How many times is Mordecai mentioned in the Bible?
The word Mordecai appears 58 times in the King James Version, in 51 verses. Counting every form (Mordecai, Mordecai's), it appears 60 times in 52 verses across 3 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Mordecai 56 times (60 with every form).
Mordecai in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Mordecai counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Mordecai | 58 | 56 |
| Mordecai's | 2 | 4 |
| Total | 60 | 60 |
What the name Mordecai means
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Mordecai as "contrition; bitter; bruising".
This is the 1869 traditional meaning; modern scholars often read names differently.
See every name and place with its meaning and count on Bible names and their meanings.
Source: Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869), checked 2026-10-22.
First and last mention of Mordecai
Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mizpar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:
For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.
The verse that uses it most is Esther 3:6, 3 times:
And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
Verses with Mordecai on our topic pages
1 verse that uses Mordecai in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
On: Orphans
Common questions
How many times is Mordecai in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 60 of the 60 uses are in the Old Testament and 0 in the New Testament. Mordecai appears in 3 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Esther has the most (58), then Ezra (1) and Nehemiah (1).
Where is Mordecai first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Ezra 2:2: "Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mizpar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:" The last is Esther 10:3.
What does the name Mordecai mean in the Bible?
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Mordecai as "contrition; bitter; bruising".
More word counts: Laban, Josiah, Zadok, Rehoboam, Haman, Jesse, Nathan, Balak, 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.