How many times is Canaanites mentioned in the Bible?
The word Canaanites appears 55 times in the King James Version, in 53 verses. Counting every form (Canaanites, Canaanite), it appears 69 times in 67 verses across 14 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Canaanites 43 times (72 with every form).
Canaanites in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Canaanites counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Canaanites | 55 | 43 |
| Canaanite | 14 | 29 |
| Total | 69 | 72 |
First and last mention of Canaanites
And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
The verse that uses it most is Joshua 16:10, 2 times (tied with Judges 1:29):
And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.
Where the two translations differ
1 verse matches in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 4 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Mark 3:18: counted in the KJV only
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot;
Genesis 46:10: counted in the World English Bible only
And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.
The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
Exodus 6:15: counted in the World English Bible only
And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.
The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.
Common questions
How many times is Canaanites in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 67 of the 69 uses are in the Old Testament and 2 in the New Testament. Canaanites appears in 14 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Judges has the most (16), then Joshua (15) and Genesis (10).
Where is Canaanites first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 10:18: "And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad." The last is Mark 3:18.
More word counts: Chaldeans, Pharisees, Sadducees, Hittites, Amalekites, Midianites, Ammonites, Jebusites, 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.