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Jesus wept

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For the album by P.M. Dawn, see Jesus Wept. For the band, see Jesus Wept (band).
James Tissot, Jesus Wept (Jésus pleura)

"Jesus wept" (Koinē Greek: ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, romanized: edákrusen ho Iēsoûs, pronounced [ɛˈdakrysɛn (h)o i.eˈsus]) is a phrase famous for being the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible, as well as in many other translations.[1] It is not the shortest in the original languages.[2] The phrase is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 35.[3] Verse breaks—or versification—were introduced into the Greek text by Robert Estienne in 1551 in order to make the texts easier to cite and compare.

Context

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Further information: Raising of Lazarus

This verse occurs in John's narrative of the death of Lazarus of Bethany, a follower of Jesus. Lazarus's sisters—Mary and Martha—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's friends weeping, was deeply troubled and moved. After asking where Lazarus had been laid and being invited to come see him, Jesus wept. He then went to the tomb and told the people to remove the stone covering it, prayed aloud to his Father, and ordered Lazarus to come out, resurrected.[3]

Luke's gospel also records that Jesus wept as he entered Jerusalem before his trial and death, anticipating the destruction of the Temple.[4]

Text

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Resurrection of Lazarus by Juan de Flandes, around 1500
Translation Text
Biblical Greek ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς.
edákrusen ho Iēsoûs.
"Jesus shed tears."
Peshitta ܘܐܵܬ݂ܝܵܢ ܗ̄ܘܲܝ̈ ܕܸܡ̈ܥܵܘܗܝ ܕܝܼܫܘܿܥ.
Wʾatiyan hway demʿawhy d-Yushwoʿ.
"And the tears of Jesus came."
Vulgate Et lacrimātus est Iēsus
"And Jesus wept."
Luther Bible Und Jesus gingen die Augen über.
"And the eyes of Jesus overcame."
ASV, Darby Bible, ERV, ESV, HCSB, KJV, NASB, NET, NIV, NJB, NKJV,
NLT (pre-2005 version), RSV, Recovery Version, WEB, YLT		 "Jesus wept."
Bible in Basic English "And Jesus himself was weeping."
God's Word "Jesus cried."
The Message "Now Jesus wept."
New American Bible, Douay–Rheims Bible "And Jesus wept."
New Living Translation (2005 Version) "Then Jesus wept."
New Revised Standard Version "Jesus began to weep."
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) "Yeshua cried,"
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures "Jesus gave way to tears."

Interpretation

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Significance has been attributed to Jesus's deep emotional response to his friends' weeping, and his own tears, including the following:

  • Weeping demonstrates that Christ was a true man, with real bodily functions[5] (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 the heresy of Docetism). Pope Leo the Great 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, sympathy, and compassion Jesus felt for all mankind.
  • The rage he felt against the tyranny of death over mankind.[6]
  • Although the bystanders interpreted his weeping to mean that Jesus loved Lazarus (verse 36), Witness Lee considered the Jews' opinion to be unreasonable, given Jesus' intention to resurrect Lazarus. Lee argued instead that every person to whom Jesus talked in John 11 (his disciples, Martha, Mary, and the Jews) was blinded by their misconceptions. Thus he "groaned in his spirit" because even those who were closest to him failed to recognize that he was, as he declared in verse 26, "the resurrection and the life". Finally, at the graveside, he "wept in sympathy with their sorrow over Lazarus' death".[7]

In history

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Jesus's tears have figured among the relics attributed to Jesus.[8]

Use as an expletive

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In some parts of the English-speaking world, including Great Britain, Ireland (particularly Dublin and Belfast) and Australia, the phrase "Jesus wept" is an expletive some people use when something goes wrong or to express incredulity.[9] In Christianity, this usage is considered blasphemous and offensive by the devout, as it is seen as violating the second or third of the Ten Commandments.[10][11] Historically, certain Christian states had laws against profane use of Jesus Christ, among other religious terms.[12][11] The Harris Poll conducted a 2017 study and found 90% of evangelical Christians would not view a film that disrespectfully used the name of Jesus Christ.[13] In Catholic Christianity, the faithful pray Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ for abuse of the Holy Name, which constitutes a sin.[14]

In 1965, broadcaster Richard Dimbleby accidentally used the expletive live on air during the state visit of Elizabeth II to West Germany.[citation needed]

It is a common expletive in novels by author Stephen King. In his book On Writing, 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.[citation needed] Other authors using it as an expletive include Neil Gaiman in the Sandman series, Bernard Cornwell in the Sharpe series, Mick Herron in the Slough House series, David Lodge in Nice Work, Mike Carey in the Hellblazer series and The Devil You Know, Garth Ennis in The Boys (comics), Peter F. Hamilton in The Night's Dawn Trilogy, Mark Haddon in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Dan Simmons in Hyperion Cantos, Minette Walters in Fox Evil, Elly Griffiths in the Dr Ruth Galloway series, and Jason Matthews in Red Sparrow.

This usage is also evidenced in films and television programmes including Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Get Carter (1971), Razorback (1984), Hellraiser (1987), Drop the Dead Donkey (1990), The Stand (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Dogma (1999), Notes on a Scandal (2006), True Blood, Cranford, The Bank Job (all 2008), Blitz (2011), Call the Midwife (2013), Community (2015), The Magnificent Seven (2016), The Haunting of Hill House, Derry Girls (both 2018), Troop Zero (2019), Silent Witness (2023), and Murder in a Small Town (2024).

Car journalist Jeremy Clarkson of the hit show Top Gear used the expletive many times during the show’s 22nd season.[citation needed]

The verse is also used in the The's song "Angels of Deception" from the 1986 album Infected. Kanye West uses the verse to end "Bound 2", the last song on his 2013 album Yeezus.[15]

After all these long-ass verses,
I'm tired, you tired, Jesus wept

— Kanye West, Bound 2

See also

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Wikisource has original text related to this article:

References

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  1. ^ In the NIV, Job 3:2 is the shortest biblical verse. Whereas the KJV reads "And Job spake, and said," the NIV simply has "He said".
  2. ^ The shortest verse in the Greek New Testament is Luke 20:30 ("καὶ ὁ δεύτερος", "And the second") with twelve letters, according to the Westcott and Hort text. The shortest verse in the Pentateuch, Genesis 26:6, also has twelve letters in the original Hebrew. The shortest verse in the Hagiographa, 1 Chronicles 1:25, has nine letters in the original Hebrew.
  3. ^ a b John 11:1–45
  4. ^ Luke 19:41
  5. ^ "Jesus Christ as a Flesh -and - Blood Human". Bibletools.org. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  6. ^ The emotional life of Jesus, B. B. Warfield
  7. ^ Witness Lee, Life-Study of John, Chapter 23, Section 2 (retrieved by searching for "wept" in Life-Study of John)
    Lee, Witness (1985), Life-Study of John, Living Stream Ministry, p. PT272, ISBN 978-0736350402
  8. ^ The Joe Nickell Files: The Shroud of Turin Archived 2008-12-23 at the Wayback Machine, interview with Joe Nickell, August 2000
  9. ^ E.g. Peevish.co.uk dictionary of slang, Dagree.net Archived 2007-02-03 at the Wayback Machine Aussie slang
  10. ^ "BBC rejects blasphemy complaint". Church Times. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  11. ^ a b Worden, David (2003). Truth, Spirituality and Contemporary Issues. Heinemann. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-435-30701-1.
  12. ^ Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure. American Law Book Company. 1902. p. 711. But in this state there were two statues, one against profanity, the other against blasphemy, the former providing a punishment for persons over a certain age who should "profanely curse or swear by the name of God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost," and the latter providing a punishment for any person who should "wilfully, premeditatedly and despitefully, blaspheme or speak wilfully and profanely of Almighty God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or the Scriptures of Truth,"
  13. ^ Nordine, Michael (5 August 2017). "This List of Swear Words People Don't Like to Hear in Movies". IndieWire. Retrieved 19 January 2023. The numbers are even higher among Evangelical Christians, the group most likely to object to swearing; a full 90 percent say they'd be dissuaded from seeing a movie that uses "Jesus Christ" as a swear.
  14. ^ Christopher, Joseph P.; Spence, Charles E.; Rowan, John (September 2000). The Raccolta. St Athanasius Press. pp. 328–329, 367. ISBN 978-0-9706526-6-9.
  15. ^ Hajdu, David (2013-06-18). "Oh, 'Yeezus'". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
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