Is the word rapture in the Bible?
Is the word rapture in the Bible? No. It is not in the King James Version, and it is not in the NIV, ESV, or other standard English translations either. What the Bible does have is a description of believers being “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Rapture is the name later Christians gave to that event, and like Trinity it is a word about the Bible rather than a word in it.
Where the word rapture comes from
Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica about believers who had already died, and his answer ends with the promise that the living will be taken up to meet the Lord in the clouds (the full verse is in the list below). Paul wrote in Greek, and the verb behind that phrase is harpazo, meaning to seize or snatch away suddenly. When Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate around AD 400, he rendered it rapiemur, “we shall be caught up”, from the verb rapio. English rapture comes from that Latin root, which is why the word sounds biblical even though no English Bible uses it.
Every verse that says caught up
The phrase appears in 4 verses of the KJV. Only one of them is about the event people call the rapture:
- 2 Corinthians 12:2: I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
- 2 Corinthians 12:4: How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
- Revelation 12:5: And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul describes a man taken up into paradise in a vision, and in Revelation 12:5 the child of the woman is taken to God’s throne. Neither passage is usually read as describing the rapture, but both use the same Greek verb as Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
Is the word rapture in the Bible a recent idea?
Christians have read 1 Thessalonians 4 for two thousand years, but the specific teaching that believers will be removed from the earth before a seven-year tribulation became popular much later. The Anglo-Irish preacher John Nelson Darby taught it in the 1830s, the Scofield Reference Bible spread it widely in America from 1909, and the Left Behind novels made it familiar to millions of readers around the year 2000. Many churches, including Catholic, Orthodox, and most mainline Protestant churches, read the passage as describing the second coming instead.
The same pattern shows up with the word Christian, which many people assume is common in scripture. It appears only three times in the King James Bible; the Christian page shows all three verses and the names believers used before it.
Check other words yourself
Rapture is one of several well-known religious words that the Bible never uses. Paste any word or phrase into the Bible word checker to see whether it appears in the King James Bible, how many times, and where it first shows up. For the size of the vocabulary you are checking against, see how many words are in the Bible.
Frequently asked questions
Is the word rapture in the Bible?
No. Rapture does not appear in the King James Bible or in other standard English translations. The idea comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which the KJV renders as “caught up together with them in the clouds.”
Where does the word rapture come from?
From Latin. The Greek verb in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is harpazo, to seize or snatch away. The Latin Vulgate translated it as rapiemur, “we shall be caught up”, from the verb rapio. English rapture grew out of that Latin root.
How many times does caught up appear in the KJV?
The phrase caught up appears in 4 verses of the King James Bible: 2 Corinthians 12:2 and 12:4, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and Revelation 12:5. Only 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is the passage usually connected with the rapture.
When did the rapture teaching become popular?
The belief that Christians will be taken up before a time of tribulation was spread in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, then popularized in America by the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909 and later by books and films such as the Left Behind series.