The Longest Word

The Longest Word

The longest word in the English language is some scientific word for a protein that is 189,819 letters long. Some would say, that’s not really a word. The longest word found in standard dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It’s a disease that you get in your lungs from breathing in volcanic ash. The longest word in the Bible is Mahershalalhashbaz, the name of Isaiah’s second son that represented impending doom on Israel from Assyria. However, as long as these words are, there is a word that is longer than any of these.

The word that I am talking about is a word that is as long as the ocean is deep. It is as long as the back is from the front. It is as long as the east is from the west. It is as long as seventy times seven. It is the word “forgiveness.” Yes, I know there are only eleven letters in that word, but there is no end to it because when you have been forgiven, you know how far away your sins are, and it is much bigger than eleven letters. Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Isaiah 38:17 says, “For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” Micah 7:19 says, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” (Matthew 18:21-22). Out of all the words in the English language, “forgiveness” is the longest, because it never quits as long as we keep asking.