Can you handle having your mind blown by something today? Maybe this won’t be earth shattering to you but it was to me. In fact, I was surprised by it.
If I were to ask a group of Christians, “What is the shortest verse in the Bible?” we know what the answer is going to be. John 11:35. “Jesus wept.” Nobody will ever say anything else. Jokingly, we’ve used this verse to remind people that anyone can memorize God’s Word and if they think it isn’t possible, just start here.
However, in studying for another devotional, I ran across a verse that I’ve used many times and it has taken nearly 59 years for this to click in my head. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Rejoice evermore.” Now, my math skills might be a little rusty but I’m counting two words in John and two words in 1 Thessalonians. Seems to me that there are two shortest verses in the Bible. Are there more?
I googled my query, asking for a listing of the shortest verses in the Bible. All the websites said that John 11:35 was the shortest verse. When I asked for all the two-worded verses in the Bible, the majority of responses gave only John 11:35 and completely missed 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
Technically, the verse in John is shorter if you are counting letters: 9 letters vs. 15 letters. So, stating that John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible is technically correct. But I’ve never heard anyone stake a claim in the nine letters of John. It’s always about there only being two simple words. If that’s the case, we have TWO verses with two simple words.
There are several three-word verses especially in the Old Testament. Most of those, though, are genealogical verses. If you chose to memorize those, you would just have three names like 1 Chronicles 1:24-26, “Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, (25) Eber, Peleg, Reu, (26) Serug, Nahor, Terah.”
In the New Testament, we would have a few verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:17 which says,
“Pray without ceasing” and 1 Thessalonians 5:20, “Despise not prophesyings.” But I couldn’t find any other two-word verses.
Now, emotionally speaking, these two-worded verses are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Weeping and joy. I don’t believe this is coincidental or accidental. Romans 12:15 instructs us to “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” This combines the simplicity of the other two two-worded verses.
Since we are looking at short verses, today’s devotional is going to be short. I hope to convey my fascination and amazement of the greatest Book ever written. God’s Word has so many treasures. Keep your eyes open today as you study and share with others what you find.
“… thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
