How many times is Ishmael mentioned in the Bible?
The word Ishmael appears 47 times in the King James Version, in 43 verses. Counting every form (Ishmael, Ishmael's), it appears 48 times in 44 verses across 6 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Ishmael 47 times (48 with every form).
Several men share this name, and every one is counted.
Ishmael in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Ishmael counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Ishmael | 47 | 47 |
| Ishmael's | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 48 | 48 |
Which books mention Ishmael most
Ishmael appears in 6 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Jeremiah has the most (21), then Genesis (17) and 1 Chronicles (5).
First and last mention of Ishmael
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 25:13, 2 times (tied with Genesis 28:9, Jeremiah 41:9, Jeremiah 41:10):
And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
Verses with Ishmael on our topic pages
1 verse that uses Ishmael in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre,
Common questions
How many times is Ishmael in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 48 of the 48 uses are in the Old Testament and 0 in the New Testament. Ishmael appears in 6 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Jeremiah has the most (21), then Genesis (17) and 1 Chronicles (5).
Where is Ishmael first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 16:11: "And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction." The last is Jeremiah 41:18.
More word counts: Esau, Judah, Babylon, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee, Jordan, Sinai, 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.