Jesus wept is a phrase famous for being the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible, as well as many other versions, though it is not the shortest in the original languages. It is found in the Gospel of John

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

, chapter 11, verse 35.

Verse breaks – or versification – were introduced to the biblical text by Robert Estienne

Robert Estienne

Robert I Estienne , known as Robertus Stephanus in Latin and also referred to as Robert Stephens by 18th and 19th-century English writers, was a 16th century printer and classical scholar in Paris...

 in 1551 in order to make the texts easier to read and to memorize.

Context

This verse occurs in John's narrative of the death of Lazarus

Lazarus of Bethany

Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...

, a follower of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

. Lazarus' sisters Mary and Martha

Martha

Martha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...

 sent word to Jesus of their brother's illness and impending death, but Jesus arrived four days after Lazarus died. Jesus, after talking to the grieving sisters and seeing Lazarus' friends weeping, was deeply troubled and moved. After asking where Lazarus had been laid, and being invited to come see, Jesus wept. He then came to the tomb and told the people to remove the stone covering the tomb, prayed

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

 aloud to his Father, and ordered Lazarus to come out, resurrecting him before the mourners.

Text

Translation	Text
Original Greek	ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Edákrusen ho Iēsous.
Vulgate Vulgate The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...	"Et lacrimatus est Iesus"
Luther Bible Luther Bible The Luther Bible is a German Bible translation by Martin Luther, first printed with both testaments in 1534. This translation became a force in shaping the Modern High German language. The project absorbed Luther's later years. The new translation was very widely disseminated thanks to the printing...	Und Jesus gingen die Augen über.
ASV American Standard Version The Revised Version, Standard American Edition of the Bible, more commonly known as the American Standard Version , is a version of the Bible that was released in 1901... , Darby Bible Darby Bible The Darby Bible refers to the Bible as translated from Hebrew and Greek by John Nelson Darby. Darby published a translation of the New Testament in 1867, with revised editions in 1872 and 1884... , ESV English Standard Version The English Standard Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. It is a revision of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version... , HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible The Holman Christian Standard Bible is a modern English Bible translation from Holman Bible Publishers. The first full edition was completed in March 2004, with the New Testament alone having been previously published in 1999.- Beginnings :... , KJV, NIV New International Version The New International Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by Zondervan in the United States and by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, it has become one of the most popular modern translations in history.-History:... , NJB New Jerusalem Bible The New Jerusalem Bible is a Roman Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd and Les Editions du Cerf, and edited by the Reverend Henry Wansbrough.- Contents :... , NKJV New King James Version The New King James Version is a modern translation of the Bible published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. The New Testament was published in 1979. The Psalms in 1980. The full Bible was published in 1982. It took a total of 7 years to complete... , New Living Translation New Living Translation The New Living Translation is a translation of the Bible into modern English. Originally starting out as an effort to revise The Living Bible, the project evolved into a new English translation from Hebrew and Greek texts...  (original version) WEB World English Bible The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997... , YLT Young's Literal Translation Young's Literal Translation is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible and Concise Critical Comments on the New Testament. Young produced a "Revised Version" of the translation in... , Recovery Version	"Jesus wept."
Bible in Basic English Bible in Basic English The Bible In Basic English is a translation of the Bible into Basic English. The BBE was translated by Professor S. H. Hooke using the standard 850 Basic English words. 100 words that were helpful to understand poetry were added along with 50 "Bible" words for a total of 1,000 words total...	"And Jesus himself was weeping."
God's Word God's Word (bible translation) The God's Word Translation is an English translation of the Bible translated by the God's Word to the Nations Society.-History:The God's Word Translation of the Bible was produced by the God's Word to the Nations Bible Mission Society in Cleveland, Ohio...	"Jesus cried."
The Message The Message (Bible) The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language was created by Eugene H. Peterson and published in segments from 1993 to 2002. It is an idiomatic translation of the original languages of the Bible.-History:...	"Now Jesus wept."
New American Bible New American Bible The New American Bible is a Catholic Bible translation first published in 1970. It had its beginnings in the Confraternity Bible, which began to be translated from the original languages in 1948....	"And Jesus wept."
New Living Translation New Living Translation The New Living Translation is a translation of the Bible into modern English. Originally starting out as an effort to revise The Living Bible, the project evolved into a new English translation from Hebrew and Greek texts...  (2005 version)	"Then Jesus wept."
New Revised Standard Version New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is an English translation of the Bible released in 1989 in the USA. It is a thorough revision of the Revised Standard Version .There are three editions of the NRSV:...	"Jesus began to weep."
New World Translation	"Jesus gave way to tears."
CJB Complete Jewish Bible The Complete Jewish Bible is an English translation of the Bible by Dr. David H. Stern. It consists of both Stern's revised translation of the Old Testament plus his original "Jewish New Testament" translation in one book. The Old Testament translation is a paraphrase of the 1917 Jewish...	"Yeshua cried,"

Interpretation

Significance has been attributed to this phrase for a number of reasons, including the following:

• Weeping demonstrates that Christ was indeed a true man, with real bodily functions (such as tears, sweat, blood, eating and drinking—note, for comparison, the emphasis laid on Jesus' eating during the post-resurrection appearances). His emotions and reactions were real; Christ was not an illusion or spirit (see Docetism
  Docetism
  In Christianity, docetism is the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die...
  
  ). Pope Leo I
  Pope Leo I
  Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
  
   referred to this passage when he discussed the two natures of Jesus: "In his humanity Jesus wept for Lazarus; in his divinity he raised him from the dead."
• The sorrow felt by Jesus presages the suffering of his own crucifixion
  Crucifixion
  Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
  
  .
• The sorrow, sympathy, and compassion
  Compassion
  Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.There is an aspect of...
  
   Jesus felt for all mankind.
• The rage he felt against the tyranny of death over mankind.
• Jesus's weeping demonstrates that Lazarus had genuinely died. The raising of Lazarus was therefore not a fraud or a case of misdiagnosis.
• The views above interpret his weeping to mean that Jesus was sorrowful for the fact that Lazarus had died (which was the interpretation of the bystanders in verse 36). However, an alternate explanation considers this to be unreasonable, given his full knowledge that he was about to resurrect Lazarus. This view instead argues that every single person whom Jesus talked to in the eleventh chapter of John (his disciples, Martha, Mary, and the Jews) was blinded by their misconceptions of Jesus and by their failure to recognize that, as he declared in verse 26, he himself was "the resurrection and the life". Thus, "he groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (New King James, verse 33). This view holds that he wept because even those who were closest to him were still blind to the fact that he really was "the resurrection and the life" — beyond mere doctrine (verses 25–27) — in spite of all his plain words to them. A striking point in this view is that the only person in the chapter who had no misconceptions was the dead man Lazarus, who promptly obeyed and received life when commanded to come forth. Finally, this view holds that the bystanders in verses 36–37, just like most readers today, were blinded by their own misconceptions and so did not understand that Jesus was actually weeping for them, not for Lazarus.* The sadness shown by Jesus may not be for the death of Lazarus, but rather his resurrection. Considering Christ's knowledge of the afterlife
  Afterlife
  The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
  
   and personal (as well as divine) knowledge of Lazarus' character, he may instead have been filled with grief knowing that Lazarus would be taken from the promise of paradise
  Paradise
  Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
  
   (cf Limbo
  Limbo
  In the theology of the Catholic Church, Limbo is a speculative idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church or any other...
  
  ) and returned to an imperfect world. His Knowledge that Lazarus would soon be raised would not seem to warrant this sorrow.
• Jesus wept, not for Lazarus as some suppose, but rather, he wept because Mary, Martha and the others wept. Jesus wept, because he felt the pain and sorrow of those whom he loved.

Use as an expletive

In some places in the English-speaking world, including the UK, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 (particularly Dublin) and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, the phrase "Jesus wept" is a common expletive, curse or minced oath

Minced oath

A minced oath is an expression based on a profanity or a taboo term that has been altered to reduce the objectionable characteristics.Many languages have such expressions...

 spoken when something goes wrong or to express mild incredulity.

It is commonly used as an expletive in novels by author Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

. In his book On Writing

On Writing

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is a memoir and writing guide book by Stephen King, published in 2000. It is a book about the prolific author's experiences as a writer. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly listed On Writing 21st on their list of The New Classics: Books - The 100 best reads from 1983 to...

, he explained that in grade school he was forced to memorize a verse from the Bible, so he picked "Jesus wept" due to its short length. Other authors using it as an expletive include Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...

 in the Sandman series, Mike Carey in the Hellblazer series

Hellblazer

Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...

 and The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know (book)

The Devil You Know is a collection of short stories by New Orleanian author Poppy Z. Brite published in 2003 by Subterranean Press.- Stories :*"Dispatches from Tanganyika: A Foreword"*The Devil You Know...

, Peter F. Hamilton

Peter F. Hamilton

Peter F. Hamilton is a British author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide.- Biography :...

 in The Night's Dawn Trilogy

The Night's Dawn Trilogy

British author Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn Trilogy consists of three science fiction novels: The Reality Dysfunction , The Neutronium Alchemist , and The Naked God...

, Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...

 in The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 novel by British writer Mark Haddon. It won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book...

and Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....

 in Hyperion Cantos

Hyperion Cantos

The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. Set in the far future, and focusing more on plot and story development than technical detail, it falls into the soft science fiction category...

.

This usage is also evidenced in films and television programmes including Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia (film)

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...

(1962), Get Carter

Get Carter

Get Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...

(1971), Razorback

Razorback (film)

Razorback is a 1984 Australian film, based on Peter Brennan's novel, written by Everett De Roche, and directed by Russell Mulcahy who would later make the first two of the Highlander trilogy...

(1984), Hellraiser

Hellraiser

Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...

(1987), The Stand

The Stand

The Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...

(1994), Michael Collins

Michael Collins (film)

Michael Collins is a 1996 historical biopic written and directed by Neil Jordan and starring Liam Neeson as General Michael Collins, the Irish patriot and revolutionary who died in the Irish Civil War. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival....

 (1996), Dogma

Dogma (film)

Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

(1999) Notes on a Scandal

Notes on a Scandal (film)

Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological thriller film, adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Zoë Heller. The screenplay was written by Patrick Marber and the film was directed by Richard Eyre. Many parts of the film were shot in Islington Arts and Media School...

(2006), Cranford

Cranford (TV series)

Cranford is a British television series directed by Simon Curtis and Steve Hudson. The teleplay by Heidi Thomas was adapted from three novellas by Elizabeth Gaskell published between 1849 and 1858: Cranford, My Lady Ludlow, and Mr Harrison's Confessions...

 (2008), and The Bank Job

The Bank Job

The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered...

(2008).

Other usage in media

"Jesus wept" features prominently in various stories, including an episode of The Waltons

The Waltons

The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

, the film Barbershop 2: Back in Business

Barbershop 2: Back in Business

Barbershop 2: Black in Business is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, produced by State Street Pictures and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on February 6, 2004...

and the book The Color of Water

The Color of Water

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother is the autobiography of James McBride; it is also a tribute to his mother. The chapters alternate between James McBride's descriptions of his early life and first-person accounts of his mother Ruth's life, mostly taking place before her...

, as a Bible verse that is easy for a child to memorize.

In Clive Barker

Clive Barker

Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...

's 1987 horror film Hellraiser

Hellraiser

Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...

during a torture scene towards the end of the film, character Frank Cotton utters his final words: "Jesus wept", as the film explores the theme of pain as a source of pleasure. Cotton's use of the words is sampled in the track "Revaluation of All Values" by UK black metal band Anaal Nathrakh

Anaal Nathrakh

Anaal Nathrakh are a British extreme metal band formed in 1999 who fuse black metal, grindcore, death metal and industrial music. They are currently signed to Candlelight Records....

, "Fascist Jock Itch" by Canadian band Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....

, and "Jesus Wept" by Belgian industrial act Suicide Commando

Suicide Commando

Suicide Commando is a Belgian electro-industrial act created by Johan van Roy in 1986.- History :Johan van Roy, Suicide Commando's only member, began experimenting with electronic music in 1986. Three years later he released his first tape under the moniker Suicide Commando, and made an appearance...

 on their 2000 album Mindstrip.

The words are also used as the title of various other works. Jesus Wept

Jesus Wept

Jesus Wept is an album by American hip hop group P.M. Dawn. It was released in October 1995 via Gee Street Records, and was unable to attain the success of the group's first two albums, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience and The Bliss Album...? ...

is an album by rap group P.M. Dawn. "Jesus Wept" is also the title of a song by Suffocation

Suffocation (band)

Suffocation is an American death metal band that was formed in 1989 in Long Island, New York. The band comprises vocalist Frank Mullen, guitarists Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais, drummer Mike Smith and bassist Derek Boyer. Suffocation rose to prominence of death metal and created a blueprint for...

 on the 1991 album Effigy of the Forgotten

Effigy of the Forgotten

-Personnel:Suffocation*Frank Mullen: All Vocals*Doug Cerrito: Lead & Rhythm Guitars*Terrance Hobbs: Lead & Rhythm Guitars*Josh Barohn: Bass*Mike Smith: DrumsProduction*Produced, Engineered & Mixed By Scott Burns*Mastered By Eddy SchreyerGuest Musicians...

. Jayzus Wept is a short book by Pete St. John

Pete St. John

Pete St. John is an Irish folk singer-songwriter, most notable for composing Fields of Athenry.St. John is a prolific composer of widely sung modern ballads; his other most famous song is "The Rare Ould Times"...

; the title is the phonetic spelling of the phrase as spoken in Ireland. "Jesus Chorou" (in Portuguese) is a song by Brazilian hip-hop group Racionais MC's

Racionais MC's

Racionais MC's is a hip hop group based in São Paulo, Brazil. Mano Brown , Ice Blue , Edy Rock and DJ KL Jay formed the group in 1988. Each member hails from the ring of favelas around São Paulo locally called the periferia...

. British experimental music group Current 93

Current 93

Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...

's album Dogs Blood Rising

Dogs Blood Rising

-Pressings:*1984 12" black vinyl in regular sleeve *1985 cassette in regular cassette box *1988 12" black vinyl in regular sleeve...

 contains a song entitled "Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)."

See also

• Dominus Flevit Church
  Dominus Flevit Church
  Dominus Flevit is a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives immediately facing the Old City of Jerusalem.- History :Dominus Flevit, which translates from Latin as "The Lord Wept", was fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ...
  
  
• Chapters and verses of the Bible#Statistics (including shortest verses)

External links

• John 11:35 at NETBible