How many times is talent mentioned in the Bible?
The word talent appears 14 times in the King James Version, in 14 verses. Counting every form (talent, talents), it appears 65 times in 45 verses across 11 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses talent 15 times (66 with every form).
Talent in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of talent counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| talent | 14 | 15 |
| talents | 51 | 51 |
| Total | 65 | 66 |
Which books mention talent most
Talent appears in 11 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (15), then 1 Chronicles (10) and 2 Kings (9).
First and last mention of talent
Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
The verse that uses it most is 1 Chronicles 29:7, 4 times (tied with Matthew 25:20):
And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.
Where the two translations differ
0 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 1 verse matches only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Matthew 25:18: counted in the World English Bible only
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
Verses with talent on our topic pages
1 verse that uses talent in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents.
On: Laziness
Common questions
How many times is talent in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 49 of the 65 uses are in the Old Testament and 16 in the New Testament. Talent appears in 11 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (15), then 1 Chronicles (10) and 2 Kings (9).
Where is talent first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Exodus 25:39: "Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels." The last is Revelation 16:21.
More word counts: leprosy, circumcision, rainbow, flood, famine, plague, olive, fig, 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.