Home›Articles›The First of the Twelve to Die, and the Only Death the New Testament RecordsArticlesThe First of the Twelve to Die, and the Only Death the New Testament RecordsCitation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "The First of the Twelve to Die, and the Only Death the New Testament Records." Accessed September 2, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/articles/james-son-of-zebedee-the-first-of-the-twelve-to-die-and-the-only-death-the-new-testament-records.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). The First of the Twelve to Die, and the Only Death the New Testament Records. Retrieved September 2, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/articles/james-son-of-zebedee-the-first-of-the-twelve-to-die-and-the-only-death-the-new-testament-recordsCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-the-first-of-the-twelve-to-die-and-the-o, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {The First of the Twelve to Die, and the Only Death the New Testament Records}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/articles/james-son-of-zebedee-the-first-of-the-twelve-to-die-and-the-only-death-the-new-testament-records}, note = {Accessed September 2, 2026} }Copy BibTeXLearn MoreCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Learn MoreThe First of the Twelve to Die, and the Only Death the New Testament Records James, son of Zebedee and brother of the evangelist John, was a Galilean fisherman called with his brother while mending nets. With Peter and John he forms the inner three who alone witness the raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration and the agony in Gethsemane. Jesus is said to have named the two brothers Boanerges, sons of thunder, a nickname the Gospel of Mark preserves without fully explaining. He is almost always distinguished as James the Greater, or the elder, to separate him from the other James among the twelve and from James the brother of the Lord. What sets him apart historically is his death. The Acts of the Apostles reports, in a single sentence, that Herod Agrippa I had him killed with the sword, beheaded, an event usually dated to about the year 44. That notice is significant out of proportion to its length: it is the only martyrdom of an apostle recorded in the New Testament itself, and it makes James the first of the twelve to die for the movement. Everything else told of him lies outside scripture, and one strand of it grew into one of the great cults of medieval Europe.Cross-Tradition ConnectionsArticle OnJames son of Zebedee, Figures Well-attested Source Divinity Atlas Long-Form Articles, First Editiontier 1SourcesDivinity Atlas Long-Form Articles, First Editiontier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year