How many times is Nineveh mentioned in the Bible?
The word Nineveh appears 18 times in the King James Version, in 17 verses. It is found in 7 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Nineveh 19 times.
Nineveh in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Nineveh counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Nineveh | 18 | 19 |
| Total | 18 | 19 |
First and last mention of Nineveh
Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The verse that uses it most is Jonah 3:3, 2 times:
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
Where the two translations differ
0 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 1 verse matches only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Luke 11:32: counted in the World English Bible only
The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.
Verses with Nineveh on our topic pages
1 verse that uses Nineveh in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.
On: Fasting
Common questions
How many times is Nineveh in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 17 of the 18 uses are in the Old Testament and 1 in the New Testament. Nineveh appears in 7 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Jonah has the most (9), then Nahum (3) and Genesis (2).
Where is Nineveh first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 10:11: "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah," The last is Matthew 12:41.
More word counts: serpent, bread, honey, milk, oil, salt, fire, sword, 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.