How many times is Syria mentioned in the Bible?
The word Syria appears 77 times in the King James Version, in 73 verses. It is found in 14 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Syria 70 times.
Syria in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Syria counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Syria | 77 | 70 |
| Total | 77 | 70 |
First and last mention of Syria
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;
The verse that uses it most is 2 Kings 5:1, 2 times (tied with 2 Kings 13:19, 2 Kings 16:6, 2 Chronicles 16:7):
Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
Where the two translations differ
7 verses match 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.
2 Kings 6:11: counted in the KJV only
Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?
The king of Syria’s heart was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, “Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
2 Kings 7:5: counted in the KJV only
And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, no man was there.
Verses with Syria on our topic pages
1 verse that uses Syria in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.
On: Mental Health
Common questions
How many times is Syria in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 69 of the 77 uses are in the Old Testament and 8 in the New Testament. Syria appears in 14 books of the 66 in the King James Version. 2 Kings has the most (30), then 2 Chronicles (12) and 1 Kings (11).
Where is Syria first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Judges 10:6: "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him." The last is Galatians 1:21.
More word counts: Gilgal, Persia, Macedonia, Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, Antioch, Rome, 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.