How many times is elder mentioned in the Bible?
The word elder appears 20 times in the King James Version, in 20 verses. Counting every form (elder, elders), it appears 199 times in 194 verses across 36 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses elder 24 times (214 with every form).
Elder is also a comparative (the elder brother, the elder shall serve the younger). Every use is counted.
Elder in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of elder counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| elder | 20 | 24 |
| elders | 179 | 190 |
| Total | 199 | 214 |
Which books mention elder most
Elder appears in 36 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Deuteronomy has the most (20), then Acts (18) and Matthew (13).
Also in: 2 Kings (6), Luke (6), Lamentations (5), Ruth (4), 1 Timothy (4), 1 Chronicles (3), 2 Chronicles (3), 1 Peter (3), Leviticus (2), Job (2), Jeremiah (2), Joel (2), Psalms (1), Proverbs (1), Isaiah (1), Romans (1), Titus (1), Hebrews (1), James (1), 2 John (1), 3 John (1).
First and last mention of elder
Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 50:7, 2 times (tied with Numbers 11:16, Numbers 22:7, 2 Kings 6:32, 1 Peter 5:1):
And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
Where the two translations differ
1 verse matches in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 15 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
1 Timothy 5:1: counted in the KJV only
Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers;
Genesis 24:2: counted in the World English Bible only
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh.
Genesis 27:1: counted in the World English Bible only
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
Verses with elder on our topic pages
7 verses that use elder in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Yahweh said to her, “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger.”
They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them.
On: Fasting
When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
On: Fasting
Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
On: Healing
I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands;
On: Angels
Common questions
How many times is elder in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 130 of the 199 uses are in the Old Testament and 69 in the New Testament. Elder appears in 36 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Deuteronomy has the most (20), then Acts (18) and Matthew (13).
Where is elder first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 10:21: "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born." The last is Revelation 19:4.
More word counts: gospel, parable, demon, judgment, wrath, vengeance, envy, lust, or all 253 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 2026-10-05.