DOT (κεραία, G3037, horn, projection, or extremity) KJV TITTLE, tĭt’ əl. An accent or diacritical mark, or a stroke which distinguishes similar letters, such as ה and ד, ח, and ב, ר, and ך. This word occurs twice in the NT in Jesus’ statements: “Not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Matt 5:18), and “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to become void” (Luke 16:17).

The iota is the smallest letter in the Gr. alphabet and here it signifies yod, the smallest letter of the Heb. alphabet. The expression “not an iota, not a dot” signifies the tiniest details. It is used by Jesus to emphasize the enduring and unchangeable nature of the law of God (i.e., The Torah, the OT). Similar statements are found in Jewish tradition asserting that a yod could not be removed from the law, that the world would be destroyed if one mark which distinguishes similar letters were removed.

Bibliography A. Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah (1947), I, 537f.; W. Arndt and F. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the NT (1957), 429.