How many times is serpent mentioned in the Bible?
The word serpent appears 38 times in the King James Version, in 35 verses. Counting every form (serpent, serpents, serpent's), it appears 53 times in 49 verses across 21 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses serpent 31 times (43 with every form).
Serpent in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of serpent counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| serpent | 38 | 31 |
| serpents | 13 | 10 |
| serpent's | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 53 | 43 |
Which books mention serpent most
Serpent appears in 21 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Genesis, Numbers and Isaiah share the most, 6 each.
Also in: Micah (1), Mark (1), John (1), 1 Corinthians (1), 2 Corinthians (1), James (1).
First and last mention of serpent
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
The verse that uses it most is Numbers 21:9, 3 times:
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
Where the two translations differ
12 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 2 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Exodus 4:3: counted in the KJV only
And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.
Numbers 21:6: counted in the KJV only
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.
Deuteronomy 32:33: counted in the World English Bible only
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
Psalm 91:13: counted in the World English Bible only
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
Verses with serpent on our topic pages
5 verses that use serpent in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?
On: Fathers
You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
On: Hell
they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
On: Healing
Common questions
How many times is serpent in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 38 of the 53 uses are in the Old Testament and 15 in the New Testament. Serpent appears in 21 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Genesis, Numbers and Isaiah share the most, 6 each.
Where is serpent first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" The last is Revelation 20:2.
More word counts: bread, honey, milk, oil, salt, fire, sword, king, 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.