# The Shortest Bible Verse in Chinese

> The shortest meaningful verse in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) is John 11:35, 耶稣哭了 ("Jesus wept"), four Chinese characters against an average verse length of 30.

Question: shortest verse in the Bible Chinese
Answer: 耶稣哭了 — 4 characters
Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/shortest-verse-in-chinese

Two answers exist, and both are worth stating. Measured strictly, the shortest verse in this edition is Job 3:2 — a single character, 说 ("said"), because the edition splits the speech formula into its own verse. That is a fact about verse division, not about the text.

The verse people mean is John 11:35: 耶稣哭了, Yēsū kū le, "Jesus wept". Four characters, and each of them common — 耶稣 is the name, 哭 is "to cry" and 了 marks the completed action. It is the first verse many learners can read without help.

Other four-character verses are the commandments of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5: 不可杀人, 不可奸淫, 不可偷盗 — "do not kill", "do not commit adultery", "do not steal". They are a good first reading precisely because the grammar is bare.

## The shortest verses in the Chinese text

| Verse | Chinese | Characters |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Job 3:2 | 说： | 1 |
| John 11:35 | 耶稣哭了。 | 4 |
| Exodus 20:13 | 不可杀人。 | 4 |
| Exodus 20:14 | 不可奸淫。 | 4 |
| Exodus 20:15 | 不可偷盗。 | 4 |

Average verse: 30 characters. Punctuation is not counted.

## Questions

**How is 耶稣哭了 pronounced?**

Yēsū kū le — first tone, first tone, first tone, neutral. The verse page plays it and shows stroke order for each character.

**Why is Job 3:2 so short?**

Because the verse division puts the words "and Job said" in a verse of their own, and Chinese needs only one character for them.

**What is the longest?**

Jeremiah 43:5, at 97 characters.

## 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.
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