Test Your Bible Trivia Knowledge With This Quiz!

By: Torrance Grey
Estimated Completion Time
3 min
Test Your Bible Trivia Knowledge With This Quiz!
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About This Quiz

Everyone knows who built the ark, and who the first two sons of Adam and Eve were. But do you know what happened in the valley of Elah? Or who was "roaming the earth and patrolling it" in the book of Job? The truth is, while there are a lot of beloved, often-read stories in the Bible, other parts of the Good Book are less well known. (This especially includes the minor prophets of the Old Testament, such as Joel and Amos).

The Bible is a complex and varied book. It's divided into 66 parts, called "books" themselves, then chapters, and then verses. Some books of the Bible are quite long -- Psalms is the longest, with 150 chapters. On the other hand, one book in the New Testament is only 13 verses long. You can also divide the Bible thematically, into different types of books. The first five books, called the "Mosaic" books, comprise both history and law.  Joshua, Judges and Ruth are also history books, relating the early years of Israel as a nation. The Psalms are poetry, and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job are part of the "wisdom" tradition, which contain some of the more poignant passages in the Bible about life and death. 

If you're a Bible aficionado, we've prepared a quiz for you on some of the Bible's more obscures people, places and events. Ready? Good luck!




What was "manna"?
a food
an herbal medicine
a type of livestock
a language
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

You'll still hear people use the term "manna from heaven." This is because manna, the food God provided the Hebrews in the wilderness, was said to fall from heaven.

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Which of these couples do NOT appear in the Bible?
Abelard and Heloise
Jacob and Rachel
David and Bathsheba
Ruth and Boaz
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Abelard and Heloise were early medieval lovers. They joined a monastery and a convent, respectively, after their affair went disastrously wrong.

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What relationship were Mary, mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist?
friends
cousins
sisters
They did not know each other.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Mary went to her cousin to discuss the news of her pregnancy. Elizabeth's unborn child, John, leapt in her womb at the arrival of the unborn Savior.

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Identify the book: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth."
Acts of the Apostles
the gospel of John
the gospel of Luke
Revelation
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This verse is in Revelation 21, close to the end of the book. After the wars at the end of time, and the destruction of the old world, John sees the new heaven and new earth.

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Which apostle was known earlier as Saul of Tarsus?
St. James
St. John of Patmos
St. Peter
St. Paul
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

There's a long history in the Bible of God renaming people after calling them to serve him. Saul of Tarsus became "Paul" after his conversion on the road to Damascus.

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Who is the Pharaoh who (eventually) let Israel's people go?
Amenhotep
Dedumose
Thutmose
He is not named.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Pharaoh is only referred to by his title in Exodus. The same is true of the earlier Pharaoh whom Joseph found favor with when he interpreted the ruler's dreams.

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Which of these are a main enemy of the Israelites in the books of Judges and 1 Samuel?
the Corinthians
the Ephesians
the Philistines
the Danites
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Goliath, whom David killed, was a Philistine warrior. The word "Philistine" is related to the modern-day term "Palestine."

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Who fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah about "A voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord"?
Moses
John the Baptist
Jesus
Peter
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

John was the one sent to prepare the way for Jesus. He also baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.

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Who died when a temple collapsed on him and his enemies?
Absalom
Amnon
Saul
Samson
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Samson was betrayed by his lover, Delilah, who told his enemies the Philistines that if his hair was cut, he would lose his strength. But when Samson prayed to God, he regained his strength, and was able to bring down the temple.

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Rahab was a woman who helped the Israelites at _______.
Bethsaida
Jericho
Nazareth
Jerusalem
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Rahab is described as a "prostitute" in the book of Joshua, which might only mean that she rented out room to strangers. At any rate, Rahab gives shelter to two Israeli spies, and thus is saved along with her family when the Israelites attack and take the city.

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Finish the quote: "Are not two ________ sold for a penny?"
goats
sheep
sparrows
wineskins
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The full quote is, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your heavenly Father knowing." These are Jesus's words during the Commission of the Twelve.

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How many books of prophecy are there in the New Testament?
one
two
three
none
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Only Revelation, at the end of the Bible, is considered a New Testament book of prophecy. It recounts the vision John of Patmos had of the end of the world and the ultimate triumph of Jesus over the forces of evil.

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In the gospels, who is "Legion"?
a band of angels
a group of demons
a Nazirite sect
a Roman regiment serving Pilate
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

All three synoptic gospels tell the story of Jesus exorcising a group of demons, who call themselves "Legion," from the man they have possessed. Jesus sends the demons into a band of pigs, who rush into a nearby lake and drown.

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Which of these disciples was a tax collector?
Andrew
James the Greater
John
Matthew
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Caravaggio did a famous painting of the calling of St. Matthew. In it, Matthew is at a table, surrounded by other tax collectors doing business, while Jesus points to him, and a divine light falls through the window on the scene.

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The three men in the fiery furnace were Shadrach, Meschach and ________.
Japheth
Abednego
Jeroboam
Daniel
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This story is told in Daniel. The three Jews remained faithful to their God during their time in Babylonia -- something that Daniel, the book's namesake, would also do.

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What was the name of Ruth's mother-in-law?
Esther
Michal
Naomi
Tamar
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Ruth is revered among Jews and Christians for her faithfulness to her mother-in-law. After her husband dies, Ruth insists on staying with Naomi rather than returning to her own people. Since Naomi was also Jewish, Ruth's alliance with her was in effect an alliance with God as well.

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Who, in the first chapter of Job, has been "roaming the earth and patrolling it"?
Job
Job's wife
the angel Gabriel
Satan
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Satan appears before God in Job's first chapter and says that he has been doing this. God that says is no one like his servant Job, a righteous man, and Satan proposes a wager on it, suggesting that Job will curse God if all his worldly goods are taken away.

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Which of these women replaced Queen Vashti?
Jael
Esther
Ruth
Jezebel
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Esther was called to be the new wife of King Ahasuerus after Vashti refused to come "display her beauty" before the king's guests. To some, this makes her a heroine, and a better choice for the name of a feminist magazine than "Jezebel" (another pagan queen in the Old Testament).

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What relationship were Abraham and Lot?
father and son
uncle and nephew
brothers
no relation
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Lot was Abraham's son. They traveled together for a time, then split up. Lot chose to live on the "cities of the plain," which were Sodom and Gomorrah. It was a choice that would come back to haunt him.

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What is the third book of the Bible called?
Deuteronomy
Leviticus
Moses
Numbers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Leviticus is the book which lays out the rules by which the Israelites, a nation newly independent from Egypt, are to live. Many of the rules which God narrates to Moses involve offerings for sins and rituals for purification.

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Why is the Valley of Elah significant in the Bible?
It's where Moses received the 10 Commandments.
It's where David killed Goliath.
It's where David saw Bathsheba.
It's where King Saul was killed with his sons.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The tale of David and Goliath is one of the most-loved Bible stories. David, an upstart shepherd, brings down the giant of the Philistines with a mere stone (though he cuts off Goliath's head afterward).

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What woman did King Abimelech covet in Genesis?
Eve
Rebekah
Rachel
Sarah
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

King Abimelech did have Sarah brought to him. He did not know that she was married to Abraham, because Abraham (and presumably also Sarah) said that she was his sister, instead. After some intervention by God, Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham.

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Who was the husband of the wicked queen Jezebel?
Ahab
Artaxerxes
Haman
Saul
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Ahab and Jezebel were the king and queen that the prophet Elijah was sent to oppose. Both died, Jezebel in a grisly fall from a tower.

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Which of these is NOT a tribe of Israel?
Asher
Benjamin
Dan
Joseph
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Jacob had twelve sons. Eleven of them followed their brother Joseph down to Egypt, where he made good after being sold into slavery. By the time their descendants left Egypt, they were a nation, divided into 12 tribes named after those twelve brothers. Joseph's sons were adopted by Jacob, so although there is no tribe named after Joseph, there is one named after his son Manasseh.

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When Ruth marries Boaz, she becomes an ancestress of _____.
King David
King Solomon
Jesus
all of these
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Ruth becomes the grandmother of King David, therefore the great-grandmother of Solomon. In time, Jesus is born into the line of David.

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Which of these is the shortest book of the New Testament?
James
the gospel of John
3 John
Titus
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

John's third epistle is only 14 verses long. If he'd been writing in the present day, he could have made it a Facebook post!

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Whom did Moses marry?
Rebekah
Jezebel
Miriam
Zipporah
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Miriam was Moses's sister, who married Aaron, the first priest in the Jewish tradition. Moses's wife was Zipporah; this is still a popular name among observant Jews today.

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Which of these is the shortest book of the Old Testament?
Numbers
Jonah
Obadiah
Ruth
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Obadiah is a single chapter of 21 verses. There are many other "Obadiahs" in the Old Testament besides the author of this short prophetic book.

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Who is this verse describing? "He shall be a wild man; his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him."
Cain
Ishmael
Isaac
Moses
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is an angel of the Lord describing Ishmael, Abraham's first son. The description reflects the view the Bible's writers had of the "Ishmaelites," or Arabic peoples.

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Which king threw Daniel into a lions' den?
Artaxerxes
Darius
Herod
Thutmose
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Darius is actually reluctant to do this to his servant Daniel, who has given him wise counsel. But Daniel, of course, survives his night in the lions' den, and the story has become a favorite of Sunday School teachers.

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Identify the book: "Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man-child is conceived.'"
Deuteronomy
Job
Song of Solomon
Luke
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

After Job has lost his wealth, and been stricken with painful sores, he curses the day he was born. But he does not curse God.

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How many books of the New Testament are considered history books?
three
four
five
six
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

All the gospels are history books, telling of Jesus's time on earth. Acts of the Apostles, just following them, is a book of early church history.

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In which book of the Bible would you find a talking donkey?
Exodus
John
Numbers
Romans
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In Numbers, the prophet Baalam is traveling when an angel blocks the road. His donkey can see it; Baalam can not, and beats the donkey to make it keep going. The donkey then miraculously speaks, complaining about being hit. Then the angel becomes visible, and the situation becomes clear to Baalam.

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Which book begins, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Genesis
the gospel of John
1 John
Revelations
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

John is the "non-synoptic" gospel, which deviates in thematic ways from Matthew, Mark and Luke. One way it does so is through its first line, which does not talk about Joseph and Mary, but instead strikes a mystical tone.

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Identify the book: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Genesis
Exodus
Psalms
Revelation
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is the famous 23rd Psalm, ascribed to King David. The words above are its closing words.

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You Got:
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