John 11:35
“Jesus wept.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Context
Jesus arrives at Bethany four days after Lazarus has died. Surrounded by grieving family and neighbors, and just before calling Lazarus from the tomb, He is overcome with emotion and weeps.
What Does John 11:35 Mean?
Jesus wept because He shared fully in human grief, standing among mourners at the tomb of His friend Lazarus and weeping with them. This is the shortest verse in the English Bible, yet it carries enormous weight. Jesus already knew He would raise Lazarus within moments -- He had said the sickness was "not unto death" but "for the glory of God" (John 11:4). And still He wept. His tears were not born of hopelessness or ignorance of the outcome; they flowed from a heart moved by the sorrow of Mary and Martha and by the wound that death inflicts on those it leaves behind.
This single line shows that Jesus is no distant figure untouched by what people suffer. He entered into the full reality of loss, feeling its sting in His own body and emotions. The Greek says He was "groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (verse 33) before these tears came. Here is one who does not merely observe sorrow from above but enters it from within. For anyone standing beside a grave, this verse is a quiet assurance: the Lord understands grief because He has felt it, and He weeps with those who weep before He acts to make all things new.
In the Original Language
The Greek verb here is "edakrysen" (ἐδάκρυσεν), from "dakryo," meaning to shed tears -- a quiet, personal weeping distinct from the loud wailing ("klaio") of the mourners around Him.
Cross References
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
- Isaiah 53:3
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
- Hebrews 4:15
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”
- Romans 12:15
Application
When you grieve, remember that Jesus does not stand far off from your pain but enters into it, weeping alongside you even as He holds the power to heal.