How many times is dragon mentioned in the Bible?
The word dragon appears 19 times in the King James Version, in 18 verses. Counting every form (dragon, dragons), it appears 35 times in 34 verses across 10 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses dragon 14 times.
Dragon in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of dragon counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| dragon | 19 | 14 |
| dragons | 16 | 0 |
| Total | 35 | 14 |
Which books mention dragon most
Dragon appears in 10 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Revelation has the most (13), then Isaiah (6) and Jeremiah (6).
First and last mention of dragon
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
The verse that uses it most is Revelation 12:7, 2 times:
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Where the two translations differ
21 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 0 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Deuteronomy 32:33: counted in the KJV only
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
Nehemiah 2:13: counted in the KJV only
And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate, and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.
Verses with dragon on our topic pages
2 verses that use dragon in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war.
On: Demons
Common questions
How many times is dragon in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 22 of the 35 uses are in the Old Testament and 13 in the New Testament. Dragon appears in 10 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Revelation has the most (13), then Isaiah (6) and Jeremiah (6).
Where is dragon first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Deuteronomy 32:33: "Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." The last is Revelation 20:2.
More word counts: unicorn, woman, wisdom, trust, death, water, light, cross, or all 107 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 2026-10-02.