49 Fun Facts About Bible Trivia for Teens

When David went out to face Goliath, what did he pick up from the brook to use with his sling?

Five smooth stones went into his shepherd's bag after he turned down Saul's armor as untested. He needed only one, which sank into Goliath's forehead.

Moses smashed the first stone tablets after seeing the Israelites worshipping what?

A golden calf was cast from the people's own gold earrings while Moses spent forty days on the mountain. He ground it to powder, scattered it on water and made them drink it.

Genesis gives the measurements of Noah's ark in which ancient unit?

Cubits ran from elbow to fingertip, about 18 inches, which makes the ark well over 400 feet long. Later Noah sent out a raven, then a dove, to see whether the water had gone down.

Jonah tried to run from God rather than preach to which city?

Nineveh heard Jonah's forty-day warning, and the whole city fasted until God relented. Jonah, far from pleased, was angry that it had been spared.

Which king reluctantly had Daniel thrown into the lions' den after Daniel kept praying to God?

Darius the Mede had been tricked by his own officials into signing the decree. He spent the night fasting and sleepless, then hurried to the den at dawn calling for Daniel.

During whose extravagant feast, with the temple's holy vessels used as cups, did a hand write on the wall?

Belshazzar learned from Daniel, the only one who could read it, that he had been weighed and found wanting. He was killed that very night.

Which Jewish holiday celebrates Queen Esther foiling Haman's plot to destroy the Jews of Persia?

Purim recalls a plot that began when Mordecai, Esther's cousin, refused to bow to Haman. Haman ended up hanged on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai.

Who arranged for Samson's hair to be cut while he slept, costing him his strength?

Delilah was bribed by the Philistine rulers and failed three times before Samson told her the truth. Blinded and jailed, he pulled down the temple of Dagon once his hair grew back.

Whose dreams about seven fat cows and seven thin cows did Joseph interpret?

Pharaoh's dreams foretold seven years of plenty and seven of famine, so he put Joseph in charge of Egypt's grain. That famine later sent Joseph's brothers to Egypt to buy food from him.

Which man in Genesis lived 969 years, longer than anyone else in the Bible?

Methuselah was Noah's grandfather, and by the numbers in the Hebrew text he died in the very year of the Flood.

Which chapter is the longest in the entire Bible?

Psalm 119 is an acrostic: each of the 22 Hebrew letters gets a stanza of eight verses, every one starting with that letter. That is how it reaches 176 verses.

What is the shortest verse in the King James Bible?

Jesus wept is John 11:35, just two words in English. In the original Greek it takes three, and 'Rejoice always' in 1 Thessalonians is shorter there.

The tax collector Zacchaeus was too short to see Jesus in the crowd, so what did he do?

He climbed a sycamore tree, and Jesus called him down by name and invited himself to stay. Zacchaeus then promised half of what he owned to the poor.

In John's Gospel, Jesus's first miracle, water into wine, was at a wedding in which town?

Cana's hosts had run out of wine, and Jesus first told his mother his hour had not yet come. He then turned six stone jars of water into wine so good the steward remarked that the best had been kept for last.

What was the name of Ruth's mother-in-law, whom she refused to leave after both were widowed?

Naomi told Ruth to go home to Moab, but Ruth vowed, 'Where you go, I will go.' Ruth later married Boaz and became the great-grandmother of King David.

After God whittled down his army, how many men did Gideon lead against the Midianites?

300 men were all that remained of 32,000 after God sent home the fearful and everyone who knelt to drink. They routed the Midianite camp by night with trumpets, torches and smashed jars.

How much was Judas paid to betray Jesus, according to Matthew?

Thirty pieces of silver came back when a remorseful Judas threw the money down in the temple. The priests would not keep blood money, so they bought a potter's field to bury strangers in.

Saul was struck blind by a light from heaven while travelling to which city to arrest Christians?

Damascus is where the blinded Saul was led by the hand, and where he was soon preaching himself. Later he had to flee the city by night, lowered from its wall in a basket.

Before disowning Jesus three times, Peter had declared he would sooner do what?

Die with him, Peter declared, yet that same night he disowned Jesus three times. When the rooster crowed, he remembered Jesus's warning and broke down in tears.

Which apostle refused to believe Jesus had risen until he could see and touch the wounds himself?

His nickname stuck so hard that any skeptic today can be called a doubting Thomas.

Who is traditionally regarded as the first Christian martyr, stoned after addressing the Jewish council?

Stephen died asking God to forgive his killers, who had left their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. That Saul later became the apostle Paul.

Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000 people starting with what food?

Five loaves and two fish came from a boy in the crowd, John says, and Andrew doubted they could go far among so many. After everyone had eaten, the leftovers filled twelve baskets.

Which friend of Jesus had been in the tomb four days when Jesus called him out alive?

Lazarus had been dead so long that his sister Martha warned there would be a smell when Jesus ordered the stone moved. Jesus had stayed where he was for two days after hearing he was ill.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, which two people walked past the beaten traveller?

A priest and a Levite each crossed to the other side of the road. Jews and Samaritans were generally hostile to each other, which is exactly why Jesus made the Samaritan the hero.

After wasting his inheritance, what lowly job did the Prodigal Son take?

Feeding pigs meant tending animals that Jewish law called unclean. He grew so hungry that he envied the pigs their food, which is when he decided to go home.

The walls of which city fell after the Israelites marched around it for seven days and blew their horns?

Jericho was circled once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh, then everyone shouted. Only Rahab and her family were spared, because she had hidden Israel's spies.

The story of the Tower of Babel explains the origin of what?

Different languages arise when God confuses the builders' speech, so they abandon the tower and scatter. Genesis puns on the name: Babel sounds like the Hebrew balal, to confuse.

In Genesis, what did Abel's older brother Cain do for a living?

Farmer Cain offered crops, while his shepherd brother Abel offered the firstborn of his flock. God favored Abel's gift, and Cain's anger ended in murder.

Which king threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into a fiery furnace for not bowing to his statue?

Nebuchadnezzar had the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, then saw four figures walking unharmed in the flames. The fourth, he said, looked like a son of the gods.

Which prophet challenged the prophets of Baal to see whose god would send fire?

Elijah mocked Baal's prophets, suggesting their god was asleep or away on a trip. He then had his own altar drenched with water three times before fire fell and burned it all up.

King Solomon settled a dispute between two women who each claimed the same baby by suggesting what?

Cutting the child in two was a bluff: the real mother at once gave up her claim to save the baby, which told Solomon who she was.

What does Hebrews say the Ark of the Covenant held besides stone tablets?

Aaron's rod and a pot of manna sat beside the tablets, Hebrews says. Yet Kings reports that only the two stone tablets were inside when Solomon moved the Ark into the Temple.

At Pentecost, what appeared over the disciples as they were filled with the Holy Spirit?

Tongues of fire came with a sound like a rushing wind, and Jews from many nations each heard the disciples in their own native tongue. Some onlookers just assumed they were drunk.

The Book of Revelation opens with John receiving his visions on which island?

Patmos is a small Aegean island where, by tradition, the Romans had exiled John. From there he addresses letters to seven churches on the nearby mainland of Asia Minor.

What did Abraham sacrifice on the mountain in place of his son Isaac?

A ram caught by its horns in a thicket took Isaac's place. An angel had called out to stop Abraham just as he raised the knife.

Job, the man who lost everything and stayed faithful, lived in which land?

Uz was Job's home. Satan wagered that his faith would break once his blessings were gone, and God allowed the test but ordered that Job's life be spared.

What was the second of the ten plagues on Egypt?

The Egyptian magicians managed to conjure even more frogs, which did not exactly help.

What did Moses hold out over the sea so that God parted the waters for the Israelites?

Moses held out his staff and a strong east wind blew all night, drying a path through the sea. At dawn he stretched out his hand again and the water closed over the pursuing Egyptian army.

What did John the Baptist eat while preaching in the Judean desert?

Locusts and wild honey were his food, with a camel-hair coat to match. He was beheaded after telling the ruler Herod Antipas that marrying his brother's wife was unlawful.

What did Lot's wife become when she looked back at Sodom as it was destroyed?

A pillar of salt was the price of ignoring the angels' order not to look behind her. Jesus later turned her into a three-word warning: 'Remember Lot's wife.'

Esau sold his birthright to his twin Jacob in exchange for what?

A bowl of lentil stew was the whole price: Esau came in famished and swore his birthright away before he ate. The trade gave English 'a mess of pottage', a trifle taken in exchange for something valuable.

Which disciple stepped out of the boat and briefly walked on the water toward Jesus?

Peter managed a few steps, then saw the wind, took fright and began to sink until Jesus caught his hand. Of the three Gospels that tell of Jesus walking on the sea, only Matthew's adds this part.

What was twelve-year-old Jesus doing when his parents found him?

Questioning the teachers is how Mary and Joseph found him after three days, and everyone listening was amazed at his answers. He asked why they had searched at all, since he had to be in his Father's house.

Whose donkey spoke after being beaten for refusing to pass an angel in the road?

Balaam beat his donkey three times for swerving before it spoke up and asked why. Only then were his own eyes opened to the angel blocking the road with a drawn sword.

Who was chosen by casting lots to replace Judas Iscariot as the twelfth apostle?

Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas had both followed Jesus from the start, as the apostles required, so lots decided between them. The New Testament never mentions Matthias again.

Praying for a son at Shiloh, which woman was mistaken for a drunk by the priest Eli?

Hannah prayed so quietly that only her lips moved, at a time when prayer was said aloud, so Eli took her for a drunk. She promised the boy to God's service, and he grew up to be the prophet Samuel.

Which couple dropped dead after lying to Peter about money from a land sale?

Ananias and Sapphira secretly kept back part of the price. He fell dead first, and about three hours later she walked in unaware, repeated the lie and met the same fate.

Who dozed off during one of Paul's long sermons and fell from a third-storey window?

Eutychus was picked up dead, but Paul went down, embraced him and said he was alive. Paul then went back upstairs, ate, and kept talking until dawn.

Which left-handed judge killed the Moabite king Eglon with a hidden short sword?

Ehud, being left-handed, could hide the blade on his right thigh, where nobody expected one. He told the king he had a secret message, waited until the attendants were sent out, and struck.