Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-10-23 · 14 min read
How many times does the Bible say “fear not” or not to fear?
Published by Jeff Song, who runs TrustBible · Written with AI assistance
In the KJV, 117 verses tell someone not to be afraid, in thirteen different wordings; the exact phrase “fear not” is in 62, and “fear not” or “be not afraid” in 88. Jesus says it in 16 Gospel verses. Every count with its rule attached, the Chinese Union Version (CUV) counts, the full verse lists, a downloadable dataset, and what the counts say about the claim of 365.
Short answer: the Bible says not to fear in 117 verses of the King James Version (KJV): that is how many verses tell someone not to be afraid. That counts thirteen wordings of the command ("fear not", "fear ye not", "fear thou not", "be not afraid", "dread not", "ye shall not fear" and seven more), which match 126 verses, then drops 9 matches that are not commands: descriptions of people who are unafraid or do not fear God, three promises, and one rhetorical question. Narrower rules give smaller numbers: the exact phrase "fear not" is in 62 verses, and "fear not" OR "be not afraid" gives 88. Jesus says it in 16 Gospel verses, 5 of them with the exact words "fear not", and twice more as the risen Christ in Revelation.
Does the Bible say "fear not" 365 times? No. Even counting all thirteen KJV wordings of the command, the total is 117 verses, about a third of 365. The claim — one for every day of the year — is not supported by any literal phrase count. The exact word "fear" occurs 400 times across 385 KJV verses; the broader stem matches 501 verses and 524 occurrences. These are different measurements. They do not count every passage about reassurance, peace or strength, so they cannot establish a total for that wider theme.
The 88 figure has a gap worth knowing about: it does not include , one of the most quoted "fear not" verses. The KJV words it "Fear thou not", and a search for "fear not" cannot see that. The 117 count includes it.
What follows is each count with its rule attached, Jesus's sayings listed one by one, the full verse lists, and a downloadable dataset so you can check all of it yourself.
Here are the counts, each tied to the exact phrase that produces it. A verse is counted once per rule, however many times the phrase repeats inside it.
What each counting rule returns in the King James Version
Rule (literal phrase)
Verses
OT
NT
fear not
62
48
14
be not afraid
26
17
9
fear thou not
4
4
0
be not dismayed
4
4
0
do not fear
0
0
0
do not be afraid
0
0
0
fear not OR be not afraid
88
65
23
What each counting rule returns in the 和合本 (Chinese Union Version)
Rule (literal phrase)
Verses
OT
NT
不要怕
33
20
13
不要惧怕
49
43
6
不要害怕
19
14
5
不要恐惧
3
3
0
union of all four phrases above
102
78
24
Books with the most “fear not” / “be not afraid” verses (KJV, union rule)
Every verse in the “fear not” or “be not afraid” count (88 verses, KJV)
This is the full list behind the number, so you can check any of it against your own Bible. Verses are grouped by book in canonical order; each reference opens the verse in its chapter.
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.
And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.
Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.
And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.
And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.
And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.
And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:
And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
Generated 2026-10-23 from King James Version (KJV) (31,102 verses) and Chinese Union Version, simplified (和合本) (31,100 verses) by scripts/generate-fear-not-counts.ts. Re-run the script and you get the same numbers.
Two things in that table are worth pausing on.
"Do not fear" returns zero in the KJV. Not a small number — zero. The KJV is Early Modern English; it says "fear not", never "do not fear". Search a modern translation and you get the reverse: many "do not fear", few "fear not". Anyone who quotes a count without naming the translation is quoting a fact about spelling, not about the Bible.
"Fear thou not" and "be not dismayed" are separate lines, not footnotes. Other counters fold them into a total. Folding is exactly where published numbers start to diverge, so they are listed on their own.
How many times does the Bible tell you not to be afraid?
If the question is about the command, not one two-word phrase, the KJV answer is 117 verses: 89 in the Old Testament and 28 in the New, across 32 of the 66 books.
The KJV gives the command in thirteen shapes. "Fear not" is the most common, but Moses at the Red Sea says "Fear ye not, stand still" (), God says "Fear thou not; for I am with thee" (), Moses says "Dread not, neither be afraid of them" (), Jesus says "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer" (), and the law says "Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you" (). A count of "fear not" alone misses every one of them. Counting all thirteen wordings below, a verse that uses two of them still counts once.
Every KJV wording of “do not be afraid”
Wording (literal phrase)
Verses
OT
NT
fear not
62
48
14
fear ye not
8
7
1
fear thou not
4
4
0
fear them not / fear him not
6
5
1
fear none
1
0
1
be not afraid
26
17
9
be not ye / be not thou afraid
2
2
0
neither / nor be (ye / thou) afraid
6
6
0
neither let it be afraid
1
0
1
dread not
2
2
0
be not affrighted
1
0
1
be not terrified
1
0
1
ye shall not / thou shalt not / neither shall ye (fear / be afraid / be affrighted)
11
11
0
Any of the wordings above (a verse counts once)
126
97
29
Minus the 9 that are not commands
117
89
28
The 9 matches that tell no one not to fear
2 Kings 17:34
describes settlers who “fear not the LORD”
Psalms 55:19
describes the wicked: “they fear not God”
Psalms 64:4
describes attackers who shoot “and fear not”
Jeremiah 5:22
a rebuke, “Fear ye not me?”: Israel should fear
Malachi 3:5
describes those who “fear not me”
Luke 18:4
the unjust judge: “Though I fear not God”
Psalms 91:5
a promise: “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night”
Proverbs 3:24
a promise: “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid”
Isaiah 54:14
a promise: “for thou shalt not fear”
The 38 verses this count adds to the 88KJV
Genesis 50:21
Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
Exodus 14:13
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Numbers 14:9
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
Numbers 21:34
And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
Deuteronomy 1:17
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 1:29
Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
Deuteronomy 3:2
And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
Deuteronomy 3:22
Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.
Deuteronomy 7:18
Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
Deuteronomy 7:21
Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
Deuteronomy 18:22
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Joshua 10:8
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.
2 Kings 17:35
With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
2 Kings 17:37
And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
2 Kings 17:38
And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
1 Chronicles 22:13
Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
Nehemiah 4:14
And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the LORD, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
Psalms 49:16
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
Psalms 91:5
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;Not in the 117: a promise: “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night”
Proverbs 3:24
When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.Not in the 117: a promise: “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid”
Isaiah 8:12
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 44:8
Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
Isaiah 51:7
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
Isaiah 54:14
In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.Not in the 117: a promise: “for thou shalt not fear”
Jeremiah 5:22
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?Not in the 117: a rebuke, “Fear ye not me?”: Israel should fear
Jeremiah 30:10
Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Jeremiah 46:28
Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Ezekiel 3:9
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Zephaniah 3:16
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
Haggai 2:5
According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
Zechariah 8:15
So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
Matthew 10:26
Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Matthew 10:31
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mark 16:6
And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
Luke 21:9
But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Revelation 2:10
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Two judgment calls sit inside the 117, and both are printed so you can undo them:
Nine matches are subtracted because they tell no one not to be afraid. Five describe people who are unafraid or do not fear God, one is the rebuke "Fear ye not me?" (), and three are promises in the future tense, such as , "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night". They are listed under the table with a reason each. Keep them and the count is 126.
Commands that are not comfort stay in. and , 17:37 and 17:38 forbid Israel to fear other gods, and in Absalom tells his servants to kill Amnon and "fear not". These are commands not to fear, so they count. So are (judges must not fear any man) and 18:22 (do not fear a false prophet). If you want only the reassuring ones, those seven are where to start.
"Be not dismayed" is not in the union, because dismayed is not a fear word. Where it sits beside a fear command the verse is already counted; the two verses that use it alone, and 10:2, are not. Third-person forms such as "they shall fear no more" () are left out too: they say what will happen to someone, not what anyone should do.
How many times did Jesus say "fear not"?
In the four Gospels, Jesus tells people not to be afraid in 16 KJV verses. Only 5 use the exact words "fear not" (; , 8:50, 12:7 and 12:32). The other 11 say it as "be not afraid", "fear ye not", "fear them not", "be not terrified" or "neither let it be afraid". As the risen Christ he says it twice more in Revelation: "Fear not; I am the first and the last" (1:17) and "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer" (2:10).
Sixteen verses is not sixteen different moments. Several scenes are told in more than one Gospel: walking on the water appears in , and , and the raising of Jairus's daughter in and . The three lines in are one speech, and repeats it in another setting. Merging those parallels leaves nine distinct sayings.
In the Gospels, before the resurrection: 15 verses
Matthew 10:26
Sending out the twelveFear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.「所以，不要怕他们；因为掩盖的事没有不露出来的，隐藏的事没有不被人知道的。
Matthew 10:28
Sending out the twelveAnd fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.那杀身体不能杀灵魂的，不要怕他们；惟有能把身体和灵魂都灭在地狱里的，正要怕他。
Matthew 10:31
Sending out the twelveFear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.所以，不要惧怕，你们比许多麻雀还贵重！」
Matthew 14:27
Walking on the waterBut straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.耶稣连忙对他们说：「你们放心！是我，不要怕！」
Matthew 17:7
The transfigurationAnd Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.耶稣进前来，摸他们，说：「起来，不要害怕！」
Mark 5:36
Jairus’s daughterAs soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.耶稣听见所说的话，就对管会堂的说：「不要怕，只要信！」
Mark 6:50
Walking on the waterFor they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.因为他们都看见了他，且甚惊慌。耶稣连忙对他们说：「你们放心！是我，不要怕！」
Luke 5:10
Calling Simon PeterAnd so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.他的伙伴西庇太的儿子雅各、约翰，也是这样。耶稣对西门说：「不要怕！从今以后，你要得人了。」
Luke 8:50
Jairus’s daughterBut when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.耶稣听见就对他说：「不要怕，只要信！你的女儿就必得救。」
Luke 12:4
The Matthew 10 saying, in Luke’s settingAnd I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.「我的朋友，我对你们说，那杀身体以后不能再作甚么的，不要怕他们。
Luke 12:7
The Matthew 10 saying, in Luke’s settingBut even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.就是你们的头发，也都被数过了。不要惧怕，你们比许多麻雀还贵重！」
Luke 12:32
“Fear not, little flock”Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.你们这小群，不要惧怕，因为你们的父乐意把国赐给你们。
Luke 21:9
Wars and commotions before the endBut when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.你们听见打仗和扰乱的事，不要惊惶；因为这些事必须先有，只是末期不能立时就到。
John 6:20
Walking on the waterBut he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.耶稣对他们说：「是我，不要怕！」
John 14:27
The last supper: “my peace I give”Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.我留下平安给你们；我将我的平安赐给你们。我所赐的，不像世人所赐的。你们心里不要忧愁，也不要胆怯。
In the Gospels, after the resurrection: 1 verse
Matthew 28:10
The women leaving the empty tombThen said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.耶稣对她们说：「不要害怕！你们去告诉我的弟兄，叫他们往加利利去，在那里必见我。」
In Revelation: 2 verses
Revelation 1:17
John’s vision: “I am the first and the last”And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:我一看见，就仆倒在他脚前，像死了一样。他用右手按着我，说：「不要惧怕！我是首先的，我是末后的，
Revelation 2:10
Letter to the church in SmyrnaFear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.你将要受的苦你不用怕。魔鬼要把你们中间几个人下在监里，叫你们被试炼，你们必受患难十日。你务要至死忠心，我就赐给你那生命的冠冕。
Who is speaking is a reading of the story, not something a text search can do, so each verse is listed with its scene. Three judgments are worth stating:
Angels are not counted. Some of the best-known "fear not" verses in the Gospels are spoken by angels: to Zacharias (), to Mary (), to the shepherds (), and at the empty tomb (the angel in , the young man in white in ). They are in the 117, not in Jesus's 16.
is not counted. "Fear not, daughter of Sion" is the Gospel writer quoting Zechariah about Jesus, not Jesus speaking.
is held apart. "Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid" is usually read as the risen Jesus, but the verse says only "the Lord", so it is not among Jesus's 16 Gospel verses or his 2 in Revelation.
In the 和合本 the same sixteen Gospel verses are not one phrase either: 9 say 不要怕, 3 不要惧怕 and 2 不要害怕, while says 不要惊惶 and 不要胆怯. The Chinese text sits under each verse above.
Why the reported 71 remains unreproduced
Brett Maragni's cited page reports 71 for the KJV without a reproducible counting rule or verse list. Our exact rule yields 62. Without the source's rule, we cannot determine which verses account for the difference.
Our separate inflection rule matches fear with an ending followed by not, adding these eight literal matches. It does not explain the external 71:
Reference
Text
What it says
"he feared not God"
Amalek's attack on Israel; verse 17 identifies the actor
"whom your fathers feared not"
new gods whom the ancestors had not feared
"they feared not the LORD"
the reason lions were sent
"so that they feared not"
the people of Israel, whom God had just led safely
"he feareth not before God"
the wicked
"Judah feared not"
adultery and harlotry
"we feared not the LORD"
no king, no reverence
"which feared not God"
the unjust judge
These eight literal matches are not interchangeable commands of reassurance. describes Israel being unafraid after safe guidance. refers to unfamiliar gods whom the ancestors had not feared. describes Amalek's attack on Israel. The remaining passages also require their own context. We report these matches separately because phrase matching alone does not classify meaning.
So: 62 exact + 8 inflected = 70. Adding the 8 "fear ye not" verses to the 62 also gives 70, by a different route. Neither reproduces or explains 71. The cited source's rule is unavailable; these results neither verify its total nor show that no other corpus or rule could yield it.
Our stem rule matches 501 verses and 524 occurrences. The cited source reports 501 uses without a reproducible rule; a matching number across different units does not establish reproduction. Our stem reaches wider than the five forms usually quoted — fear, feared, feareth, fearful and fearing between them cover 492 of those 501 verses — so our rule also admits fearest, fearfully, fearfulness and the plural fears.
What the literal counts establish about 365
Counting every verse about fear, as opposed to every command not to fear, requires a semantic rule beyond the literal matching used here. For comparison, our word counts are:
"Fear" itself: 400 occurrences across 385 verses in the KJV.
"Fear" with any ending: 524 occurrences across 501 verses.
Our exact-phrase count is 62, the two-phrase union is 88, and all thirteen KJV wordings give 126 matches and 117 actual commands, not 365. A count of the word "fear" does not set a ceiling for a thematic collection that can include passages without that word. The cited Scott Free Clinic page reports 109 (NASB), 110 (ESV), 111 (NKJV) and 91 (NIV); those are external attributions, not totals independently reproduced by this dataset.
The distribution is a separate description of our union rule, not a test of a calendar total. A total of 365 does not imply an even distribution across 66 books. In the KJV, 29 of the 66 books contain at least one "fear not" or "be not afraid" verse, and 37 contain none at all — no Romans, no Ephesians, no Philippians, no Hebrews, no James, no Job. Isaiah alone carries 11; Luke 9; Genesis 7. The wider 117-verse count adds Numbers, Nehemiah, Zephaniah and Haggai and drops Malachi, whose only match (3:5) is not a command, so 34 books still contain no command not to fear in any of the thirteen wordings.
The count in Chinese: 和合本
Chinese translations cannot be counted with the English rule, so they get their own — and they produce their own numbers, not a translation of the English ones.
Rule
Verses
OT
NT
不要怕
33
20
13
不要惧怕
49
43
6
不要害怕
19
14
5
不要恐惧
3
3
0
Union of all four
102
78
24
The Chinese total is higher than the two-phrase English union (102 against 88) for a structural reason, not because the Chinese Bible says more. (It is still below the 117 thirteen-wording count.) 和合本 uses 不要, a single negative-imperative particle that attaches to 怕 (fear), 惧怕, 害怕 and 恐惧. The KJV splits the same idea across "fear not", "be not afraid" and vocabulary the two-word rule never sees. The two counts are not the same measurement, and this page never adds them together.
The 和合本 figure is also the least-covered number on the English web. The English claim has a decade of blog posts arguing about it; the Chinese claim has almost nothing in a citable form.
Why published numbers differ
Every disagreement about this count comes down to one of four choices. None of them is a mistake; not stating them is.
Choice
What it changes
Example
Translation
which word is even present
KJV has 0 "do not fear"; modern versions have many
Inflection
exact phrase vs word family
"fear not" 62 → + feared/feareth not = 70
Unit
verses or occurrences
"fear not" gives 62 either way, so the unit does not explain the 71
Semantic filter
does the verse actually comfort?
Literal matches need contextual reading: describes safety; concerns unfamiliar gods
The last row describes a distinction that literal matching does not make. is included in our separate inflected matches. The only semantic filter on this page is the nine subtracted verses behind the 117, and it is listed in full.
Download the data
CSV:/data/fear-not-counts.csv — 581 rows across both languages, one row per matching verse per rule (including the union rules and the 18 verses where Jesus speaks), with book, chapter, verse and full text; a verse can appear under more than one rule
JSON:/data/fear-not-counts.json — methodology metadata and per-rule counts, the 88 and 126 English union rows, the 102 Chinese union rows, the nine subtracted verses with their reasons, and Jesus's 18 verses with scene and 和合本 text
Both are generated from the Bible text by a single reproducible script (scripts/generate-fear-not-counts.ts in the TrustBible repository), using the same corpora as our Bible chapter reading times dataset. Re-run the script and you get the same numbers.
Methodology
Corpus. King James Version, 31,102 verses (data/kjv.jsonl.gz), and the Chinese Union Version, simplified, 31,100 verses (data/cuv-simplified.jsonl.gz). Both are the complete Protestant canon.
Counting rule. A verse counts once per rule if its text matches that rule's phrase, case-insensitively, as literal text. No lemmatisation, no stemming, no synonym expansion. A verse repeating the phrase still counts once.
Two editorial layers. Everything above is text matching except two lists a person decided: the nine verses subtracted from 126 to reach 117, and the speaker of each of Jesus's 18 verses. Both lists are written into the script, checked against the matched verses every time it runs, and printed on this page with a reason for each entry.
What is not merged. Rules are reported separately and never silently combined. The union rows, including the 126 behind the 117 headline, exist so you can see what merging produces: they are the only place two rules are added, and each is labelled as a union with its member rules listed.
Unit. Verses, not occurrences. For "fear not" the two are identical (62 and 62), so the unit is not what separates this count from the published 71.
Reports 71 for the KJV phrase and 501 uses of "fear", without a reproducible rule
Reports 62 exact matches, 70 with the eight inflected matches, and 501 stem-matching verses containing 524 occurrences; this does not reproduce or explain the external totals
Argues the answer is "more than 365" using a wider thematic set, including peace and strength
Distinguishes that thematic question from our literal phrase rules; the 400 occurrences of "fear" do not cap a set that can include verses without that word
Logos forums, Reddit threads, Facebook posts
Community argument, anecdotes, no reproducible figure
A downloadable verse list where each verse can be checked in one click
Known limits of this dataset
Two translations only. These counts apply to the KJV and 和合本 exactly. The 109/110/111/91 figures reported elsewhere are for NASB, ESV, NKJV and NIV, which this page does not ship and therefore cannot reproduce — they are cited as reported, not verified here.
Literal matching, one disclosed filter. The rules are text matching, so a verse that means "do not be afraid" without using one of the listed phrases is not counted. The only judgment applied on top is the nine subtracted verses behind the 117 and the speaker list for Jesus; every other count includes whatever the phrase matches.
Verses, not occurrences. Where a verse repeats the phrase, it still counts once for that rule. For most rules on this page occurrences and verses are equal or nearly so; the two exceptions are be not afraid (28 occurrences in 26 verses) and 不要怕 (37 occurrences in 33 verses). The CSV carries per-verse rows so you can recount by occurrences if you prefer.
The underlying languages are not counted. Hebrew and Greek have their own vocabulary for fear, and a count of English or Chinese phrases is not a count of the original commands. That question needs a tagged Hebrew/Greek text, which this dataset does not include.
For the counting method, the per-chapter reading times dataset uses the same two corpora and the same disclosure rules.
Frequently asked questions
How many times does the Bible say "fear not"?
In the King James Version the exact phrase "fear not" occurs in 62 verses: 48 in the Old Testament and 14 in the New. Widen the rule to "fear not" or "be not afraid" and the total is 88 verses. There is no single number without a rule.
How many times does the Bible tell us not to be afraid?
In the KJV, 117 verses tell someone not to fear or not to be afraid. That counts thirteen wordings, including "fear ye not", "fear thou not", "be not afraid", "dread not" and "ye shall not fear", which match 126 verses, minus 9 that are descriptions, promises or a rhetorical question rather than commands. The count includes , which the narrower 88 misses.
How many times did Jesus say "fear not"?
In the four Gospels, Jesus tells people not to be afraid in 16 KJV verses, 5 of them with the exact words "fear not". Merging the scenes told in more than one Gospel leaves nine distinct sayings. He says it twice more in Revelation (1:17 and 2:10).
Is it true that the Bible says "fear not" 365 times?
No. Even counting all thirteen KJV wordings of the command, the total is 117 verses, about a third of 365; the exact phrase occurs in 62 verses, and the union with "be not afraid" contains 88. These counts do not measure every thematic reassurance passage. A total of 365 would not require an even distribution across books; the 37 books with no union match describe this dataset, not a disproof of every possible thematic total.
Why do some sources say 71 times?
The cited source reports 71 without a reproducible rule. Our exact rule yields 62; adding the eight inflected matches yields 70. This does not reproduce or explain 71. The contextual examples above show why these matches are reported separately: describes safety, concerns unfamiliar gods, and describes Amalek's attack on Israel.
How many times does the 和合本 say 不要怕?
33 verses contain 不要怕, 49 contain 不要惧怕, 19 contain 不要害怕 and 3 contain 不要恐惧. Counting all four together gives 102 verses, 78 in the Old Testament and 24 in the New.
Which Bible translation has the most "fear not"?
That question has no answer without fixing the phrase first, because translations use different words for the same command. The KJV contains zero instances of "do not fear" — it always says "fear not" — so a search that works in a modern translation returns nothing here.
How many times is fear mentioned in the Bible?
The word "fear" occurs 400 times in 385 KJV verses. Counting every ending — feared, feareth, fearful, fearing and the rest — gives 524 occurrences in 501 verses. Of all those verses, 117 tell someone not to be afraid.
How many times does the Bible say "be not afraid"?
In the KJV, "be not afraid" is in 26 verses (28 occurrences), including Jesus walking on the water () and . Together with the 62 "fear not" verses it makes the 88-verse union; the full 117 adds the other eleven wordings.
Where is "fear not" in the Bible?
Some of the best-known commands: ("Fear ye not, stand still"), ("Fear thou not; for I am with thee"), ("Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings"), ("Fear not, little flock") and ("Fear not; I am the first and the last"). The CSV lists all of them.
Is the count different in Hebrew and Greek?
Yes, and this dataset does not measure it. Counting English or Chinese phrases measures the translation, not the underlying text. The commands exist in Hebrew and Greek with their own vocabulary, and counting them needs a tagged original-language corpus.
