Shakespeare’s Biblical References: Shaheen’s Complete List

Naseeb Shaheen’s Biblical References in Shakespeare’s Plays (1999) is the standard scholarly reference for Shakespeare’s use of the Bible. The table below lists all 3496 references Shaheen identified, searchable and sortable by play, Bible book, or act and scene. Links go to the MIT Shakespeare Online text and to the passage on Bible Gateway (Geneva Bible, the translation Shaheen used for comparison).

The plays are ordered by estimated date of composition by default. The Apoc badge marks references to the Apocrypha — books present in some Geneva Bibles but not others, and accounting for only 1 in 36 of Shaheen’s total references. Shakespeare’s evident unfamiliarity with the Apocrypha is consistent with a Geneva Bible that did not include it.

Search tip: type a play name, Bible book, or scene number in the search box, or use the column filters to narrow the list.

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3496 references across 40 plays  |  97 Apocrypha references (1 in 36)  |  102 references at a marked verse  |  141 line numbers corrupted in source data (shown as ?)

The references are Shaheen’s identifications, not claims about Shakespeare’s conscious intention. Many are thematic parallels or shared idiom rather than direct quotation. The Geneva Bible links go to the translation Shaheen used for comparison; the KJV wording is often close but occasionally diverges in ways that matter for the argument.

Source: Naseeb Shaheen, Biblical References in Shakespeare’s Plays (University of Delaware Press, 1999). Data compiled and extended by the Oxfraud project. ```