Jesus: 983, 980, and the Mystery of Seventy Times Seven

The name "Jesus" appears 983 times in the King James Bible. That is a straightforward search result. But when you look more carefully at those 983 occurrences, something unexpected emerges.

Three Men Named Jesus — Who Are Not the Lord

Of the 983 appearances of the name "Jesus" in the KJB, exactly 3 refer to men other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth:

• Colossians 4:11 — "And Jesus, which is called Justus" — a fellow worker of Paul
• Luke 3:29 — "Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi" — here the Greek underlying the KJB genealogy includes a "Jesus" in the lineage
• Acts 7:45 — "Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles" — a reference to Joshua (the Hebrew name rendered "Jesus" in the Greek)

Remove those 3, and the number of times the name "Jesus" refers specifically to Jesus Christ, the Lord, is 980.

980 = 70×7 + 70×7

The number 980 is not arbitrary. It factors precisely as 70 × 7 + 70 × 7 — that is, two times seventy-times-seven, or 2 × 490.

That formula — seventy times seven — appears explicitly in the mouth of Jesus himself.

Peter's Question and the Lord's Answer

In Matthew 18:21–22, Peter approaches Jesus with a question about forgiveness:

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

Peter offers seven — a number already associated with completeness and perfection in Scripture. Jesus does not simply double it or add to it. He gives a formula: seventy times seven, which is 490. The answer is not a literal count of 490 offenses; it is a declaration that forgiveness is to be without limit. But the number itself — 490 — is the one Jesus chose to express that idea.

The Even and Odd Books of the New Testament

The New Testament contains 27 books. The odd-numbered books (1st, 3rd, 5th… 27th) and the even-numbered books (2nd, 4th, 6th… 26th) contain very different amounts of text. The word counts between the two groups are lopsided — the odd books contain considerably more material than the even books.

Yet when you search for the pure name "Jesus" — not "Lord Jesus," not "Christ Jesus," just the standalone name — it appears:

• 490 times in the even-numbered books of the New Testament
• 490 times in the odd-numbered books of the New Testament

Precisely 490 in each group. Given the unequal size of the two groups, this equal distribution is not what you would expect by chance.

Daniel's Seventy Sevens

The number 490 also appears in one of the most studied prophecies in the Old Testament. In Daniel 9:24, the angel Gabriel speaks to Daniel:

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."

"Seventy weeks" in the Hebrew is literally seventy sevens — 70 × 7 = 490. This prophecy is widely understood by Bible scholars as pointing to the coming of the Messiah. The same number that Jesus used to describe unlimited forgiveness is the number Daniel was given to mark the appointed time for the anointed one.

Watch: Jesus and Seventy Times Seven

What to Make of It

Each of these observations is verifiable. The 983 count, the 3 non-Christ occurrences, the 980 remainder, the 490/490 split across even and odd New Testament books — all of these can be confirmed using Pure Bible Search in a matter of minutes.

Whether these patterns reflect deliberate design, providential preservation, or something else entirely is a question each reader will weigh for themselves. What is clear is that the King James Bible continues to reward careful, patient counting — and that the name of Jesus sits at the center of some of its most striking numeric features.

If you want to explore these patterns yourself, Pure Bible Search is available on iPhone. Android is coming soon.