The shortest Bible verse in English is two words, “Jesus wept” in John 11:35, and plenty of others land between three and eight. Every entry on this page is eight words or fewer, counted from the World English Bible wording that follows it, and the list runs from the two-word verses at the top to the eight-word verses at the bottom.
Some of the best short lines in Scripture sit inside longer sentences. Those are marked part of the verse, quoted word for word, with the reference beside them so you can read the whole thing together afterwards. A few verses appear twice, once for each half, because a long verse split in two is usually easier than a long verse repeated louder.
Quoted from the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain translation that keeps the divine name as Yahweh in Old Testament verses.
Whole verses and single phrases short enough for a two-year-old to finish. Start a first-time memorizer here so that day one ends in a win.
“Jesus wept.”
John 11:35
The shortest verse in the Bible, and the one that tells a child God is not embarrassed by crying.
“Rejoice always.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16
A toddler can finish this one before you have finished starting it.
“God is love.”
1 John 4:8 · part of the verse
The end of the verse, and the point of it. Most children learn these three words before any other line of Scripture.
“Pray without ceasing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Ceasing is the only hard word here. Tell them it means stopping and the verse is theirs.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Joshua 1:9 · part of the verse
Taken from the middle of God's charge to Joshua, and useful on its own at the top of a tall slide.
The sweet spot for three and four-year-olds. Four words is about one breath, and one breath is about one thought.
“Be strong and courageous.”
Joshua 1:9 · part of the verse
The other half of the same verse. Learn both halves in one week and the whole of Joshua 1:9 is done.
“Great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:23 · part of the verse
Four words worth saying out loud at the end of a week that did not go well.
“Serve Yahweh with gladness.”
Psalm 100:2 · part of the verse
Say it while a child is setting the table and the verse gets a demonstration for free.
“For Yahweh is good.”
Psalm 100:5 · part of the verse
Four words that answer the question children ask about God more often than any other.
“Blessed are the merciful”
Matthew 5:7 · part of the verse
The opening of one of the Beatitudes, short enough for a four-year-old to claim as their own.
“Blessed are the peacemakers”
Matthew 5:9 · part of the verse
Learn it alongside the line above and a child can recite two Beatitudes by Friday.
“Allow the little children”
Matthew 19:14 · part of the verse
Jesus said this about the children the disciples were turning away, which is worth mentioning as you teach it.
“I will strengthen you.”
Isaiah 41:10 · part of the verse
God is the speaker, so this is a verse to hear rather than a verse to say.
“he cares for you”
1 Peter 5:7 · part of the verse
Four words from the tail of the verse, and the four a worried child needs first.
“When I am afraid”
Psalm 56:3 · part of the verse
Half a verse that names the feeling. Children relax when a Bible verse admits the problem before fixing it.
Preschool and kindergarten territory. Long enough to carry a real idea, short enough to say twice while shoes go on.
“They are new every morning.”
Lamentations 3:23 · part of the verse
The front of the same verse as Great is your faithfulness, and the easier half to start with.
“Yes, I will help you.”
Isaiah 41:10 · part of the verse
Five words with a yes at the front, which children hear as an answer rather than a rule.
“Yahweh is good to all.”
Psalm 145:9 · part of the verse
To all is the part worth pausing on. Ask who is included and let them list people.
“My help comes from Yahweh”
Psalm 121:2 · part of the verse
Short enough for the walk into a classroom, which is when most children need it.
“In the beginning, God created”
Genesis 1:1 · part of the verse
The first five words of the Bible. Children like knowing they have learned the very start of it.
“Rejoice in the Lord always!”
Philippians 4:4 · part of the verse
A longer cousin of Rejoice always, so teach that two-word verse first and this one arrives half learned.
“I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 · part of the verse
The promise at the end of the invitation. It belongs at bedtime more than at breakfast.
“Honor your father and mother”
Ephesians 6:2 · part of the verse
One of the Ten Commandments in five words, which is as short as a commandment gets.
“for I am with you”
Isaiah 41:10 · part of the verse
The middle of a long verse, and the piece a frightened child can hold with no explanation at all.
“I love you, Yahweh, my strength.”
Psalm 18:1
Spoken straight to God, so it works as a verse and as a whole bedtime prayer at once.
“And be kind to one another”
Ephesians 4:32 · part of the verse
The most quoted six words in any Sunday school room, and they hold up as a house rule.
“God is our refuge and strength”
Psalm 46:1 · part of the verse
Refuge takes one sentence to explain. Try a safe place you can run to and then say the verse again.
“Come before his presence with singing.”
Psalm 100:2 · part of the verse
The second half of Serve Yahweh with gladness, and an excuse to be loud in the kitchen.
“He heals the broken in heart”
Psalm 147:3 · part of the verse
Six words for the evening after a friendship goes wrong at school.
“Sing to Yahweh a new song!”
Psalm 96:1 · part of the verse
Children take new song literally and make one up, which is the fastest way to fix a verse in memory.
“A gentle answer turns away wrath”
Proverbs 15:1 · part of the verse
Wrath needs a swap. Big angry feelings works, and the proverb still lands.
“A friend loves at all times”
Proverbs 17:17 · part of the verse
Six words that give a child something to aim at on a day when being a friend is hard.
“walk by faith, not by sight”
2 Corinthians 5:7 · part of the verse
Abstract for a preschooler, but the rhythm carries it and the meaning catches up by second grade.
For children who have already learned a few. Eight words is roughly the ceiling before a verse needs breaking into halves.
“Yahweh is my light and my salvation.”
Psalm 27:1 · part of the verse
Good for a child who is afraid of the dark, because the verse hands them a light without arguing.
“Yahweh is my strength and my shield.”
Psalm 28:7 · part of the verse
Shield is a word children already know from every game they play, so nothing needs translating.
“Trust in Yahweh with all your heart”
Proverbs 3:5 · part of the verse
The first half of the proverb. The second half about leaning on your own understanding can wait a few years.
“I can do all things through Christ”
Philippians 4:13 · part of the verse
It starts with I can, which is why this is the verse children volunteer without being asked.
“Come to me, all you who labor”
Matthew 11:28 · part of the verse
Labor means tired-out work. Once a child hears that, the invitation is obvious.
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord”
Ephesians 6:1 · part of the verse
One of the few verses addressed to children directly, and they notice being spoken to.
“Let everything that has breath praise Yah!”
Psalm 150:6 · part of the verse
Ask for a big breath first. The verse then explains itself without any help from you.
“the joy of Yahweh is your strength”
Nehemiah 8:10 · part of the verse
Seven words from the end of a long verse, and the ones worth carrying out of it.
“I will put my trust in you.”
Psalm 56:3 · part of the verse
The answering half of When I am afraid. Teach the two halves on two different days.
“We love him, because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19
Eight words, all of them words a child already uses, and one whole complete verse.
“Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.”
Psalm 23:1
The opening of the psalm most people can still say at eighty. Start it at four.
“Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!”
Psalm 100:1
The one verse here a child is allowed to shout, which makes it easy to schedule outdoors.
“Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good”
Psalm 107:1 · part of the verse
The standard grace before a meal in eight words, and it doubles as a memory verse.
“Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good.”
Psalm 34:8 · part of the verse
Taste makes it concrete, which is why this one works so well at the dinner table.
“Even so, let your light shine before men”
Matthew 5:16 · part of the verse
Say it while a candle is lit and a five-year-old will remember the verse and the candle together.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
Psalm 51:10 · part of the verse
A verse for saying sorry, which children need more often than they need a verse about courage.
“Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised!”
Psalm 145:3 · part of the verse
Eight words and two forms of the word great, which is exactly the sort of repeat that sticks.
A two-word verse is not a smaller version of Scripture memory. It is the first rung of it.
Pick a phrase from the list, learn it until the child says it without being prompted, then add the words on either side of it a few at a time. A child who owns “Be strong and courageous” can pick up “Don’t be afraid” in a day, and once both halves are secure the full sentence of Joshua 1:9 is mostly a matter of joining them. The same trick works for Psalm 56:3, Lamentations 3:23, Psalm 100:2, Matthew 11:28, and Isaiah 41:10, all of which appear above in pieces.
Three methods do most of the work, and none of them take longer than five minutes. Hide a word: write the verse where everyone can see it, say it together, wipe out one word, say it again, and keep going until the surface is blank. Echo reading: you say two or three words, the child says the same words straight back, and you stretch the chunk a little each round. Verse of the week: one verse, one week, one place on the fridge, said at the same moment every day. Because these verses are short, a week is usually generous.
These verses from the list already have a free printable page with the words lettered large. Print one on Monday and leave it on the table for the week.
There are thirty-six of these in all. See the full set of Bible verse coloring pages.
Our favorite ten coloring pages and verse cards, free in one pack, sent to your inbox. The verse cards are cut-and-keep size, which suits the short verses above better than a full sheet does.
These verses stay free. Little Prayers is our bedtime prayer book, starring your child: ten short prayers, each paired with a verse, with your child drawn into every spread and their name on the cover.
In English the shortest verse is John 11:35, which the World English Bible renders as two words: “Jesus wept.” It is also one of the best first verses for a child, because it says something true about Jesus that a small person can understand without any explanation at all.
Yes, as long as you say so. Many of the best-known short verses are phrases from inside longer sentences, such as “God is love” from 1 John 4:8. Teach the phrase, say the reference with it, and read the whole verse aloud so the child hears where their piece came from. Everything on this page marked part of the verse is quoted word for word from the World English Bible.
As a rule of thumb, about one word per year of age up to eight. A two-year-old can hold two or three words, a four-year-old about four or five, and a seven-year-old can usually manage a full eight-word verse. If a child stalls halfway through, the verse is too long rather than the child too slow, so cut it in half and teach the halves on different days.
Most children can say a three or four word verse back the same day, and can still say it a week later if it has been repeated in the same daily slot four or five times. Longer verses of seven or eight words usually take a week of short repeats. Speed is not the goal, and a verse said every day for a week outlasts a verse drilled for an hour once.
They do, and for a young child they are usually the only kind that works. A short verse learned properly, with its reference, becomes an anchor the longer version can be attached to later. A child who knows “Rejoice always” from 1 Thessalonians 5:16 has somewhere to put Philippians 4:4 when it arrives.
The kindergarten list sorts twenty-eight verses by what a five-year-old is walking into, from a first day of school to the last ten minutes before sleep.