How many times is scribe mentioned in the Bible?
The word scribe appears 52 times in the King James Version, in 51 verses. Counting every form (scribe, scribe's, scribes), it appears 122 times in 120 verses across 16 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses scribe 52 times (121 with every form).
Scribe in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of scribe counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| scribe | 52 | 52 |
| scribe's | 2 | 1 |
| scribes | 68 | 68 |
| Total | 122 | 121 |
First and last mention of scribe
And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Seraiah was the scribe;
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
The verse that uses it most is Ezra 7:11, 2 times (tied with Jeremiah 36:12):
Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.
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.
Isaiah 33:18: counted in the KJV only
Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?
Verses with scribe on our topic pages
3 verses that use scribe in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
“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
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,
Common questions
How many times is scribe in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 56 of the 122 uses are in the Old Testament and 66 in the New Testament. Scribe appears in 16 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (24), then Mark (22) and Luke (15).
Where is scribe first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is 2 Samuel 8:17: "And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Seraiah was the scribe;" The last is 1 Corinthians 1:20.
More word counts: centurion, synagogue, proverb, love, God, Jesus, Christ, Lord, 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.