41 distress, sadness
threw over merchandizers Jh. 2:16 ,17 anger / jealousy
“…be touched with the feelings of…” Hb. 4:15
Greek- sympathy, compassion
“…exceedingly sorrowful…” Mr. 14:34 deep sorrow
“…why have You forsaken me?” Mt. 27:46 feeling of abandonment