How many times is Assyria mentioned in the Bible?
The word Assyria appears 118 times in the King James Version, in 108 verses. It is found in 14 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Assyria 125 times.
Assyria in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Assyria counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Assyria | 118 | 125 |
| Total | 118 | 125 |
What the name Assyria means
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Assyria as "country of Assur or Ashur".
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.
First and last mention of Assyria
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
The verse that uses it most is 2 Kings 17:4, 3 times:
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
Where the two translations differ
0 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 7 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Genesis 10:11: counted in the World English Bible only
Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
Ezra 4:2: counted in the World English Bible only
Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.
they came near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”
Verses with Assyria on our topic pages
1 verse that uses Assyria in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”
On: Orphans
Common questions
How many times is Assyria in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 118 of the 118 uses are in the Old Testament and 0 in the New Testament. Assyria appears in 14 books of the 66 in the King James Version. 2 Kings has the most (48), then Isaiah (34) and 2 Chronicles (13).
Where is Assyria first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 2:14: "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates." The last is Zechariah 10:11.
What does the name Assyria mean in the Bible?
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Assyria as "country of Assur or Ashur".
More word counts: Hebron, Lebanon, Bethel, Shechem, Bashan, Syria, Gilgal, Persia, 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.