119 Fun Facts About Old Testament

According to Genesis 1, on which day of creation did God make the sun, moon and stars?

The sun, moon and stars came on the fourth day, a day after the plants, even though light itself had been made on day one.

God made Eve from which part of Adam's body?

Adam himself was formed from the dust of the ground. God caused a deep sleep to fall on him before taking the rib.

Which son of Adam and Eve is described in Genesis 4 as 'a keeper of sheep'?

Abel kept sheep while his brother Cain farmed, and God's respect for Abel's offering over Cain's led to the Bible's first murder.

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

Methuselah was Noah's grandfather, and by the ages given in Genesis 5 he died in the very year of the flood.

How long did the rain fall during Noah's flood, according to Genesis 7?

The rain fell for forty days and forty nights, but the waters covered the earth for 150 days, and Noah's family spent about a year aboard.

On which mountains did Noah's ark come to rest?

Genesis says 'the mountains of Ararat', meaning the ancient land of Urartu, a whole region rather than the single Turkish peak that bears the name today.

What did the dove bring back to Noah to show that the flood waters were going down?

The first time the dove found nowhere to land; a week later it came back with an olive leaf, and a week after that it did not return at all.

After the flood, what did God set in the clouds as the sign he would never flood the earth again?

The King James text calls the rainbow simply 'my bow', and God makes the promise to every living creature, not only to people.

At the Tower of Babel, how did God stop the people finishing their city?

He confused their language, which Genesis says is why the city was called Babel, and the builders were scattered across the earth.

What was Abraham's name before God changed it, promising he would be 'a father of many nations'?

Abram became Abraham and his wife Sarai became Sarah, and their son Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old.

When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, what did he find caught in a thicket to offer instead?

Isaac had asked where the lamb was, but the animal God provided was a ram caught by its horns in a thicket.

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

She turned into a pillar of salt after the family was warned not to look back, and Jesus later said simply, 'Remember Lot's wife.'

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

Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew, 'pottage of lentiles' in the King James text, and Genesis says he 'despised his birthright'.

In Jacob's famous dream at Bethel, what did he see reaching from earth to heaven?

Jacob saw a ladder with angels on it while fleeing Esau with a stone for a pillow, and he set that stone up as a pillar.

After Jacob wrestled a stranger all night, which part of his body was put out of joint?

His hip was put out of joint, leaving Jacob limping, and Genesis says that is why Jews don't eat the thigh sinew, the gid hanasheh.

Jacob showed that Joseph was his favourite son by giving him what gift?

Jacob gave Joseph the coat of many colours because he was 'the son of his old age', and his jealous brothers later dipped it in goat's blood to fake his death.

Which brother persuaded the others to sell Joseph instead of killing him?

Judah argued there was no profit in killing their brother, so they sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to traders bound for Egypt.

In Pharaoh's dream of fat and thin cows, what did Joseph say the fat cows meant?

The fat cows meant seven years of plenty and the thin ones seven years of famine, so Joseph advised storing grain and Pharaoh made him second in command.

In Exodus, who found the baby Moses in a basket among the reeds of the river?

Pharaoh's daughter found the child, and his watching sister offered to fetch a Hebrew nurse, so Moses' own mother was paid to raise him.

When God first spoke to Moses, what was unusual about the burning bush?

It burned but was not consumed, so Moses turned aside to see 'this great sight', and God told him to take off his shoes on holy ground.

What was the first of the ten plagues on Egypt?

Moses' brother struck the Nile with the rod and the river turned to blood, killing the fish; frogs came second and darkness ninth.

At the first Passover, where were the Israelites told to put the lamb's blood?

They put it on the door posts of their houses, the sign for the final plague to pass over that home.

According to Exodus 14, what did God use to drive back the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross?

Moses stretched out his hand and a strong east wind blew all night, and when the waters returned they drowned Pharaoh's whole army.

What was the name of the bread-like food God sent to feed the Israelites in the wilderness?

Exodus ties the word manna to the question 'What is it?', since the people didn't know what they were looking at, and quail came as meat.

Which is the first of the Ten Commandments?

Christian lists count Thou shalt have no other gods before me as the first commandment, while Jewish tradition makes 'I am the Lord thy God' the first saying.

Which commandment comes with the promise 'that thy days may be long upon the land'?

Ephesians calls Honour thy father and thy mother 'the first commandment with promise'; Protestants and Jews count it fifth, Catholics and Lutherans fourth.

While Moses was on Mount Sinai, who made the golden calf for the people to worship?

Aaron collected the people's gold earrings and shaped the calf with a graving tool. Moses ground it to powder and made the people drink it.

Who is called 'the prophetess' in Exodus 15 and led the women in dancing after the Red Sea crossing?

Miriam was the sister of Moses, and probably the girl who had watched over the baby in the basket, before she led the women with a timbrel.

In the book of Numbers, which prophet was scolded by his own talking donkey?

Balaam's donkey turned aside three times because it could see an angel with a drawn sword that its rider could not, and Balak was the king who hired him.

Of the twelve spies sent into Canaan, which two were allowed to enter the promised land?

Joshua and Caleb urged the people on while ten spies spread fear of giants, and every other man counted in the census died in the wilderness.

How did the walls of Jericho fall in the book of Joshua?

The Israelites marched around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh, and the wall 'fell down flat'.

Where did Rahab hide the two Israelite spies in Jericho?

On the roof, under stalks of flax, Rahab hid them, then let them down the town wall by a cord, and a scarlet thread in her window later spared her family.

Which judge of Israel routed the Midianites with only 300 men, picked by the way they drank water?

Gideon started with 32,000 men, and his 300 surrounded the Midianite camp at night, blowing trumpets and smashing clay jars to reveal torches.

What secret of his strength did Samson finally tell Delilah?

His hair had never been cut, because Samson was a Nazarite from birth, so Delilah had a man shave his seven locks while he slept.

With what unlikely weapon did Samson kill a thousand Philistines?

Samson grabbed the jawbone of a donkey, and afterwards he was so thirsty that God split open a hollow and water came out; Shamgar had used an ox goad.

Which woman is described in Judges as a prophetess who judged the nation 'at that time'?

Deborah gave judgment under a palm tree and summoned the general Barak against Sisera, but the killing blow went to Jael and her tent peg.

To whom did Ruth say, 'whither thou goest, I will go... thy people shall be my people'?

Ruth, a Moabite widow, spoke those words to Naomi, her mother-in-law, after Orpah had kissed Naomi goodbye and turned back home.

Ruth gleaned grain in the fields of which wealthy relative, whom she later married?

Boaz married Ruth, and their son Obed was King David's grandfather, which put a Moabite foreigner in the royal family tree.

Which prophet was the son Hannah prayed for and promised to give to the Lord?

Hannah named him Samuel because she had 'asked him of the Lord', and she left him with the priest Eli once he was weaned.

What did Hannah's son finally answer when God called him at night?

Three times he ran to Eli, thinking the old priest had called, before Eli told him how to reply and he said 'Speak; for thy servant heareth'.

What did the prophet do to Saul to make him the Israelites' first king?

The prophet poured oil on his head from a vial and kissed him, though Saul had only come out looking for his father's lost donkeys.

Goliath, the Philistine champion, came from which city?

Goliath of Gath stands six cubits and a span in the King James text, but the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint make him four cubits and a span.

Where did David's stone strike Goliath?

The stone sank in his forehead, and though David had picked five smooth stones, he needed only one before beheading Goliath with the giant's own sword.

David was brought to Saul's court to do what whenever an evil spirit troubled the king?

Saul was refreshed whenever David would play the harp, yet on a later day, while David played, Saul hurled a javelin at him.

Which son of King Saul became David's closest friend, his soul 'knit with the soul of David'?

Jonathan gave David his robe, sword and bow, and warned him when Saul tried to kill him. Absalom was David's own rebellious son.

How did King Solomon propose to settle a dispute between two women claiming the same baby?

He proposed to cut the baby in two with a sword, but the real mother begged him to give it to the other woman instead, and Solomon knew she was the mother.

Which royal visitor travelled to Jerusalem 'to prove' Solomon 'with hard questions'?

The queen of Sheba arrived with camels bearing spices, gold and precious stones, and told Solomon that 'the half was not told me'.

Which birds fed the prophet Elijah bread and meat by the brook Cherith during a drought?

Ravens brought Elijah bread and meat morning and evening, and when the brook dried up, a widow's barrel of meal and cruse of oil never ran out.

What happened when Elijah prayed over his altar on Mount Carmel?

Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sacrifice, though Elijah had drenched it with twelve barrels of water, and it even licked up the water in the trench.

How did Elijah leave the earth?

He was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind after a chariot of fire parted Elijah from his successor, who took up the mantle left behind.

Which prophet told the Syrian commander Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan to cure his leprosy?

Elisha didn't even come out to meet Naaman, who stormed off saying the rivers of Damascus were better until his servants talked him round.

Which Jewish festival comes from the book of Esther?

Purim takes its name from 'pur', the lot Haman cast to pick the day for destroying the Jews, and Esther's plea to King Ahasuerus turned the plot around.

Which younger man lectured Job after his three friends had run out of answers?

Elihu the Buzite held back because he was young, then spoke for six chapters, yet when God rebukes Job's friends at the end, Elihu goes unmentioned.

Which psalm opens with the line 'The Lord is my shepherd'?

Psalm 23 is traditionally credited to David, who was out keeping his father's sheep when he was sent for and chosen as king.

In the Old Testament, which six-winged beings stood above God's throne crying 'Holy, holy, holy'?

The seraphim used two wings to cover their faces, two to cover their feet and two to fly, and one touched the prophet's lips with a live coal.

Which prophet was told to prophesy to a valley full of dry bones, which then came together and lived?

Ezekiel heard the bones rattle together and watched flesh cover them, a sign that the whole house of Israel, feeling cut off, would be brought back to its land.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to do what?

They refused to bow to the king's golden image, and though the furnace was heated seven times hotter, the king saw four men walking unharmed in the fire.

At King Belshazzar's feast, what mysterious thing appeared and wrote on the palace wall?

The fingers of a man's hand wrote 'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin', which Daniel read as judgment, and Belshazzar was killed that same night.

What did Daniel and his friends ask to eat instead of the king's rich food for a ten-day test in Babylon?

They asked for vegetables and water, 'pulse' in the King James text, and after ten days they looked healthier than the youths eating the king's food.

How long was Jonah inside the great fish that swallowed him?

Jonah had been running from his mission, and Jesus later compared those three days and three nights in the fish to his own time in the grave.

To which 'great city' was Jonah sent to preach?

Nineveh was the Assyrian capital, and Jonah later admitted he fled because he knew God would show it mercy; even its animals wore sackcloth.

Nehemiah left the Persian court to lead which building project in Jerusalem?

Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, and he finished rebuilding the city wall in fifty-two days despite threats from his enemies.

Mahershalalhashbaz, often counted as the Bible's longest personal name, appears in which book?

At God's command Isaiah gave the name, meaning roughly 'hurry to the spoils', to his son as a warning that Assyria would plunder Damascus and Samaria.

Which book closes the Protestant Old Testament, though the Hebrew Bible ends with Chronicles?

Malachi ends the 39-book Protestant Old Testament, while Jews arrange the same books into 24 and finish with Chronicles.

What name is given to the Old Testament books from Genesis to Deuteronomy, which match the Jewish Torah?

The Pentateuch is also called the Five Books of Moses, while the Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation and the Decalogue is the Ten Commandments.

Which book, left out of Protestant Old Testaments, tells of a widow beheading the general Holofernes?

Judith is one of the books that bring the Catholic Old Testament to 46, and her beheading of Holofernes inspired paintings by Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi.

In which city did the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek begin?

In Alexandria, legend says, 72 scholars translated the Torah for Ptolemy II, which is why the version is called the Septuagint, Latin for seventy.

Which scholar translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin for the Vulgate?

Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Latin Gospels, and his later choice of the Hebrew over the Greek Septuagint drew pushback from Augustine.

Which queen hunted down the Lord's prophets and was later thrown from a window and eaten by dogs?

Jezebel painted her face and taunted Jehu from her window before two or three eunuchs threw her down, and dogs left little more than her skull.

Who, after committing the Bible's first murder, asked God 'Am I my brother's keeper?'

Cain was lying as he said it: asked where his brother was, he first claimed 'I don't know'. God then put a sign on him so that nobody who found him would kill him.

After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve covered themselves with leaves from which tree?

Fig leaves made the Bible's first clothes, sewn into aprons. They did not last long: God replaced them with clothes of animal skin before sending the pair out of Eden.

For praying to God in defiance of King Darius's decree, Daniel was thrown into what?

A den of lions was sealed over him with a stone and the king's own signet. Darius spent the night fasting and hurried back at dawn to find Daniel unharmed.

When God offered Solomon anything he wanted in a dream at Gibeon, what did the new king ask for?

Wisdom was his request, 'an understanding heart' to judge the people. God was so pleased that he threw in the riches and honor Solomon had not asked for.

On the Day of Atonement, which animal was sent alive into the wilderness bearing the people's sins?

A goat was picked by lot for the job, and it gave English a word: William Tyndale's 1530 translation called it the '(e)scape goat', which became 'scapegoat'.

God promised Moses a land 'flowing with milk and' what, a phrase Exodus keeps repeating?

Honey may not mean bees: early rabbinic texts read the honey among the promised land's bounties as a thick syrup pressed from dates.

Which woman, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, did King David see bathing from his palace roof?

Bathsheba later became the mother of Solomon. To cover up the affair, David sent her husband back to the war carrying a letter that ordered his own death in battle.

Which city was destroyed along with Sodom when sulfur and fire rained from the sky in Genesis 19?

Gomorrah was wiped out with the whole plain around it. Abraham had bargained God down to sparing the cities if just ten righteous people lived there, but ten could not be found.

In the book of Esther, which official plotted to wipe out the Jews and died on his own gallows?

Haman had built the gallows fifty cubits high for his rival Mordecai. Just before, the king had made him lead Mordecai through the city on the royal horse in honor.

Which manuscripts, found in caves near Qumran, hold the oldest known copies of Old Testament books?

The Dead Sea Scrolls were first found by Bedouin shepherds. They pushed the date of the oldest known Hebrew Bible manuscripts back by more than a thousand years.

Which Egyptian servant of Sarah became the mother of Abraham's first son, Ishmael?

Hagar gave God a name of her own, 'a God who sees', after an angel found her by a desert spring. She had run away because Sarah was treating her harshly.

Jacob worked seven years to marry Rachel, but woke after the wedding to find he had married whom?

Leah was Rachel's older sister, and their father Laban said local custom would not let the younger marry first. Jacob got Rachel a week later, at the price of seven more years' work.

In whose grain sack did Joseph hide his silver cup to test his brothers before revealing who he was?

Benjamin was the youngest, and Joseph's only full brother. When an older brother begged to be kept as a slave in the boy's place, Joseph could no longer keep up the act.

Which tenth and final plague on Egypt at last persuaded Pharaoh to let the Israelites go?

Death of the firstborn came at midnight, from Pharaoh's own heir to the child of the prisoner in the dungeon. Pharaoh sent for Moses that same night and told the people to go.

From which mountain in Moab did Moses view the promised land he was never allowed to enter?

Mount Nebo stands opposite Jericho, the city of palm trees, and from it God showed him the whole land. He died there in Moab, and Deuteronomy adds that nobody knows where his tomb is.

Besides bread from heaven, which birds covered the Israelites' wilderness camp to give them meat?

Quail came again in a later story, swept in from the sea in vast numbers. The people spent two days and a night gathering them up.

Which rebellious son of King David was left hanging when his head caught in an oak tree?

Absalom was praised above every man in Israel for his good looks. David had ordered his captains to deal gently with him, and wept aloud at the news that he was dead.

Which Canaanite god had 450 prophets who faced Elijah in a contest on Mount Carmel?

Baal's prophets called his name from morning until noon and got no answer. Elijah mocked them: perhaps their god was deep in thought, away on a journey, or asleep.

Which king of Babylon, in the book of Daniel, lost his mind and ate grass like an ox?

Nebuchadnezzar was the king whose army destroyed Solomon's Temple. In Daniel 4 he lives out in the open, wet with dew, until his nails grow like birds' claws.

Which book, traditionally credited to Solomon, says there is 'a time to be born, and a time to die'?

Ecclesiastes gave the Byrds a number one hit: almost every word of 'Turn! Turn! Turn!', written by Pete Seeger, comes from its third chapter.

What did Sarah do when she overheard a visitor say she would bear a son in her old age?

She laughed to herself, then denied it out of fear when she was challenged. Her son was named Isaac, which means 'he will laugh'.

Which animal does Leviticus 11 call unclean because it has a split hoof but does not chew the cud?

The pig fails only the second test. The camel is ruled out for the opposite reason: it chews the cud but does not have a fully parted hoof.

Which gold-covered object, topped by two cherubim, did the Philistines capture and then send home?

The Ark of the Covenant brought its captors seven months of trouble: their idol toppled on its face before it and disease broke out, so they sent it back on a new cart.

At the burning bush, what name did God give Moses to pass on to the Israelites?

'I Am Who I Am' translates the Hebrew 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh'. God then shortened it, telling Moses to say simply that 'I AM has sent me to you'.

Which priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, advised him to appoint judges to share the load?

Jethro watched Moses hear disputes alone from morning to evening and warned that he would wear himself out. Moses then set leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

Which Persian king let the Jewish exiles in Babylon go home and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem?

Cyrus also handed back the Temple vessels that had been carried off to Babylon and kept in the house of its gods. His proclamation opens the book of Ezra.

What trusted post did Nehemiah hold at the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes?

Cupbearer meant handing the king his wine in person, so Artaxerxes noticed at once that Nehemiah looked sad, asked him why, and ended up sending him to Jerusalem.

Which 'weeping prophet' was lowered by ropes into a muddy dungeon during the siege of Jerusalem?

Jeremiah sank into the mud at the bottom. An Ethiopian palace official, Ebed-Melech, got him out, sending down old rags to pad the ropes under his arms.

Hiding in a cave on Mount Horeb, Elijah heard God not in wind or earthquake but in what?

A still small voice came last of all, and Elijah wrapped his face in his cloak before stepping out to the mouth of the cave to listen.

Parts of the books of Daniel and Ezra were written not in Hebrew but in which other language?

Aramaic began to replace Hebrew as the everyday speech of Jews during the Babylonian exile, and under the Persian empire it became the language of public life and administration.

According to Genesis 2, what did God do on the seventh day, once the work of creation was finished?

He rested, then blessed the seventh day and made it holy. The Ten Commandments later give this as the reason for keeping a weekly Sabbath.

According to Genesis 2, from what did God form the first man before breathing life into him?

Dust of the ground ties the first man to the soil in a Hebrew wordplay: 'adam', the man, is made from 'adamah', the earth.

What did Moses smash at the foot of Mount Sinai when he saw the Israelites dancing around an idol?

The stone tablets were written on both sides. Moses then ground the idol to powder, scattered it on water and made the people drink it.

In which town did the young David tend the sheep of his father Jesse before he became king?

Bethlehem means 'house of bread' in Hebrew. David was still going back and forth from Saul's army camp to mind the family flock there when he met Goliath.

Noah's three sons were Ham, Japheth and which brother, named in Genesis as an ancestor of Abraham?

Shem gave his name to the word 'Semitic', coined by German scholars in the 1780s for the family of languages that includes Hebrew and Arabic.

Which sea monster does God describe in Job 41, breathing fire and armoured with close-sealed scales?

Leviathan is beyond any fisherman: God asks Job whether he could pull it out with a fishhook, play with it like a pet bird or put it on a leash for his girls.

Which great river does Genesis 2 name as the fourth of the rivers flowing out of Eden?

The Euphrates comes after the Pishon, the Gihon and the Hiddekel, the Hebrew name for the Tigris. The ancient historian Josephus guessed the first two were the Ganges and the Nile.

Which Hebrew password in Judges 12 gave English a word for a custom that marks out one group?

Shibboleth was a life-or-death test at the fords of the Jordan: fleeing Ephraimites could only manage 'Sibboleth', and anyone who slipped was killed on the spot.

In which region of Egypt did Joseph settle his father Jacob and his brothers during the famine?

Goshen kept the family apart from their hosts for a reason Joseph spells out: they kept livestock, and every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians.

Which king of Salem and priest of God Most High brought out bread and wine and blessed Abraham?

Melchizedek received a tenth of all the spoils in return. He fills only three verses of Genesis, yet Latter-day Saints still name one of their priesthoods after him.

Which Greek version of the Hebrew Bible is named after the seventy scholars said to have made it?

The Septuagint is often written simply as LXX, the Roman numeral for seventy. The legend actually counts 72 translators, six from each of the twelve tribes.

Which herdsman from Tekoa wrote the 'let justice roll' line Martin Luther King used in 'I Have a Dream'?

Amos meant it as a rebuke: God says he hates the people's feasts and offerings and wants justice instead. King echoed the verse from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Which untranslated Hebrew word ends verse after verse in the Psalms, its exact meaning now lost?

Selah appears 71 times in the Psalms and three more in Habakkuk. The best guesses are a musical direction or an instruction to pause in the reading.

In which village did King Saul secretly consult a medium on the night before his final battle?

Endor was a risky trip: Saul went in disguise by night because he himself had driven mediums and wizards out of the land. The woman recognised him anyway.

Which king of Judah prayed on his sickbed and was granted fifteen more years of life?

Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would recover and got a strange one: the shadow on the royal sundial moved ten steps backward.

Which woman killed the fleeing Canaanite general Sisera with a hammer and a tent peg as he slept?

Jael had welcomed him into her tent with a show of kindness: when he asked for water she gave him milk and covered him with a rug.

Which left-handed judge stabbed the very fat King Eglon of Moab with a sword hidden on his thigh?

Ehud struck so hard that the fat closed over the blade and he left the sword behind. He locked the doors on his way out, and the servants waited, assuming the king wanted privacy.

Which queen lost her crown for refusing to appear at King Ahasuerus's banquet, making way for Esther?

Vashti was hosting her own feast for the women when the summons came, on the seventh day of a banquet at which the king was merry with wine.

Whose theft of a fine robe, silver and gold from the ruins of Jericho brought Israel defeat at Ai?

Achan had hidden the loot in the ground under his tent. He was singled out step by step, first his tribe, then his clan, then his household, and confessed.

Which king of Israel sulked on his bed and refused to eat when Naboth would not sell him a vineyard?

Ahab wanted the plot as a vegetable garden beside his palace and offered a better vineyard or its price in money. Naboth would not part with his family inheritance.