What is the longest verse in the Bible?
There are different verses that could be considered the longest verse in the Bible based on word count, and this depends on which language you look at as the measure. The Bible has been translated from Hebrew and Greek into other languages, and the word counts are not the same from one language to the next. Some languages, like English, have multiple translations of the Bible available. Again, the word count is not consistent among these versions. If we look at the original languages, the longest verse in the Bible is Revelation 20:4. Once translated into English, the longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9. In the original languages, Revelation 20:4 has 58 words, while Esther 8:9 has only 43.The other longest verses in the Bible can vary based on the translation being used as a measure.
In the ESV translation, the longest verses in the Bible are:
1. Esther 8:9 (80 words)
2. Revelation 20:4 (75 words)
3. Joshua 8:33 and Ezekiel 48:21 (74 words each)
4. Jeremiah 21:7 and Jeremiah 44:12 (73 words each)
5. 2 Chronicles 2:14 (68 words)
This varies slightly in the KJV, where the longest verses go in this order:
1. Esther 8:9 (90 words)
2. Jeremiah 21:7
3. Ezekiel 46:9
4. Joshua 8:33; 2 Chronicles 2:14; Ezekiel 48:21; and Jeremiah 44:12 (four-way tie)
5. Revelation 20:4
Esther 8:9 still comes out as the longest verse. In the ESV, it says: "The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language."
Revelation 20:4 in the ESV says: "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."
The verse and chapter divisions were added well after Scripture was written. There is no particular spiritual significance to the longest verse in the Bible in any language. But knowing what are the longest and shortest verses can be interesting factoids.
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