X-Dreamers
Bible Word Frequency
How many times is love mentioned in the Bible? 630 times in the King James Version, counting love, loved, beloved and their forms. Count any word in every book, in English, Chinese, Hebrew or Greek.
Gallery
Nineteen words, each counted book by book. Choose one to open its chart.
Each strip runs left to right: Law · History · Wisdom · Prophets · Gospels · Acts · Letters · Revelation.
Search any word
Type an English word (add * for every word that begins with it), a Chinese word, or a Hebrew or Greek lemma: in its own letters, transliterated, or as a Strong's number such as H157 or G26.
“love” across the 66 books
Hebrew & Greek lemmas · 594 occurrences · Densest in 3 John
One English word, four Greek ones: ἀγαπάω, ἀγάπη, ἀγαπητός (“beloved”) and φιλέω; in Hebrew אָהַב and אַהֲבָה. The KJV sometimes renders ἀγάπη “charity” (1 Corinthians 13), which is not counted; its “lovingkindness” renders a different word, חֶסֶד, and is not counted either.
Counted lemmas: אָהַב H157 · אַהֲבָה H160 · ἀγαπάω G25 · ἀγάπη G26 · ἀγαπητός G27 · φιλέω G5368
Tap a book to read its verses.
Choose a bar to read its verses. Scroll sideways to see every book.
Compare two words
Two words on one scale, book by book: the first above the line, the second below.
law: 412 grace: 302
The books where either word is densest.
- Galatians32 · 14.4‰7 · 3.14‰
- Romans74 · 10.5‰25 · 3.54‰
- Titus04 · 6.07‰
- Philemon02 · 5.99‰
- 1 Peter010 · 5.96‰
- Malachi5 · 5.84‰1 · 1.17‰
- James10 · 5.75‰2 · 1.15‰
- Ephesians1 · 0.41‰12 · 4.97‰
- 2 Thessalonians04 · 4.88‰
- 2 John01 · 4.08‰
How the counts are made
Counts depend on the translation. English counts are whole words in the King James Version, case ignored and a possessive ’s folded in; the gallery counts a few forms of each word (listed under each chart), not every derivative. Other translations choose other words, so a count here is a count of this English text, not of the Bible's ideas.
Chinese has no spaces, so Chinese counts are substring matches in the 1919 和合本. A single character such as 心 or 聖 also matches inside longer words (良心, 聖殿), and a gallery pattern may leave out names or other senses (約 as in 約翰 or 大約); the pattern is shown with each chart. Searches match Simplified and Traditional alike by comparing characters in their Simplified form, which can occasionally join two different Traditional characters.
Hebrew counts use the lemma tags of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (Westminster Leningrad Codex); Greek counts use the MorphGNT lemmas of the SBL Greek New Testament, matched to Strong's numbers by spelling (about 99.6% of words; the rest are searchable by lemma only). Each gallery word lists the lemmas chosen for it. That choice is editorial: one English word often stands for several originals, and one original may be translated many ways.
Per 1,000 scales each book by its length (English words, Chinese characters, or Hebrew and Greek words), so a short letter and a long history can be compared. Very short books (Obadiah, Philemon, 2 and 3 John, Jude) swing widely from a single use.
All verses sit in the English (KJV) numbering. Hebrew verses are moved with the OSHB verse map, and Psalm titles count with verse 1 in Hebrew but are left out of the English and Chinese counts.
Sources. English: King James Version (1769), eBible.org. Chinese: 官話和合譯本 1919 (神 edition), via Wikisource, public domain. Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain) with lemmas from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, CC BY 4.0. Greek: SBL Greek New Testament, CC BY 4.0, with MorphGNT lemmas, CC BY-SA 3.0; the Greek counts derived from them are shared under CC BY-SA 3.0. Strong's numbers, transliterations and glosses: Strong's dictionaries (1890, public domain) in the Open Scriptures edition, CC BY-SA.
Bible word frequency: how often key words appear
This lab counts a word in every book of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and draws the result as a chart. Nineteen gallery words, including love, grace, faith, hope, law, holy and heart, are counted three ways: English word forms in the King James Version, characters in the 1919 Chinese Union Version, and the Hebrew and Greek dictionary forms behind them. Counts can be shown as raw numbers or per 1,000 words, so a short letter can be compared with a long history. Choose a bar to read the verses, set two words side by side, or search any English, Chinese, Hebrew or Greek word. The method notes above explain exactly what is counted and why the numbers differ from one text to another.
Totals across the 66 books (gallery counts)
| Books counted | All 66, Genesis to Revelation |
|---|---|
| Texts counted | KJV (English), 1919 Chinese Union Version, Hebrew (OSHB) and Greek (MorphGNT) lemmas |
| Love | 630 English · 969 Chinese · 594 Hebrew and Greek |
| Grace | 205 English · 552 Chinese · 302 Hebrew and Greek |
| Faith | 356 English · 846 Chinese · 707 Hebrew and Greek |
| Hope | 144 English · 247 Chinese · 208 Hebrew and Greek |
| Law | 543 English · 382 Chinese · 412 Hebrew and Greek |
How sure are we?
How we build the Labs →What the Bible says, what our model adds to it, where good readers disagree, and where the old copies and the translations differ. We set the views side by side and do not pick a winner.
- Textually stated4
- Strongly supported4
- Plausible2
A few of the model's choices
- Strongly supported
English counts are whole words in KJV; a count is a count of this English text, not of an idea.
- Plausible
Chinese counts are substring matches in the 1919 和合本.
- Plausible
Hebrew and Greek counts use dictionary forms (lemmas) chosen for each gallery word.
Show all 10Show less
What the text says4
Stated in Scripture. Quoted from the King James Version (KJV) and the 1919 Chinese Union Version (和合本).
Faith, hope and charity side by side in one verse; the KJV's "charity" is agapē, counted in the Greek love count but not in the English one.
Textually stated13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Grace and faith together: "by grace are ye saved through faith".
Textually stated8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
One Hebrew word, ḥesed, becomes "goodness" here in the KJV ("mercy" or "lovingkindness" elsewhere) and 慈愛 in the 和合本: why counts differ between texts.
Textually stated6And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
"O how love I thy law!": love and law in one line of the psalm that uses "law" most.
Textually stated97O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
What the model adds6
Choices the reconstruction has to make where the text is silent, each with its evidence level and the reason for it.
Strongly supported4
English counts are whole words in KJV; a count is a count of this English text, not of an idea.
Why: Other translations choose other words; the gallery counts a few listed forms of each word, not every derivative.
Greek lemmas are matched to Strong's numbers by spelling, for about 99.6% of words.
Why: The rest can still be searched by lemma; Strong's numbers are a 19th-century index, convenient for search but not a modern lexicon.
"Per 1,000" scales each book by its length so short and long books can be compared.
Why: Very short books (Obadiah, Philemon, 2 and 3 John, Jude) swing widely from a single use.
All verses sit in the English (KJV) numbering.
Why: Hebrew verses are moved with the OSHB verse map; Psalm titles count with verse 1 in Hebrew but not in English or Chinese.
Plausible2
Chinese counts are substring matches in the 1919 和合本.
Why: Chinese has no spaces, so a character such as 心 also matches inside 良心; each chart shows its pattern and what it leaves out.
Hebrew and Greek counts use dictionary forms (lemmas) chosen for each gallery word.
Why: One English word often stands for several originals, and one original may be translated many ways; the choice of lemmas is editorial and listed with each word.
Competing views
Where careful readers disagree. Each view with who holds it and the evidence for and against it. No verdict.
No major disputes. The counts are arithmetic on fixed texts. What they mean is a matter of reading, and the method notes say exactly what each count includes and leaves out.
Textual notes
Places where manuscripts, ancient versions or translations differ in numbers or wording. KJV and 和合本 are quoted as they stand.
No textual notes. Each language is counted in one text (KJV, the 1919 和合本, the Westminster Leningrad Codex and the SBL Greek New Testament); readings of other manuscripts are not counted.
Frequently asked questions
How many times is love mentioned in the Bible?
It depends on the translation. In the King James Version, love, loves, loveth, lovest, loved, lovedst, lover, lovers and beloved occur 630 times. The Chinese character for love appears 969 times in the 1919 Chinese Union Version, including inside longer words. The Hebrew and Greek words chosen for love (such as ʾāhab, ʾahăbâ, agapē and phileō) occur 594 times.
How many times does the word grace appear in the Bible?
Grace, gracious and graciously occur 205 times in the KJV. In Hebrew and Greek, ḥēn, ḥānan and charis occur 302 times. The Chinese count (552) is higher because it counts one character, which also appears in many other words for kindness and favour.
Why do Bible word counts differ between translations?
Translators choose different words: one Hebrew or Greek word may be rendered several ways, and one English word may stand for several originals. Chinese has no spaces, so a character is also counted inside longer words. Each chart lists the forms, characters or lemmas it counts, so a count here is a count of that text.
Which book of the Bible uses faith the most?
In English, “faith” and its forms are most frequent in Romans. In Greek the faith words (pistis, pisteuō, pistos) are most frequent in John, mostly the verb “believe”, which the English gallery count does not include. Switch the text and the scale to see how the answer changes.
Can I search any word in the Bible?
Yes. Type an English word (add * for every word beginning with it), a Chinese word, or a Hebrew or Greek lemma in its own letters, transliterated, or as a Strong's number such as H157 or G26.
Is love mentioned more in the Old Testament or the New?
In raw numbers they are close: in the KJV, love and its forms occur 307 times in the Old Testament and 323 in the New, and the chosen Hebrew and Greek words 249 and 345 times. The New Testament is much shorter, though, so per 1,000 words love is far more frequent there. Switch the chart to “Per 1,000 words” to compare book by book.
How many times is hope mentioned in the Bible?
In the KJV, hope and its forms occur 144 times. In the 1919 Chinese Union Version the three words for hope it counts (盼望, 指望 and 仰望) appear 247 times, and the Hebrew and Greek words chosen for hope 208 times. As with every count here, the number belongs to that text and those word forms.
Sources & limits
Limits of this lab 3
- A count measures words, not ideas: the same idea can be expressed without the word, and the same word can mean different things.
- Chinese single-character searches also match inside longer words; check the verses behind a bar before drawing a conclusion.
- Greek counts follow the SBL Greek New Testament; other editions differ in a few places.
Sources 6
- King James Version (KJV) (Public domain outside the United Kingdom)
- 官話和合譯本 (Chinese Union Version, 1919), zh.wikisource (Public domain)
- Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (Strong's and Brown–Driver–Briggs) (CC BY-SA)
- SBL Greek New Testament (CC BY 4.0)
- MorphGNT: morphology and lemmas of the SBL Greek New Testament (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb) (CC BY 4.0)
Scripture is quoted only from KJV and the 1919 和合本. Other works are cited for facts and arguments, not quoted at length.
What’s new · v1.0.1Version 1.0.1: English Scripture is now quoted from the King James Version (1769). English counts are now of the KJV, with its -eth and -est forms (loveth, feareth…).