How many times is Zebedee mentioned in the Bible?
The word Zebedee appears 10 times in the King James Version, in 9 verses. Counting every form (Zebedee, Zebedee's), it appears 12 times in 11 verses across 4 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Zebedee 12 times.
Zebedee in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Zebedee counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Zebedee | 10 | 12 |
| Zebedee's | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 12 | 12 |
What the name Zebedee means
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Zebedee as "abundant; portion".
This is the 1869 traditional meaning; modern scholars often read names differently.
See every name and place with its meaning and count on Bible names and their meanings.
Source: Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869), checked 2026-10-24.
First and last mention of Zebedee
And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
The verse that uses it most is Matthew 4:21, 2 times:
And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Common questions
How many times is Zebedee in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 0 of the 12 uses are in the Old Testament and 12 in the New Testament. Zebedee appears in 4 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (6), then Mark (4) and Luke (1).
Where is Zebedee first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Matthew 4:21: "And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them." The last is John 21:2.
What does the name Zebedee mean in the Bible?
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary glosses Zebedee as "abundant; portion".
More word counts: Heshbon, Nun, Hananiah, Jehoram, Elkanah, Ethiopians, Rezin, Zoar, 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.