How many times is myrrh mentioned in the Bible?
The word myrrh appears 17 times in the King James Version, in 16 verses. It is found in 9 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses myrrh 17 times.
Myrrh in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of myrrh counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| myrrh | 17 | 17 |
| Total | 17 | 17 |
First and last mention of myrrh
And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
The verse that uses it most is Song of Solomon 5:5, 2 times:
I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
Common questions
How many times is myrrh in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 14 of the 17 uses are in the Old Testament and 3 in the New Testament. Myrrh appears in 9 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Song of Solomon has the most (8), then Genesis (2) and Exodus (1).
Where is myrrh first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 37:25: "And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt." The last is John 19:39.
More word counts: hyssop, cedar, scorpion, fox, raven, owl, trumpet, harp, 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.