60 Fun Facts About Genesis

Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible; what does its Hebrew name 'Bereshit' mean?

The name is simply the book's first word; the English title comes from the Greek for 'origin'.

Where does the primeval history of Genesis end, before the ancestral history begins?

Chapters 12 to 50 then follow Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

In how many days or stages does Genesis 1 say God created the heavens and the earth before resting?

The rest on the seventh day is the basis of the Sabbath.

On which day of creation does Genesis say God made the animals of the sea and the air?

Land animals and humans followed on the sixth day.

According to Genesis 2, God formed the first man from what?

The first woman was then 'built' from a rib taken from his side.

What guarded the way to the tree of life after Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden?

The forbidden fruit is never identified as an apple in the text; that idea came much later.

A river flowing out of Eden divides into four; which of these is one of them?

The others are the Pishon, the Tigris and the Euphrates.

In Genesis, Cain was a farmer; what was his brother Abel?

God accepted Abel's offering but not Cain's, and Cain killed his brother.

After killing Abel, Cain settled in which land 'east of Eden'?

The name means 'wandering'; he built a city there and named it after his son Enoch.

Who is the longest-lived person in the Bible, dying at 969?

He was the grandfather of Noah.

Who was the father of the man who lived to 969, the longest life in the Bible?

Enoch himself 'walked with God' and was taken without dying; his grandson was Noah.

How long did the rain of Noah's flood fall, according to Genesis?

The waters covered the highest mountains to a depth of 15 cubits.

How old was Noah when he entered the ark?

He took pairs of every clean and unclean animal aboard.

Where did the ark come to rest?

Noah then sent out a raven and a dove; on its third trip the dove did not return.

What did God set in the sky as a sign of his covenant never again to flood the earth?

The same covenant permitted people to eat every living thing but not its blood.

The ark was to be built of which material, named by a word that appears nowhere else in the Bible?

That is roughly 134 metres long, 22 wide and 13 high.

In which land did the people build the Tower of Babel?

God confused their one language and scattered them, and the name Babel puns on the Hebrew for 'to confuse'.

The name Babel is explained in Genesis by a Hebrew verb meaning what?

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1563 painting is the most famous image of the tower.

God told Abram to leave his home in which city and travel to Canaan?

He was descended from Noah through Shem and took his nephew Lot with him.

God changed Abram's name to Abraham; what does the new name mean?

His wife Sarai became Sarah at the same time.

What was instituted as the sign of God's covenant with Abraham?

It was to apply to every male in his household, including servants.

Who was the mother of Abraham's son Ishmael?

Sarah's own son Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old.

How old was Abraham when Isaac was born?

Ishmael was fourteen at the time.

Who stopped Abraham as he was about to sacrifice Isaac?

A ram caught in a thicket was offered in the boy's place.

Abraham bargained with God to spare Sodom if how many righteous people could be found there?

He had talked God down from fifty; the ten could not be found.

What happened to Lot's wife when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom?

Lot and his two daughters fled to the small town of Zoar.

With what did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?

Two angels had visited Lot the night before to warn him.

Where did Abraham buy a burial cave that became the tomb of the patriarchs?

He paid the Hittite Ephron for the Cave of Machpelah, and Jacob was later buried there too.

At what age did Abraham die?

He was buried in the cave of Machpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael.

Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, is described in Genesis as the father of which people?

Their mother Rebekah favoured Jacob; their father Isaac favoured Esau.

Esau sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for what?

He came in from the field famished and agreed on the spot.

Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven while travelling toward which place?

He was on his way to find a wife among his mother's relatives, and named the spot Bethel.

Jacob worked seven years to marry Rachel, but on the wedding night Laban gave him whom instead?

Jacob then worked another seven years for Rachel.

Jacob's name was changed to Israel after doing what?

The struggle lasted all night and left him with a limp.

How many sons did Jacob father, according to Genesis?

They became the ancestors of the tribes of Israel; Joseph was his favourite.

Rachel's handmaid Bilhah bore Jacob which two sons?

Leah's handmaid Zilpah bore Gad and Asher.

Which four sons did Leah bear to Jacob in quick succession?

Rachel, whom Jacob loved more, was at first unable to have children.

What did Jacob's brothers do to Joseph out of jealousy?

Joseph was the favourite of the twelve, and his father had given him a long coat of many colours.

Whose wife tried and failed to seduce Joseph in Egypt, leading to his imprisonment?

In later Islamic tradition she is given the name Zulaykha.

In Pharaoh's dream, lean cows devoured fat ones; how many of each were there?

He read it as seven years of plenty followed by seven of famine, and was made second-in-command in Egypt.

Joseph's Egyptian wife Asenath bore him which two sons?

Both became tribes of Israel in Joseph's place.

What did Joseph ask of his brothers before he died at the end of Genesis?

Moses eventually did so during the Exodus.

Tradition credits which figure with writing Genesis and the rest of the Torah?

Most scholars since the 19th century have preferred the documentary hypothesis of several later sources.

What is the name of the scholarly theory that Genesis was stitched together from several written sources?

It was widely adopted by the end of the 19th century.

The rock band Genesis formed in 1967 at which English boarding school?

Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips were all pupils there.

In what year did Phil Collins join Genesis as drummer?

He only became lead singer after Peter Gabriel left in 1975 and no replacement could be found.

Peter Gabriel's departure from Genesis was announced in 1975 in a statement with what title?

He told the band during the tour for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway that he would leave when it ended.

Which singer replaced Phil Collins in Genesis in 1996?

The resulting album, Calling All Stations, was received so poorly that the band broke up.

Genesis were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in which year?

They have sold somewhere between 100 and 150 million albums.

Which Genesis album, released in October 1973, was warmly received by critics?

Steve Hackett had joined on guitar in January 1971.

What was the name of the 2021-22 tour that reunited Banks, Rutherford and Collins one final time?

They had previously reunited for the Turn It On Again Tour in 2007.

The Greek word Genesis, used as the book's title in the Septuagint, means what?

The Hebrew title Bereshit is simply the book's first word, following the naming convention of the whole Pentateuch.

Genesis is structured around the recurring Hebrew phrase 'elleh toledot', meaning what?

It first refers to the 'generations of heaven and earth' and later introduces the lines of Noah, Terah, Isaac and Jacob.

Which two sons of Jacob slaughtered the men of Shechem's tribe while they recovered from circumcision?

The revenge for the rape of their sister Dinah left Jacob fearing retaliation from the Canaanites and Perizzites.

Sarai's new name Sarah is explained in Genesis as meaning what?

Her half-brother and husband Abram became Abraham in the same covenant scene.

Abraham's other wife Keturah bore children whose descendants included which people?

Abraham took Keturah after Sarah's death and was buried beside Sarah at Machpelah in Hebron.

Which pop impresario named the band Genesis and produced its 1969 debut album?

Like the band, King was a Charterhouse old boy; the album was From Genesis to Revelation.

Which original Genesis guitarist left after recording Trespass in 1970?

His departure opened the door for Phil Collins and Steve Hackett before Nursery Cryme.

Which 1978 Genesis single is described as the band's first major hit?

It came from ...And Then There Were Three..., the first album after Steve Hackett's departure.

Phil Collins hired which Frank Zappa and Weather Report drummer as Genesis's touring second drummer in 1977?

Collins was 'floored' by his playing on the Zappa live album Roxy & Elsewhere; Bruford had declined to return.