How many times is Pharisees mentioned in the Bible?
The word Pharisees appears 87 times in the King James Version, in 85 verses. Counting every form (Pharisees, Pharisee, Pharisee's), it appears 100 times in 95 verses across 6 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Pharisees 89 times (101 with every form).
Pharisees in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Pharisees counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Pharisees | 87 | 89 |
| Pharisee | 11 | 10 |
| Pharisee's | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 100 | 101 |
What the name Pharisees means
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Pharisees as "set apart".
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 Pharisees
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
The verse that uses it most is Acts 23:6, 3 times:
But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
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.
Matthew 27:41: counted in the World English Bible only
Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said,
Verses with Pharisees on our topic pages
5 verses that use Pharisees in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”
On: Fasting
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”
On: Demons
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
On: Tithing
But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
On: Tithing
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,
Common questions
How many times is Pharisees in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 0 of the 100 uses are in the Old Testament and 100 in the New Testament. Pharisees appears in 6 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (30), then Luke (28) and John (20).
Where is Pharisees first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Matthew 3:7: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" The last is Philippians 3:5.
What does the name Pharisees mean in the Bible?
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Pharisees as "set apart".
More word counts: Sadducees, Hittites, Amalekites, Midianites, Ammonites, Jebusites, Edomites, Hebrews, 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.