How many times is grief mentioned in the Bible?
The word grief appears 26 times in the King James Version, in 26 verses. Counting every form (grief, griefs, sorrow, sorrows), it appears 119 times in 107 verses across 33 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses grief 16 times (79 with every form).
Grief in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of grief counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| grief | 26 | 16 |
| griefs | 1 | 0 |
| sorrow | 70 | 51 |
| sorrows | 22 | 12 |
| Total | 119 | 79 |
Which books mention grief most
Grief appears in 33 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Psalms has the most (17), then Isaiah (15) and Jeremiah (13).
Also in: Leviticus (1), Deuteronomy (1), 2 Samuel (1), 1 Chronicles (1), 2 Chronicles (1), Nehemiah (1), Esther (1), Ezekiel (1), Daniel (1), Jonah (1), Matthew (1), Mark (1), Luke (1), Romans (1), 1 Thessalonians (1), 1 Timothy (1), Hebrews (1), 1 Peter (1).
First and last mention of grief
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 3:16, 2 times (tied with Psalm 116:3, Ecclesiastes 1:18, Ecclesiastes 2:23, Isaiah 17:11, Isaiah 53:3 and 6 more):
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Where the two translations differ
41 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 6 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Genesis 3:16: counted in the KJV only
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Genesis 3:17: counted in the KJV only
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
Psalm 10:14: counted in the World English Bible only
Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.
Psalm 88:9: counted in the World English Bible only
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
Verses with grief on our topic pages
13 verses that use grief in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
On: Money, Contentment, Wealth
Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
On: Protection, Fear
as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy.
On: Christmas
But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.
On: Orphans
Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.
On: Idolatry
The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.
On: Family
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
On: Alcohol
Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
On: Comfort
For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
On: Depression
A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.
On: Children
For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
On: Repentance
Common questions
How many times is grief in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 97 of the 119 uses are in the Old Testament and 22 in the New Testament. Grief appears in 33 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Psalms has the most (17), then Isaiah (15) and Jeremiah (13).
Where is grief first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 3:16: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." The last is Revelation 21:4.
Read the full collection: Bible Verses About Grief (21 Verses).
More word counts: anger, sleep, debt, tattoo, love, God, Jesus, Christ, 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.