150 Fun Facts About Bible

In Luke's Christmas story, what was the newborn Jesus laid in?

A manger, an animals' feeding trough, because there was no room at the inn; only Luke tells it this way, and Matthew has the wise men find the child in a house.

How many days did God take to create the world according to Genesis?

6 days of work, then a seventh of rest: the Sabbath law copies the pattern, telling Israel to labour six days and stop on the seventh because that is what God did.

Who built the ark to survive the great flood?

Noah built the ark at God's command; as the flood ebbed he sent out a raven, then a dove that came back with a fresh olive leaf, proof that dry land had reappeared.

Who parted the Red Sea?

Moses stretched out his hand and the sea divided (Exodus 14); its Hebrew name, Yam Suph, is often read as 'Sea of Reeds', which is why scholars have long argued over which water was meant.

What were the names of the first man and woman according to the Bible?

Adam and Eve; she is simply 'the woman' until after the forbidden fruit is eaten, when Adam names her Eve because she would be 'the mother of all the living'.

Which disciple betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver?

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus; only Matthew's Gospel gives the price of thirty pieces of silver, and Matthew has Judas fling the coins back into the temple before hanging himself.

How many books make up the Protestant Bible?

The Protestant canon has 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New; Catholic Bibles run to 73 because they include deuterocanonical books such as Tobit and Maccabees.

What is the last book of the Bible?

Revelation closes the New Testament; it was among the last books accepted into the canon and was absent from the original Syriac Peshitta used by the Church of the East.

What was David's job when he volunteered to fight the giant Goliath?

Shepherd: David told the king he had killed lions and bears while guarding his father's sheep, then turned down royal armour and faced Goliath with a sling and five stones.

In which city was Jesus born?

Bethlehem, on which Matthew and Luke agree; they differ on why the family was there—Matthew implies Joseph already lived there, while Luke has them travel from Nazareth for a census.

Which prayer, beginning 'Our Father', did Jesus teach his disciples?

The Lord's Prayer; in Luke, Jesus gives it because a disciple asks to be taught how to pray, though it is Matthew's longer wording that churches recite.

Who was swallowed by a great fish and spent three days inside it?

The prophet Jonah was swallowed by a great fish (often depicted as a whale) after fleeing from God's command to preach to Nineveh. He spent three days and nights inside before being vomited onto dry land.

What is the shortest verse in the King James Bible?

Jesus wept (John 11:35) is the King James Bible's shortest verse, but not the shortest in the original Greek, where the verse behind 'Rejoice evermore' is two letters shorter.

Which Old Testament figure was tested by God and lost everything but remained faithful?

Job lost his children, wealth and health yet refused to curse God; the test was proposed by 'the satan', the Adversary, who claimed Job served God only because God protected him.

What was the first miracle Jesus performed according to the Gospel of John?

Turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana, at his mother's prompting, is what John calls the first of Jesus' 'signs'.

How many plagues did God send upon Egypt?

10 plagues, the last of them the death of every Egyptian firstborn; Israelite families marked their doors with lamb's blood so that it would pass over them, the origin of Passover.

The wedding favourite 'Love is patient, love is kind' comes from Paul's letter to the church in which city?

Corinth; Paul was not writing for weddings but to a quarrelling church split into rival factions, which he scolds earlier in the letter for boasting about which leader each followed.

By what other name are the Ten Commandments known?

The Decalogue, Greek for 'ten words'; the text never numbers them one by one, so Jews, Catholics and most Protestants split the same verses into ten in different ways.

Which river was Jesus baptized in?

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, as recorded in Matthew 3:13-17. After his baptism, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove.

Who was the first king of Israel?

Saul, whose name means 'asked for'; the people had demanded a king from the prophet Samuel, who anointed Saul but later turned against him.

What did God create on the first day according to Genesis?

Light comes first, with day and night separated; the sky follows on day two, Earth, seas and vegetation on day three, and the Sun and Moon only on day four.

Which apostle is known as 'the doubter' for questioning Jesus' resurrection?

Thomas, also called Didymus, is known as 'Doubting Thomas' because he refused to believe Jesus had risen until he could see and touch the wounds himself (John 20:24-29).

What is the longest book of the Bible by number of chapters?

Psalms, with 150 chapters; its editors arranged the songs in five books, probably in imitation of the Torah, and each book closes with a short hymn of praise.

Who interpreted Pharaoh's dreams about seven fat cows and seven thin cows?

Joseph; the cows foretold seven years of plenty followed by seven of famine, and Pharaoh rewarded Joseph with the post of second-in-command of Egypt (Genesis 41).

What are the Beatitudes?

The Beatitudes are the blessings opening the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5; Luke's shorter version, delivered on a plain, pairs four blessings with four woes, and the name comes from beatus, Latin for 'blessed'.

Which Old Testament prophet was carried up to heaven in a whirlwind as a chariot of fire appeared?

Elijah; as he rose his cloak fell to his disciple Elisha, who picked it up and struck the river with it, parting the water just as his master had done.

What is the Pentateuch?

The first five books of the Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy; tradition credits them to Moses, even though the last chapter describes his own death and burial.

In the Book of Ruth, who is told 'Wherever you go, I will go'?

Naomi; her daughter-in-law Ruth refused to abandon her widowed mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16), and that loyalty led to marriage with Boaz and a place in King David's family tree.

Jesus said his apostles would judge Israel's twelve what?

Tribes: the saying pairs the twelve apostles with Israel's twelve tribes, and after the betrayer's death lots were drawn and Matthias was chosen to bring the count back up.

Which parable tells of a young man who squanders his inheritance and is welcomed home by his father?

The Prodigal Son (Luke 15); his father runs to meet him and kills the fattened calf for a feast, which so angers the dutiful older brother that he refuses to come in.

On which mountain were the Ten Commandments received from God, according to Exodus?

Mount Sinai; the first stone tablets were smashed at its foot at the sight of the people dancing round a golden calf, so a second set had to be cut and carried back up.

Which king of Israel was known for his great wisdom?

Solomon; offered anything by God in a dream at Gibeon, he asked for a discerning heart (1 Kings 3), and his judgment between two women claiming the same baby became proverbial.

Which tree in the Garden of Eden bore the forbidden fruit?

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, to give its full name; Genesis never says what the fruit was, and the apple of later art is often traced to a Latin pun on malum, both 'evil' and 'apple'.

Who was thrown into a den of lions but survived?

Daniel; jealous rivals had tricked King Darius into decreeing that for thirty days no one could pray to any god or man but the king, and Daniel kept praying (Daniel 6).

What event does Easter celebrate in Christianity?

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion; its date moves each year because it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox.

Which book of the Bible contains the phrase 'For everything there is a season'?

Ecclesiastes 3:1; Pete Seeger set the passage to music almost word for word, and the Byrds took 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' to number one in the US in 1965.

In Genesis, what did God set as the sign of his covenant never again to flood the earth?

The rainbow (Genesis 9:13); the covenant is made not just with the ark's survivors but with 'every living creature of all flesh'.

Which angel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus?

Gabriel; in Luke he first visits the priest Zechariah to announce John the Baptist, and strikes him mute until the child is born for doubting the news.

What did Jesus feed 5,000 people with?

Five loaves and two fish, which John says came from a boy in the crowd; when everyone had eaten, the disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.

In Matthew's Gospel, what does the name 'Emmanuel' mean?

God with us: Matthew quotes a prophecy that a child will be called Emmanuel, yet in the very same passage Joseph is told to name the baby Jesus.

What happened on the Day of Pentecost?

The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles (Acts 2): a rushing wind and tongues as of fire, after which they spoke in other languages; the name comes from the Greek for 'fiftieth' day.

Who was Abraham's wife who gave birth to Isaac in her old age?

Sarah; she laughed when she overheard the promise of a son at her age, then denied laughing, and the boy was named Isaac, from the Hebrew word for 'laugh'.

Which structure did David's son and successor build in Jerusalem, according to 1 Kings?

The First Temple, built by Solomon to house the Ark of the Covenant; the Babylonians later burned it when they sacked Jerusalem, and the Second Temple rose on the same site.

Which parable teaches about helping a stranger regardless of their background?

The Good Samaritan (Luke 10); Samaritans and Jews were bitter rivals, which is the sting of the story: a priest and a Levite walk past, and it is the outsider who stops to help.

Which three men were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar's furnace for refusing to bow to his golden image?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3); they walked out unsinged, and the king saw a fourth figure in the flames with them; Daniel himself is absent from the chapter.

How many days and nights did Jesus fast in the wilderness before being tempted?

40 days, a span that echoes the forty-day fasts of Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament, and the reason Lent lasts forty days.

Which New Testament letter contains the famous 'Armor of God' passage?

Ephesians 6, which tells believers to put on the belt of truth and take up the shield of faith; the letter presents its author as a prisoner, 'an ambassador in chains'.

In the Book of Judges, what was the secret of Samson's great strength?

His hair, never cut under his Nazirite vow; Delilah, paid by Philistine officials, had it shaved while he slept, and the Philistines then blinded him and set him to milling grain at Gaza (Judges 16).

What did the wise men bring as gifts to the baby Jesus?

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh; Matthew never says how many wise men came, and the tradition that there were three probably grew out of the three gifts.

Who denied knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed?

Peter; all four Gospels record the prediction, and Luke adds that Jesus turned and looked straight at him as the rooster crowed, and Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Which short chief tax collector of Jericho climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus?

Zacchaeus was called down by name, and Jesus invited himself to stay at his house; he then pledged half his goods to the poor, while the crowd grumbled because tax collectors were despised as Roman collaborators.

Who asked God for a sign with a fleece, then beat the Midianites with 300 men chosen by how they drank?

Gideon, also called Jerubbaal after tearing down his father's altar to Baal; the 300 were the men who lapped water from their hands rather than kneeling to drink (Judges 7).

Who lived in Bethany with his sisters Martha and Mary and was raised by Jesus four days after dying?

Lazarus; the story is told in John 11, where Martha warns that after four days in the tomb the body will smell, before Jesus has the stone rolled away and calls him out.

Who hid the two spies Joshua sent to Jericho and was spared when the walls fell?

Rahab; she marked her house with a scarlet cord so the Israelites would spare it (Joshua 2), and Matthew's genealogy later lists her among the ancestors of Jesus.

Which Pharisee of the Sanhedrin met Jesus by night and later helped bury him with spices?

Nicodemus; his night visit in John 3 prompts the line about being 'born again', and he later reminds his fellow Pharisees that the law hears a man before it judges him.

Who does Genesis say lived longer than anyone else, dying at 969, with a grandson who built the ark?

Methuselah; by Genesis's own arithmetic he died in the very year the flood began, and his name became a byword for extreme old age.

Who sold his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a bowl of red lentil stew?

Esau, ancestor of the Edomites; Jacob later stole their father's blessing too, wearing goatskins on his hands so that blind Isaac would take him for his brother.

Which prophet, hired to curse Israel, had a donkey that spoke after seeing an angel in the road?

Balaam, who ended up blessing Israel instead, from seven altars (Numbers 23); a plaster inscription found at Deir Alla in 1967 mentions a seer called Balaam son of Beor.

Which cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes had Jerusalem's ruined walls rebuilt in just 52 days?

Nehemiah; he worked despite opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah, with builders keeping a weapon in one hand (Nehemiah 4), and his book and Ezra were originally treated as a single work.

Which deacon in Acts, stoned after defying the Sanhedrin, was the first Christian martyr?

Saul of Tarsus, the future apostle Paul, watched over the coats of the men who stoned him. His feast day, December 26, is the 'Feast of Stephen' in the carol Good King Wenceslas.

Which orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai became queen of Persia and foiled Haman's plot?

Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah; she hid her Jewish identity from King Ahasuerus until the crucial moment, and hers and Ruth are the only Protestant-canon books named for a woman.

Which prophetess, the only woman among Israel's judges, sent Barak to fight Sisera?

Deborah (Judges 4); Sisera was finally killed not by Barak but by Jael, who gave him milk, let him fall asleep in her tent and drove a tent peg through his head.

Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David, came from which nation?

Moab; her place in Israel's story is striking because Deuteronomy barred Moabites from the congregation of the LORD 'even to their tenth generation', yet her great-grandson became king.

Guinness World Records puts total sales of the Bible at about how many copies?

5 billion is the round figure, with the true total put between five and seven billion; no exact count exists, and Bible societies have long distributed copies cheaply, not for profit.

What is the name of the Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures begun in Alexandria?

The Septuagint, from the Latin for 'seventy': legend says 72 Jewish elders translated the Law into Greek at the request of Ptolemy II, hence its Roman-numeral shorthand, LXX.

In which city did Johannes Gutenberg print his famous Bible in the 1450s?

Mainz; his financier Johann Fust sued him as the Bibles were being finished and won, taking over the workshop and its equipment and carrying on the business without him.

Jewish tradition counts 613 of what in the Torah?

Commandments: tradition splits the 613 mitzvot into 365 'do nots', one for each day of the year, and 248 'dos', said to match the parts of the human body.

The King James Bible was proposed at which 1604 gathering convened by the king?

The Hampton Court Conference of 1604, where James I answered Puritan grievances set out in the Millenary Petition and agreed to a new translation; the finished King James Bible appeared in 1611.

Which two books are the only ones in the Tanakh with significant portions written in Aramaic?

Daniel and Ezra; Aramaic was the common tongue of the Persian empire, so Ezra quotes official letters in it, and Daniel switches language mid-verse when the courtiers answer the king.

The Purim hero who refused to bow to Haman bears a name widely linked to which Babylonian god?

Marduk: Mordecai's name probably means 'belonging to Marduk', Babylon's chief god; in the story, his refusal to bow to Haman is what provokes the plot to wipe out the Jews.

Who commits the first murder in the Book of Genesis?

Cain, who killed his brother Abel in a field; asked where Abel was, he answered 'Am I my brother's keeper?' and was condemned to wander the earth.

Whose wife looked back at the burning city of Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt?

Lot; angels had warned the family not to look behind them as they fled, and a salt column at Mount Sodom is traditionally pointed out as his wife.

What food did God provide the Israelites throughout their years in the desert?

Manna (Exodus 16), described as white, the size of a coriander seed, and gathered before the sun melted it; none could be kept overnight except before the Sabbath.

In Genesis, how did God stop the builders of the Tower of Babel?

Confused their language: unable to understand one another, the builders scattered and left the city unfinished, and Genesis never says the tower itself was destroyed.

In the Book of Revelation, 666 is called the number of what?

The beast: Revelation calls 666 'the number of a man', and many scholars read it as a code for the emperor Nero, whose name written in Hebrew letters adds up to 666.

Which prisoner did the crowd ask Pilate to release instead of Jesus?

Barabbas; Matthew, Mark and John describe a Passover custom of freeing one prisoner, and some manuscripts of Matthew give his full name as 'Jesus Barabbas'.

On the road to which city was a persecutor of Christians blinded by a heavenly blaze?

Damascus; Saul was carrying letters from the high priest to arrest followers of Jesus there, and a disciple named Ananias in Damascus restored his sight (Acts 9).

Into which animals did Jesus send the demons who called themselves 'Legion'?

Pigs; the herd of about 2,000 rushed down a hillside and drowned in the lake (Mark 5), and the locals, having lost their livestock, asked Jesus to leave the region.

In the Book of Exodus, who made the golden calf for the waiting Israelites?

Aaron; confronted, he claimed he had simply thrown the gold into the fire 'and out came this calf' (Exodus 32:24), yet he went on to become Israel's first high priest.

Which prophet's book is the last in the Old Testament of most Christian Bibles?

Malachi, meaning 'my messenger', possibly a title rather than a name; Jewish Bibles order the books differently and end with Chronicles instead.

Which prophet was shown a valley of dry bones that reassembled and came to life?

Ezekiel; the vision in chapter 37 promised the exiles in Babylon a national resurrection, and the spiritual 'Dem Bones' is built on it.

Which queen, wife of King Ahab, was thrown from a window and eaten by dogs?

Jezebel; her death fulfilled a prophecy made after she arranged the judicial murder of Naboth to seize his vineyard (1 Kings 21), and her name became a byword for a scheming woman.

The oldest known copies of Old Testament books were found in caves beside which sea?

Dead Sea: Bedouin shepherds found the first scrolls in jars in a cave at Qumran, and the Dead Sea Scrolls proved about a thousand years older than the Hebrew copies scholars had relied on until then.

At whose feast did a disembodied hand write 'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' on the wall?

Belshazzar; the king had been drinking from vessels looted from the Jerusalem temple, was killed that very night, and the episode gave English 'the writing on the wall'.

The queen of which land came to Jerusalem with camels bearing spices and gold to test a king with hard questions?

The Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10); Ethiopian tradition names her Makeda and traces its old royal line to Menelik, the son she is said to have borne the king she visited.

Which rebellious son of David was caught by his head in an oak as his mule ran on beneath him?

Absalom (2 Samuel 18); as he hung helpless, Joab killed him against the king's orders, and David wept, 'O my son Absalom... would God I had died for thee'.

Bathsheba's first husband, whom David sent to die at the front, was which soldier?

Uriah the Hittite, one of David's elite 'Thirty' warriors (2 Samuel 23); the prophet Nathan later exposed the crime with a parable about a rich man stealing a poor man's one ewe lamb.

Which Syrian army commander was cured of leprosy after bathing seven times in a river?

Naaman (2 Kings 5); he nearly refused, grumbling that the rivers of Damascus were better than any in Israel, and a captive Israelite servant girl had first told him about the prophet Elisha.

Which 4th-century scholar translated the Bible into Latin, producing the Vulgate?

Jerome; Pope Damasus asked him in 382 only to revise the Latin Gospels, but on his own initiative he went on to translate the Old Testament afresh from the original Hebrew.

On which Aegean island did John receive the visions recorded in the Book of Revelation?

Patmos; John says he was on the island 'for the word of God', and tradition holds that he had been banished there during a Roman persecution of Christians.

Before Festus, which Roman governor kept Paul imprisoned at Caesarea for two years?

Felix; Acts 24 says he heard Paul's defence, hoped for a bribe, and left him in custody for two years until Porcius Festus succeeded him.

What trade did the apostle Paul practise to support himself on his missionary journeys?

Tentmaker: Acts has him lodge and work with Aquila and Priscilla, who shared the trade, and his letters stress that he laboured night and day so as not to burden his converts.

Which slave-owner did Paul ask to take back Onesimus 'no longer as a slave'?

Philemon; the letter puns on the name Onesimus, 'useful', calling him once useless but now useful to them both, and Paul offers to repay anything Onesimus owes.

Which king of Salem brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram in Genesis 14?

Melchizedek; the Epistle to the Hebrews makes him a model for Jesus' priesthood, 'without father, without mother, without genealogy' (Hebrews 7:3), and Salem is usually taken to be Jerusalem.

Which prophet was told to marry Gomer, an unfaithful wife, as a sign of Israel's infidelity?

Hosea; he named their children Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah ('not pitied') and Lo-Ammi ('not my people') as living prophecies against the northern kingdom (Hosea 1).

Which left-handed judge hid a sword on his right thigh and killed the obese King Eglon?

Ehud (Judges 3); the blade sank in so far that the fat closed over the hilt, then he slipped out and locked the doors, and the servants assumed the king was relieving himself.

Which young man in Acts fell asleep during a long sermon and dropped from a third-storey window?

Eutychus (Acts 20); he was pronounced dead, but Paul embraced him and declared him alive, then went back upstairs and kept talking until daybreak.

Which 13th-century archbishop devised the chapter divisions used in modern Bibles?

Stephen Langton, who divided the Bible into chapters while teaching in Paris; King John barred him from England for years after his election, and he later helped shape Magna Carta.

Which Parisian printer introduced the New Testament's present verse numbers, in his 1551 edition?

Robert Estienne, also known as Stephanus; he printed that edition in Geneva, having fled Paris after years of quarrels with the Sorbonne's theologians over his Bibles.

Which institution holds most of Codex Sinaiticus, the 4th-century Greek Bible?

The British Library holds 347 of its roughly 400 surviving leaves; Tischendorf brought it out of Saint Catherine's Monastery in the 1800s, and the Soviet government sold the bulk to Britain in 1933 for £100,000.

While the first man lay in a deep sleep, God formed the first woman from which part of his body?

A rib taken from the sleeping man is the origin of a stubborn myth that men have one fewer rib than women. Both sexes have the same number.

Which animal did Jesus say could go through a needle's eye more easily than the rich enter God's kingdom?

A camel squeezing through a needle is an impossible picture on purpose. The Talmud uses the same image with an elephant for thoughts too absurd to dream.

Which creatures swarmed out of the Nile into Egyptian beds, ovens and kneading troughs in the second plague?

Frogs overran the country, and Pharaoh's own magicians made things worse by conjuring up a second wave of them. When the animals died, the land stank.

Which bird flew back to the ark with a freshly plucked olive leaf as the great flood went down?

A dove carrying an olive branch went on to become a lasting symbol of peace, a meaning that began with early Christians. The fresh leaf was proof that dry land had returned.

Which woman of the Valley of Sorek was bribed by Philistine lords to learn the secret of Samson's strength?

Delilah was offered 1,100 silver coins by each of the Philistine lords. She needed four tries, because Samson fobbed her off with three made-up answers first.

Which insects, eaten with wild honey, made up the desert diet of the prophet who baptized Jesus?

Locusts were a lawful meal for him. The food laws of Leviticus forbid eating most insects but make an exception for a few hopping kinds.

In what was the newborn Jesus laid after his birth, because there was no guest room available?

A manger is a feeding trough for animals, pressed into service as a makeshift crib. The word comes from the Old French for 'to eat'.

What was the mock crown made of that Roman soldiers pressed onto the head of Jesus before the crucifixion?

Thorns were plaited into a crown to ridicule the claim that he was a king. A relic venerated as that crown was carried to safety from the Notre-Dame fire in Paris in 2019.

Which festival recalls the night Israelite homes marked with lamb's blood were spared in Egypt?

Passover is still kept with flat, unleavened bread. It recalls a departure from Egypt so hurried that there was no time to let the dough rise.

Which instrument did young David play to soothe Israel's first king when a troubling spirit came over him?

Harp playing won David a place at court, where he also served as one of the royal armour-bearers. Many modern translations call the instrument a lyre.

From what did God call to a man grazing Jethro's flocks, telling him to take off his sandals?

A burning bush that blazed without being consumed was where he was appointed to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The sandals came off because the ground was holy.

What did Jacob dream of that reached from earth to heaven, with angels going up and down it?

A ladder to heaven gave English the phrase 'Jacob's ladder'. When he woke, Jacob stood the stone he had used as a pillow upright as a pillar and poured oil over it.

Which animal, caught by its horns in a thicket, did Abraham sacrifice in place of his son Isaac?

A ram took the boy's place, although Isaac had asked on the way up where the lamb for the offering was. 'God himself will provide,' his father had answered.

In the parable Jesus told about two builders, the foolish man built his house on what?

Sand gave way when the rain, floods and winds beat on the house, and 'great was its fall'. The wise builder's house, founded on rock, stood through the same storm.

Which tiny seed did Jesus compare to the kingdom of heaven, growing until birds could lodge in its branches?

Mustard seed was proverbially small, yet the black mustard plant can grow some nine feet tall. Jesus also used the same seed as a measure of how little faith is needed.

Which day of the church year recalls crowds laying branches and cloaks before Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem?

Palm Sunday leaves churches with spare branches, and many burn them the following year to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. The day opens Holy Week.

In which Galilean town did Jesus grow up, a place whose people took offence at his synagogue teaching?

Nazareth was so obscure that the first non-Christian reference to it is a synagogue inscription unearthed in 1962. Jesus said prophets go without honour in their hometown.

Which trade do the Gospels give Jesus before his ministry, in a jibe from offended hometown neighbours?

Carpenter is the usual translation of the Greek word tekton, which can cover building in stone as well as wood. The English word 'architect' comes from the same root.

Which bride was chosen for Isaac after she drew water at a well for a stranger and all his thirsty animals?

Rebekah later carried twins who struggled with each other before they were born. She was told that two nations were in her womb and that the older would serve the younger.

Which first son of Abraham was born to Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid of the patriarch's wife?

Ishmael is honoured in Islam as a prophet and as the forefather of the Ishmaelites. Jews, Christians and Muslims all count him as Abraham's firstborn.

Which youngest son of Jacob had a silver cup secretly planted in his bag during a trip to Egypt?

Benjamin gave French, Polish and Spanish a common noun: a 'benjamin' is the baby of a family, often the favourite. The planted cup was a test of whether his older brothers had reformed.

Which prophetess led the Israelites in the Song of the Sea after Pharaoh's army was destroyed?

Miriam had earlier stood watch over her baby brother as he lay in a basket among the reeds of the Nile. The Talmud names her among the seven major female prophets of Israel.

Which boy serving at the shrine in Shiloh mistook God's voice in the night for the old priest calling him?

Samuel ran to the priest three times before Eli realised who was really calling. Eli then taught the boy to answer, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.'

Which landowner let the young widow Ruth glean grain in his fields and later married her?

Boaz and Ruth had a son, Obed, whose own son Jesse was the father of King David. That makes the couple David's great-grandparents.

Which eldest son of Israel's first king made a covenant of friendship with David, loving him 'as himself'?

Jonathan's loyalty was repaid after he died: David gave Jonathan's son Mephibosheth a seat at the royal table instead of wiping out the old king's line.

Which angel told the priest Zechariah that his elderly wife Elizabeth would bear a son?

Gabriel gave his name only when Zechariah doubted the news. For that doubt the priest was struck dumb, unable to speak until the promise came true.

Which king, outwitted by Magi seeking a newborn 'king of the Jews', ordered a massacre of infant boys?

Herod, called 'the Great', had a record to match the story: ancient writers list the murder of three of his own sons among his misdeeds. Only one Gospel tells of the massacre.

Whose head was on the coin Jesus asked to see when questioned about paying taxes to Rome?

Caesar on that coin was probably Tiberius, the emperor of the day, and the silver piece is now nicknamed the 'tribute penny'. Jesus's reply was to give Caesar what is Caesar's.

In which garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives did Jesus pray on the night of his arrest?

Gethsemane means 'oil press', a fitting name for a spot among olive groves. Jesus and his disciples went there so often that his betrayer knew exactly where to look.

What name do the Gospels give the site of the crucifixion, explaining that it means 'place of a skull'?

Golgotha has an English twin: 'Calvary' comes from the Latin translation of the same phrase. The Gospels only call it a place, but tradition has pictured a hill since at least the 6th century.

Which fisherman brought his brother Simon to Jesus and is called the 'First-Called' by the Orthodox Church?

Andrew, in a later tradition, was crucified on an X-shaped cross, the shape now known as a Saint Andrew's Cross. He became the patron saint of Scotland.

On the mountains of which region does the Bible say the ark came to rest after the great flood?

Ararat in the Bible is a whole region, not one peak: the name matches Urartu, the Assyrian term for an ancient Armenian kingdom. The Latin Vulgate even reads 'the mountains of Armenia'.

By the rivers of which city did the exiles of Judah sit down and weep when they remembered Zion?

Babylon and its rivers reached the pop charts in 1978, when the disco group Boney M. turned the exiles' lament into one of the best-selling singles ever released in the UK.

Which prophet saw six-winged seraphim calling 'Holy, holy, holy' and answered God, 'Here am I; send me'?

Isaiah volunteered on the spot, but a later Jewish tradition gives his story a grim ending. The Talmud says he was martyred by being sawn in two on the orders of King Manasseh.

Which 'weeping prophet' was thrown into a muddy cistern for warning that Jerusalem would fall?

Jeremiah was pulled out of the mud by an Ethiopian named Ebed-Melech. His name gave English the word 'jeremiad', meaning a long, mournful complaint.

Which great city fasted and repented after a reluctant prophet warned it would be overthrown in forty days?

Nineveh was the largest city of the Assyrian empire and possibly the wealthiest in the ancient world. Its ruins lie across the river from the old centre of Mosul in Iraq.

Which two Greek letters form a title of God in the Bible's final book, meaning the beginning and the end?

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used because the New Testament was written in Greek. The title is applied to both God and Christ.

What place name from the Bible's final book, where kings gather for battle, now means any world-ending clash?

Armageddon is named only once in the New Testament. The word is usually traced to 'Mount Megiddo', after an ancient city that saw several of Israel's famous battles.

Which reformer translated the New Testament into German in eleven weeks while hiding at Wartburg Castle?

Martin Luther's translation went on sale in September 1522 and is still known as the 'September Bible'. His complete Bible, with the Old Testament, followed in 1534.

A letter to the church in which Greek city contains the 'love is patient, love is kind' chapter read at weddings?

Corinth got those lines because of a quarrel, not a romance. The chapter was written to settle a divided young church that was squabbling over spiritual gifts.

Which prophet cursed a gang of youths from Bethel who jeered at his baldness?

Elisha's curse was followed by two she-bears coming out of the forest and mauling forty-two of the youths. The mantle he wore had fallen to him from his teacher as a sign of the prophetic office.

Which prophet confronted King David with a parable about a rich man who took a poor neighbour's only lamb?

Nathan let the king grow furious at the rich man in the story, then turned the case on David himself. The rebuke was for taking another man's wife and arranging the husband's death.

To which village were Cleopas and a companion walking when the risen Jesus joined them unrecognised?

Emmaus is where the two finally knew him, at supper, 'in the breaking of bread'. On the road their eyes had been kept from recognising him.

Which Persian king does the Bible call God's 'anointed' for sending the Jewish exiles home to Jerusalem?

Cyrus is the only non-Jew venerated as a messiah in Judaism. His decree let the exiles return and called for their ruined sanctuary to be rebuilt.

Which man was chosen by casting lots to fill the vacant place among the apostles after Jesus's ascension?

Matthias beat one other nominee, Barsabbas, when the lot fell to him. After that single scene the New Testament never mentions him again.

Which seller of purple cloth from Thyatira is regarded as the first Christian convert in Europe?

Lydia was living at Philippi in Macedonia, where she insisted on hosting the missionaries who had converted her. Purple dye was a luxury trade, so she was probably well off.

Which translator, strangled and burned near Brussels, made the first English New Testament from the Greek?

William Tyndale's phrasing outlived him: the scholars who produced the 1611 King James Version drew extensively on his work. He had been seized in Antwerp in 1535.

Which boy king of Judah, crowned at eight, ordered repairs during which a lost Book of the Law turned up?

Josiah was shown the scroll after the high priest Hilkiah found it, and a prophetess confirmed it was genuine. Scholars think it was probably an early form of Deuteronomy.

Which prophet's single chapter of 21 verses, a judgment on Edom, is the shortest book in the Old Testament?

Obadiah's 21 verses make it shorter than any other Old Testament book. In the whole Bible only two brief New Testament letters, 2 John and 3 John, have fewer verses.

What name does Leviticus give every fiftieth year, kept holy with liberty proclaimed throughout the land?

The Jubilee verse 'proclaim liberty throughout the land' is the one inscribed on America's Liberty Bell. Abolitionists quoted it often in their campaign against slavery.