How many times is leprosy mentioned in the Bible?
The word leprosy appears 39 times in the King James Version, in 37 verses. Counting every form (leprosy, leper, lepers, leprous), it appears 68 times in 62 verses across 10 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses leprosy 33 times (62 with every form).
Leprosy in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of leprosy counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| leprosy | 39 | 33 |
| leper | 17 | 17 |
| lepers | 6 | 6 |
| leprous | 6 | 6 |
| Total | 68 | 62 |
Which books mention leprosy most
Leprosy appears in 10 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Leviticus has the most (34), then 2 Kings (10) and 2 Chronicles (5).
First and last mention of leprosy
And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
The verse that uses it most is Leviticus 13:12, 2 times (tied with Leviticus 13:25, Leviticus 14:3, Numbers 12:10, 2 Kings 5:27, 2 Chronicles 26:21):
And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh;
Where the two translations differ
6 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.
Leviticus 13:51: counted in the KJV only
And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.
He shall examine the plague on the seventh day. If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in the skin, whatever use the skin is used for, the plague is a destructive mildew. It is unclean.
Leviticus 13:52: counted in the KJV only
He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.
He shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of skin, in which the plague is: for it is a destructive mildew. It shall be burned in the fire.
Common questions
How many times is leprosy in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 55 of the 68 uses are in the Old Testament and 13 in the New Testament. Leprosy appears in 10 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Leviticus has the most (34), then 2 Kings (10) and 2 Chronicles (5).
Where is leprosy first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Exodus 4:6: "And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." The last is Luke 17:12.
More word counts: circumcision, rainbow, flood, famine, plague, olive, fig, donkey, or all 484 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 2026-10-22.