How many times is seed mentioned in the Bible?
The word seed appears 279 times in the King James Version, in 254 verses. Counting every form (seed, seeds, seed's), it appears 285 times in 256 verses across 43 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses seed 66 times (74 with every form).
The KJV's seed often means a person's descendants, as in Genesis 22:17. In 160 of the KJV's 256 verses with seed, the World English Bible says offspring instead, so its count is much lower.
Seed in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of seed counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| seed | 279 | 66 |
| seeds | 5 | 8 |
| seed's | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 285 | 74 |
Which books mention seed most
Seed appears in 43 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Genesis has the most (58), then Isaiah (26) and Leviticus (22).
Also in: Ezekiel (5), Galatians (5), 2 Kings (4), Acts (4), 2 Samuel (3), Nehemiah (3), Job (3), Daniel (3), John (3), 2 Corinthians (3), Hebrews (3), 1 Chronicles (2), 2 Chronicles (2), Ezra (2), Malachi (2), Joshua (1), Ruth (1), Proverbs (1), Ecclesiastes (1), Joel (1), Amos (1), Haggai (1), Zechariah (1), 1 Corinthians (1), 2 Timothy (1), 1 Peter (1), 1 John (1), Revelation (1).
First and last mention of seed
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 26:4, 3 times (tied with Isaiah 59:21, Jeremiah 33:26, Galatians 3:16):
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Where the two translations differ
194 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 5 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Genesis 3:15: counted in the KJV only
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
Genesis 4:25: counted in the KJV only
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, saying, “for God has given me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Genesis 8:22: counted in the World English Bible only
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
Numbers 6:4: counted in the World English Bible only
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.
Verses with seed on our topic pages
8 verses that use seed in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;
On: Provision, Giving, Generosity
While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
On: Nature
“‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh.
On: Tithing
You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year.
On: Tithing
He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.
On: Miscarriage
He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
On: Faith
having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can’t sin, because he is born of God.
On: Sin
Common questions
How many times is seed in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 226 of the 285 uses are in the Old Testament and 59 in the New Testament. Seed appears in 43 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Genesis has the most (58), then Isaiah (26) and Leviticus (22).
Where is seed first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 1:11: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so." The last is Revelation 12:17.
More word counts: darkness, understanding, witness, judge, servant, ox, hair, Hamath, 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.