# The Longest Bible Verse in Chinese

> The longest verse in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) is Jeremiah 43:5, at 97 Chinese characters — more than three times the 30-character average.

Question: longest verse in the Bible Chinese
Answer: Jeremiah 43:5 — 97 characters
Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/longest-verse-in-chinese

Length here is counted in Chinese characters, punctuation excluded, over the simplified text. In other languages the longest verse is usually named as Esther 8:9; Chinese counts differently because the same content takes a different number of characters, so the answer is edition-specific and this one is for the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified).

Long verses cluster in lists and legal material: a single verse enumerating officials, gifts or measurements can run for lines. The average verse, by contrast, is 30 characters.

The verse page shows it in parallel with your own language, with pinyin and word-by-word meanings — which is the only comfortable way to read a verse of this length while learning.

To put 97 characters in proportion: an average chapter runs 775 characters, so this one verse is about 13% of a chapter, or roughly 3 average verses laid end to end.

## For comparison

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Longest verse | Jeremiah 43:5 — 97 characters |
| Average verse | 30 characters |
| Average chapter | 775 characters |
| Whole Bible | 921,149 characters |


## Questions

**Is Esther 8:9 not the longest?**

It is in several English translations. Counted in Chinese characters in this edition, Jeremiah 43:5 is longer.

**What is the shortest?**

Job 3:2 is a single character in this edition; the shortest with real content are four characters, including John 11:35, 耶稣哭了.

**How is a character counted?**

Only CJK characters count. Punctuation, quotation marks and any Latin text are excluded.

## Method

- Text: 和合本 (Chinese Union Version), simplified script — public domain
- Words: forward maximum matching against CC-CEDICT (this site's own segmentation)
- HSK levels: HSK 3.0 levels from the complete-hsk-vocabulary list; band 7 covers HSK 7-9
- Reading times: 260 characters a minute (an assumption)
- Computed: 2026-09-22

These are reproducible counts over a public-domain text, not a peer-reviewed study. Difficulty ranks are one stated formula, not a validated readability score.


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- Definitions: CC-CEDICT, licensed CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- If you share this file onward, keep this notice and share alike.
- Character data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License / LGPL).
- Bible text: public domain — 和合本 · World English Bible · Louis Segond 1910.
- Built with https://chinese-bible.com