Tittle

A tittle is the small stroke, serif, or decorative flourish used to distinguish similar-looking letters in the Hebrew script. In Matthew 5:18, Jesus declares that "not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled" — the jot being the smallest Hebrew letter (yod) and the tittle the smallest marking on a letter. The statement is among the strongest affirmations of biblical authority and verbal precision in the Gospels.

Luke 16:17 records a parallel saying: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail." Together these statements establish the permanence and completeness of Scripture down to its minutest written details. The context in Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus goes on to demonstrate that he fulfills the law by deepening rather than abolishing its demands (Matt. 5:21-48).