How many times is beast mentioned in the Bible?
The word beast appears 180 times in the King James Version, in 157 verses. Counting every form (beast, beasts, beast's), it appears 337 times in 296 verses across 40 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses beast 38 times (40 with every form).
The KJV says beast for any animal (Genesis 1:24, "beast of the earth") and for the beast of Revelation 13. The World English Bible says animal or animals in the first sense and keeps beast almost only for Revelation, which is why its count is so much lower.
Beast in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of beast counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| beast | 180 | 38 |
| beasts | 156 | 2 |
| beast's | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 337 | 40 |
Which books mention beast most
Beast appears in 40 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Revelation has the most (59), then Leviticus (41) and Ezekiel (28).
Also in: Nehemiah (3), Proverbs (3), Joel (3), Zephaniah (3), 1 Samuel (2), 1 Kings (2), 2 Kings (2), 2 Chronicles (2), Ezra (2), Jonah (2), Micah (2), Zechariah (2), 1 Corinthians (2), Hebrews (2), Judges (1), 2 Samuel (1), Amos (1), Habakkuk (1), Mark (1), Luke (1), Romans (1), Titus (1), James (1), 2 Peter (1), Jude (1).
First and last mention of beast
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The verse that uses it most is Revelation 4:7, 4 times:
And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
Where the two translations differ
265 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 1 verse matches only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Genesis 1:24: counted in the KJV only
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
Genesis 1:25: counted in the KJV only
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
Psalm 74:19: counted in the World English Bible only
O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.
Verses with beast on our topic pages
6 verses that use beast in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
On: Bitterness
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.”
The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.
On: Hell
The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
On: Hell
I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Common questions
How many times is beast in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 259 of the 337 uses are in the Old Testament and 78 in the New Testament. Beast appears in 40 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Revelation has the most (59), then Leviticus (41) and Ezekiel (28).
Where is beast first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 1:24: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." The last is Revelation 20:10.
Read the full collection: Bible Verses About Animals (32 Verses).
More word counts: dragon, Satan, flower, feast, word, husband, morning, kingdom, or all 680 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 2026-10-26.