How many times is worship mentioned in the Bible?
The word worship appears 108 times in the King James Version, in 102 verses. Counting every form (worship, worshipped, worshipping, worshippeth, worshippers), it appears 196 times in 186 verses across 33 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses worship 104 times (183 with every form).
Worship in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of worship counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| worship | 108 | 104 |
| worshipped | 70 | 0 |
| worshiped | 0 | 63 |
| worshipping | 5 | 0 |
| worshiping | 0 | 6 |
| worshippeth | 6 | 0 |
| worshippers | 7 | 0 |
| worshipers | 0 | 10 |
| Total | 196 | 183 |
Which books mention worship most
Worship appears in 33 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Revelation has the most (24), then Psalms (16) and Matthew (14).
Also in: Ezekiel (4), Luke (4), Nehemiah (3), Zephaniah (3), Mark (3), Hebrews (3), 2 Samuel (2), 1 Chronicles (2), Zechariah (2), Colossians (2), Joshua (1), Judges (1), Job (1), Micah (1), Romans (1), 1 Corinthians (1), Philippians (1), 2 Thessalonians (1).
First and last mention of worship
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
The verse that uses it most is John 4:23, 3 times:
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Where the two translations differ
20 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 24:52: counted in the KJV only
And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.
When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh.
2 Kings 17:36: counted in the KJV only
But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him.
Psalm 74:8: counted in the World English Bible only
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.
Isaiah 19:21: counted in the World English Bible only
And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it.
Verses with worship on our topic pages
13 verses that use worship in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
On: Worship
and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.
who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
On: Jealousy
and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
On: Idolatry
He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”
On: Temptation
Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
On: Temptation
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
On: Truth
Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
On: Angels
The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.
On: Hell
I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.”
On: Angels
Common questions
How many times is worship in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 118 of the 196 uses are in the Old Testament and 78 in the New Testament. Worship appears in 33 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Revelation has the most (24), then Psalms (16) and Matthew (14).
Where is worship first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 22:5: "And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you," The last is Revelation 22:9.
Read the full collection: Bible Verses About Worship (21 Verses).
More word counts: praise, sabbath, tithe, marriage, divorce, healing, strength, courage, or all 107 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 2026-10-02.