How many times is Mary mentioned in the Bible?
The word Mary appears 54 times in the King James Version, in 46 verses. It is found in 6 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Mary 53 times.
Mary in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Mary counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Mary | 54 | 53 |
| Total | 54 | 53 |
First and last mention of Mary
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
The verse that uses it most is Matthew 27:56, 2 times (tied with Matthew 27:61, Matthew 28:1, Mark 15:40, Mark 15:47, Mark 16:1 and 2 more):
Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.
Where the two translations differ
1 verse matches 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.
Luke 1:41: counted in the KJV only
And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Verses with Mary on our topic pages
7 verses that use Mary in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
On: Christmas, Stress, Hospitality
She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
On: Christmas, Hospitality
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
On: Christmas
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
On: Easter
Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.
On: Mothers
and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;
On: Demons
Common questions
How many times is Mary in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 0 of the 54 uses are in the Old Testament and 54 in the New Testament. Mary appears in 6 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Luke has the most (17), then John (15) and Matthew (11).
Where is Mary first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Matthew 1:16: "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." The last is Romans 16:6.
More word counts: Paul, Peter, seven, forty, twelve, wine, drunk, dragon, 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.