How many times is Jesus mentioned in the Bible?

The count

In major English translations:

• “Jesus” appears approximately 970 times, exclusively in the New Testament.
• “Christ” appears approximately 540 times in the New Testament.
• “Jesus Christ” as a compound phrase appears approximately 130 times.
• “Lord Jesus” appears approximately 100 times.

If titles for Jesus are added — “Son of Man,” “Son of God,” “Lord” (when referring to Jesus), “Lamb of God,” and others — the total references swell to several thousand across the NT.

Where the references concentrate

The Gospels naturally contain the highest density of references to Jesus. The Pauline epistles use “Christ” more frequently than the Gospels do, often as a near-name rather than a title. The Book of Revelation refers to Jesus most commonly as “the Lamb” (29 times).

The Old Testament question

The name “Jesus” — Greek Iēsous, from Hebrew Yeshua, a shortened form of Yehoshua (Joshua) — does not appear in the Old Testament as a reference to the Christian Messiah. The Old Testament person Joshua, son of Nun, bears the same name in Hebrew. Christian interpretation has traditionally identified Old Testament prophecies (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Daniel 7, and others) and “types” (Melchizedek, the Passover lamb, the suffering servant) as foreshadowing Jesus. These are interpretive identifications rather than direct namings.

A note on Aramaic

Jesus’ actual spoken name in his lifetime was almost certainly Yeshua (Aramaic and Hebrew), not the English “Jesus.” The English form comes via Greek Iēsous through Latin Iesus.