Jesus Wept Information
Jesus wept (Greek: ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς) is a phrase famous for being the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible, as well as many other versions,[1] though it is not the shortest in the original languages.[2] It is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 35.[3]
Verse breaks – or versification – were introduced to the biblical text by Robert Estienne in 1551 in order to make the texts easier to read and to memorize.
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Context
What does this mean? Jesus wept. Yes he did.</ref>
Text
Resurrection of Lazarus by Juan de Flandes, around 1500| Translation | Text |
|---|---|
| Original Greek | ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Edákrusen ho Iēsous. |
| Vulgate | "Et lacrimatus est Iesus" |
| Luther Bible | Und Jesus gingen die Augen über. |
| ASV, Darby Bible, ESV, HCSB, KJV, NIV, NJB, NKJV, New Living Translation (original version) WEB, YLT, Recovery Version | "Jesus wept." |
| Bible in Basic English | "And Jesus himself was weeping." |
| God's Word | "Jesus cried." |
| The Message | "Now Jesus wept." |
| New American Bible | "And Jesus wept." |
| New Living Translation (2005 version) | "Then Jesus wept." |
| New Revised Standard Version | "Jesus began to weep." |
| New World Translation | "Jesus gave way to tears." |
| CJB | "Yeshua cried," |
Interpretation
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Significance has been attributed to this phrase for a number of reasons, including the following:
- Weeping demonstrates that Christ was indeed 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). Pope Leo I 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.[citation needed]
- The sorrow, sympathy, and compassion Jesus felt for all mankind.
- The rage he felt against the tyranny of death over mankind.[4]
- 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[citation needed] 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 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 (cf Limbo) 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.
In history
Jesus' tears have figured among the relics attributed to Jesus.[5]
Use as an expletive
In some places in the English-speaking world, including the UK, Ireland (particularly Dublin) and Australia, the phrase "Jesus wept" is a common expletive, curse or minced oath spoken when something goes wrong or to express mild incredulity.[6]
It is commonly used as an 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. Other authors using it as an expletive include Neil Gaiman in the Sandman series, Mike Carey in the Hellblazer series and The Devil You Know, Peter F. Hamilton in The Night's Dawn Trilogy, Mark Haddon in The curious incident of the dog in the night-time and Dan Simmons in Hyperion Cantos.
This usage is also evidenced in films and television programmes including Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Get Carter (1971), Razorback (1984), Hellraiser (1987), The Stand (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Dogma (1999) Notes on a Scandal (2006), Cranford (2008), and The Bank Job (2008).
Other usage in media
"Jesus wept" features prominently in various stories, including an episode of The Waltons, the film Barbershop 2: Back in Business and the book The Color of Water, as a Bible verse that is easy for a child to memorize.
In Clive Barker's 1987 horror film Hellraiser 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, "Fascist Jock Itch" by Canadian band Skinny Puppy, and "Jesus Wept" by Belgian industrial act Suicide Commando on their 2000 album Mindstrip.
The words are also used as the title of various other works. Jesus Wept is an album by rap group P.M. Dawn. "Jesus Wept" is also the title of a song by Suffocation on the 1991 album Effigy of the Forgotten. Jayzus Wept is a short book by Pete St. John; 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. British experimental music group Current 93's album Dogs Blood Rising contains a song entitled "Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)."
See also
| Wikisource has original text related to this article: Gospel of John |
- Dominus Flevit Church
- Chapters and verses of the Bible#Statistics (including shortest verses)
References
- ^ 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".
- ^ The shortest verse in the Greek New Testament is Luke 20:30 ("και ο δευτερος", "And the second") with twelve letters, according to the Westcott and Hort text.
- ^ John 11:1–45
- ^ The emotional life of Jesus, B. B. Warfield
- ^ The Joe Nickell Files: The Shroud of Turin, interview with Joe Nickell, August 2000
- ^ E.g. Peevish.co.uk dictionary of slang, Dagree.net Aussie slang
External links
- John 11:35 at NETBible
- John 11:35 and John 11:33 at WikiChristian
Categories: New Testament words and phrases | Sayings of Jesus | Gospel episodes | Gospel of John
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close up of weeping statue
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