How many times is Abimelech mentioned in the Bible?
The word Abimelech appears 64 times in the King James Version, in 60 verses. Counting every form (Abimelech, Abimelech's), it appears 66 times in 61 verses across 4 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Abimelech 64 times (66 with every form).
Abimelech in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Abimelech counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Abimelech | 64 | 64 |
| Abimelech's | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 66 | 66 |
What the name Abimelech means
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Abimelech as "father of the king".
This is the 1869 traditional meaning; modern scholars often read names differently.
See every name and place with its meaning and count on Bible names and their meanings.
Source: Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869), checked 2026-10-22.
Which books mention Abimelech most
Abimelech appears in 4 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Judges has the most (40), then Genesis (24) and 2 Samuel (1).
First and last mention of Abimelech
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Shavsha was scribe;
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 21:25, 2 times (tied with Judges 9:20, Judges 9:23, Judges 9:29, Judges 9:48):
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
Verses with Abimelech on our topic pages
1 verse that uses Abimelech in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife.”
On: Dreams
Common questions
How many times is Abimelech in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 66 of the 66 uses are in the Old Testament and 0 in the New Testament. Abimelech appears in 4 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Judges has the most (40), then Genesis (24) and 2 Samuel (1).
Where is Abimelech first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 20:2: "And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah." The last is 1 Chronicles 18:16.
What does the name Abimelech mean in the Bible?
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Abimelech as "father of the king".
More word counts: Abner, Simon, Balaam, Asa, Jehu, Zedekiah, Mordecai, Laban, or all 484 words.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-22.