How many times is Herod mentioned in the Bible?
The word Herod appears 40 times in the King James Version, in 39 verses. Counting every form (Herod, Herod's), it appears 44 times in 41 verses across 4 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Herod 40 times (44 with every form).
The New Testament names several rulers Herod: Herod the Great, Herod Antipas and Herod Agrippa. Every use is counted.
Herod in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Herod counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Herod | 40 | 40 |
| Herod's | 4 | 4 |
| Total | 44 | 44 |
First and last mention of Herod
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.
The verse that uses it most is Matthew 14:6, 2 times (tied with Luke 3:19, Luke 23:7):
But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
Verses with Herod on our topic pages
3 verses that use Herod in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Being warned in a dream that they shouldn’t return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
On: Dreams
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
On: Dreams
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
On: Dreams
Common questions
How many times is Herod in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 0 of the 44 uses are in the Old Testament and 44 in the New Testament. Herod appears in 4 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Luke has the most (14), then Matthew (13) and Acts (9).
Where is Herod first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Matthew 2:1: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem," The last is Acts 23:35.
More word counts: Pilate, Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Judah, Babylon, Bethlehem, Nazareth, 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.