Published 2026-10-26 · 6 min read
How many times is Jesus mentioned in the Bible?
In the English KJV text counted here, the name “Jesus” appears 983 times in 942 verses. That includes uppercase JESUS and possessives, but excludes Barjesus. A name count is not a count of every reference to Jesus Christ.
Download the verse audit (CSV) to inspect every match, or open the method and source details (JSON).
983 occurrences, 942 verses: two different units
An occurrence is one use of the name. A matching verse contains at least one use and counts once, even when the name repeats. For example, John 19:38 in the English KJV contributes three occurrences but one verse:
And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
This is a count of the English name in one KJV text. Titles, pronouns and passages understood as prophecy are outside the search. It does not count every reference to Jesus Christ.
Why the counting rule changes the answer
The 983 includes 977 matches spelled Jesus and 6 spelled JESUS. A case-sensitive search for Jesus misses those six. The 10 possessives, such as Jesus’, are already included; do not add them again.
| Rule applied to our pinned KJV input | Name occurrences | Matching verses |
|---|---|---|
| Ignore case, include possessives, exclude compound names | 983 | 942 |
| Deliberately drop matches followed by an apostrophe | 973 | 935 |
| Keep possessives, then apply the three contextual exclusions below | 980 | 939 |
Dropping possessives is a different measurement, not a correction. The standalone rule rejects letters, digits, underscores or a hyphen immediately beside Jesus. It therefore excludes both Barjesus and Bar-jesus.
A separate eBible/CrossWire KJV snapshot produces 984 occurrences in 943 verses with the simpler word-boundary search \bjesus\b. Its Bar-jesus in adds the sole per-verse count difference: a hyphen creates a word boundary. Explicitly excluding compounds brings both snapshots to 983/942. This comparison does not explain an unidentified website's historical method. Bible Says About also reports 983/942 and excludes that compound, as checked on October 26, 2026.
Four cases to read in context
— Joshua. Stephen is recounting Israel's entry into the land, so this use names Joshua. It contributes one name match; the declared-exclusion variant removes it. Read Acts 7 in English KJV.
Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
— Joshua. The surrounding argument concerns the rest associated with entering the land and a later promised rest. This is the second declared exclusion. Read Hebrews 4 in English KJV.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
— Jesus called Justus. The verse itself distinguishes Paul's fellow worker. This is the third declared exclusion. Read Colossians 4 in English KJV.
And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.
— Barjesus. Our input spells this compound without a hyphen. It contributes zero standalone matches and remains in the audit to make the boundary decision visible. Read Acts 13 in English KJV.
And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
Removing the three declared matches gives 980 occurrences in 939 verses. The Joshua identifications require contextual reading; a search cannot decide them. 980/939 is not a separately certified review of every remaining reference to Christ. The original columns let you retain or reverse these exclusions.
Check the audit in a spreadsheet
Open the CSV in Excel, Google Sheets or another spreadsheet. It contains 943 data rows, plus a header. The extra candidate is , which counts zero; row count is therefore not the matching-verse count.
Enter these formulas in empty cells outside the data:
| Measurement | Occurrences: sum column | Verses: count positive rows |
|---|---|---|
| Original count | =SUM(A2:A944) → 983 | =COUNTIF(A2:A944,">0") → 942 |
| After three declared exclusions | =SUM(C2:C944) → 980 | =COUNTIF(C2:C944,">0") → 939 |
Column A is name_occurrences; C is name_occurrences_after_three_declared_exclusions. Columns B and D are the corresponding 0/1 verse flags: =SUM(B2:B944) gives 942 and =SUM(D2:D944) gives 939. Columns E and F contain the uppercase and possessive counts. Filter the notes in H to inspect the four cases; J opens their English KJV context.
The source and a complete recount
The compressed KJV input contains 31,102 verse records across 66 books. TrustBible's import record dates it to September 6, 2026, from aruljohn/Bible-kjv. Its specific KJV printing is Unknown. Only verse text is counted, excluding headings, notes and metadata.
Its SHA-256 is 0c3b8afefa4efaa8bd72576682c8ad060e4ccb499e81943a9678de49ab9416ad. The method JSON preserves that hash, exact rules, field definitions and both hashes for the separately checked eBible USFX archive. That comparison uses the same 66 books, excluding eBible's deuterocanonical books and notes. The archive URL can change; its recorded hashes identify the compared snapshot.
For a complete recount, download count-jesus.py, save it in a folder, and open a terminal there. With Python 3 installed, run:
python count-jesus.py --output-dir results
No packages or repository checkout are needed. The script downloads the public input, verifies its hash, recounts all records and writes jesus-name-audit.csv and jesus-count-method.json into results. A changed input fails verification. To use the downloaded input offline, add --input kjv.jsonl.gz to the command.
Read beyond the number
Start with Hebrews 4 in English KJV and read the argument around the name. For another example of how a source and rule affect a total, see how many times “love” is mentioned in the Bible.