How many times is sea mentioned in the Bible?
The word sea appears 400 times in the King James Version, in 352 verses. Counting every form (sea, seas), it appears 425 times in 376 verses across 47 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses sea 393 times (420 with every form).
Sea in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of sea counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| sea | 400 | 393 |
| seas | 25 | 27 |
| Total | 425 | 420 |
Which books mention sea most
Sea appears in 47 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Psalms has the most (37), then Joshua (33) and Exodus (32).
Also in: Genesis (10), 2 Chronicles (10), John (10), Zechariah (7), Amos (5), 2 Kings (4), Nehemiah (4), Habakkuk (4), Luke (4), Judges (3), Proverbs (3), Daniel (3), Micah (3), Nahum (3), Zephaniah (3), Leviticus (2), 2 Samuel (2), 1 Chronicles (2), Ecclesiastes (2), Lamentations (2), Hosea (2), Joel (2), 1 Corinthians (2), Hebrews (2), James (2), 1 Samuel (1), Ezra (1), Esther (1), Haggai (1), Romans (1), 2 Corinthians (1), Jude (1).
First and last mention of sea
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
The verse that uses it most is Exodus 14:21, 3 times (tied with Exodus 14:27, Exodus 15:19, Joshua 12:3, Mark 4:1):
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Where the two translations differ
20 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 14 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Genesis 22:17: counted in the KJV only
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.
Exodus 14:30: counted in the KJV only
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
Thus Yahweh saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Genesis 1:21: counted in the World English Bible only
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
Exodus 25:5: counted in the World English Bible only
And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,
rams’ skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood,
Verses with sea on our topic pages
32 verses that use sea in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
On: Protection, Fear, Hard Times, Change
God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
On: What Does the Bible Say About Dinosaurs? 26 Verses, Animals, Nature
God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
On: What Does the Bible Say About Dinosaurs? 26 Verses, Animals
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.
On: What Does the Bible Say About Dinosaurs? 26 Verses, Nature
There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.
On: What Does the Bible Say About Dinosaurs? 26 Verses, Nature
Praise Yahweh from the earth, you great sea creatures, and all depths;
On: What Does the Bible Say About Dinosaurs? 26 Verses, Nature
He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
On: Sin, Forgiving Yourself
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.
but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;
On: Courage, What Does the Bible Say About Ghosts? 25 Verses
God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.
On: Nature
Common questions
How many times is sea in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 326 of the 425 uses are in the Old Testament and 99 in the New Testament. Sea appears in 47 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Psalms has the most (37), then Joshua (33) and Exodus (32).
Where is sea first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 1:10: "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." The last is Revelation 21:1.
More word counts: youth, Joram, Hazor, Hivites, iron, weeping, rabbi, Ashkelon, or all 635 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 2026-10-24.