Book of Nehemiah
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50 free Book of Nehemiah trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Book of Nehemiah is one of the Bible's great leadership stories. A Jewish official at the Persian court hears that Jerusalem lies in ruins, wins the king's backing, and sets out to rebuild the city's defences while neighbours mock, threaten and plot against him. This quiz follows the book chapter by chapter: the request to the king, the secret survey of the ruins, the families and tradesmen who repaired each section in chapter 3, the schemes against the builders, the public reading of the Law, the covenant, the dedication and the hard-edged reforms of the final chapter. Every question comes with an explanation that points back to the text. It suits Bible study groups, Sunday school teachers, youth quiz teams and anyone reading through the Old Testament who wants to check how much of Nehemiah's story has stuck.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Tobiah mocked Nehemiah's builders by claiming which animal could break down their stone wall just by climbing it?
A fox
A fox was Tobiah's insult, yet the wall he laughed at was soon joined together to half its height.
Q 02How long did Nehemiah's builders take to finish Jerusalem's wall, a speed that left their enemies afraid?
52 days
52 days was all it took, and the neighbouring nations lost their confidence, seeing that the rebuilding had been done with the help of God.
Q 03What job did Nehemiah hold at the Persian royal court before he left to rebuild Jerusalem?
Cupbearer
Cupbearer to the king meant handing the ruler his wine, and it gave Nehemiah the chance to ask the king for leave directly.
Q 04What did the labourers carrying loads on Nehemiah's wall hold in one hand while working with the other?
A weapon
A weapon stayed in one hand of every load-carrier, and each builder kept a sword strapped to his side as he worked.
Q 05Complete the line spoken in Nehemiah 8 as the people were sent to feast: 'The joy of the LORD is your' what?
Strength
Strength is the word, and the people were told to eat the fat, drink the sweet and send portions to anyone who had nothing prepared.
Q 06Besides cursing and beating them, what did a furious Nehemiah do to some men who had married foreign wives?
Pulled out their hair
Pulled out their hair is what Nehemiah himself reports, before making the men swear not to arrange such marriages for their children.
Q 07What did the Persian king notice about Nehemiah that made him ask what was troubling his servant?
A sad face
A sad face was new for him at court, and Nehemiah admits he was very much afraid when the king remarked on it.
Q 08Which king of Israel did Nehemiah cite as proof that even a ruler loved by God was led astray by foreign wives?
Solomon
Solomon had no equal among the kings of many nations, Nehemiah argued, and still his foreign wives caused him to sin.
Q 09Nehemiah had Jerusalem's gates shut at dusk and guarded to stop merchants from selling their goods on which day?
The Sabbath
The Sabbath was being treated as a market day, and traders who camped outside the wall left only when Nehemiah threatened to lay hands on them.
Q 10Which priest and scribe read the Law of Moses aloud to the people of Jerusalem from early morning until midday?
Ezra
Ezra read while Levites explained the text to the people, so that everyone understood what was being read.
Q 11In which Persian royal city was Nehemiah serving when travellers from Judah brought news of Jerusalem's ruin?
Susa
Susa is where the book opens, and the report that Jerusalem's wall lay broken left Nehemiah mourning and fasting for days.
Q 12Which king gave his servant Nehemiah leave to travel to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem?
Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes granted every request, which Nehemiah put down to the good hand of his God being upon him.
Q 13Pleading with the Persian king, Nehemiah called ruined Jerusalem the city of his ancestors' what?
Tombs
Tombs of his fathers was the phrase, and Nehemiah used it twice without once naming Jerusalem to the king.
Q 21Which entrance to Jerusalem did the high priest and his fellow priests rebuild first in Nehemiah 3?
The Sheep Gate
The Sheep Gate went up first, and the priests consecrated their stretch as far as the tower of Hammeah and the tower of Hananel.
Q 22Nobles from which town are singled out in Nehemiah 3 for refusing to join the repairs their townsmen carried out?
Tekoa
Tekoa's ordinary townsmen made up for their nobles by repairing two separate sections of the wall.
Q 23Shallum, ruler of half of Jerusalem's district, repaired part of Nehemiah's wall alongside which relatives?
His daughters
His daughters are the only women mentioned in the chapter's long roll of repair teams.
Q 14Who does Nehemiah mention was sitting beside the Persian king when he asked permission to rebuild Jerusalem?
The queen
The queen was seated next to the king as he asked how long the journey would take and when Nehemiah would be back.
Q 15What did Nehemiah do in the moment after the Persian king asked him to name his request?
Prayed to God
Prayed to God is all he had time for, and his next words asked the king to send him to Judah to rebuild.
Q 16What did the Persian king send with Nehemiah on the road to Judah, besides letters for the regional officials?
Officers and horsemen
Officers and horsemen rode with him, and word of his arrival deeply displeased Tobiah, who resented anyone coming to help Israel.
Q 17Three days after reaching Jerusalem, when did Nehemiah ride out with a few men to inspect the ruined walls?
At night
At night he rode out through the Valley Gate, telling no one what he planned, on the only animal in the party.
Q 18According to the report that left Nehemiah mourning for days, what had happened to the gates of Jerusalem?
Burned with fire
Burned with fire, the travellers told him, and the survivors in the province were living in great trouble and disgrace.
Q 19Which Horonite led the opposition to Nehemiah, mocking 'these feeble Jews' before the army of Samaria?
Sanballat
Sanballat jeered that the builders hoped to finish in a day and to bring stones back to life from heaps of rubble.
Q 20According to Nehemiah, the wall quickly rose to half its height because the people had what?
A mind to work
A mind to work is the phrase, and the progress so angered neighbouring peoples that they plotted to attack Jerusalem.
Q 24Besides priests and district rulers, which tradesmen does Nehemiah 3 name among those repairing Jerusalem's wall?
Goldsmiths and perfumers
Goldsmiths and perfumers are listed side by side, and merchants helped repair the final stretch back to the starting point.
Q 25With his builders spread far apart along the wall, what signal did Nehemiah arrange to rally them to one spot?
A trumpet blast
A trumpet blast meant danger, and the man who sounded it stayed at Nehemiah's side throughout the building.
Q 26During a famine, which practice did an angry Nehemiah order Judah's nobles to stop using on fellow Jews?
Charging interest
Charging interest was squeezing families who had already pledged fields, vineyards and homes to buy grain, and the nobles swore before the priests to give everything back.
Q 27Unlike earlier rulers of Judah, what did Nehemiah refuse to take from the people during his twelve years in charge?
His food allowance
His food allowance went unclaimed because the burden on the people was already heavy, even though 150 Jews and officials ate at his table.
Q 28Which office did Nehemiah hold in the land of Judah for twelve years by appointment of the Persian king?
Governor
Governor of Judah from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of the king's reign, he then went back to the Persian court for a time.
Q 29Where did Nehemiah's enemies ask to meet when he answered that he was 'doing a great work' and could not come?
The plain of Ono
The plain of Ono invitation came four times and got the same refusal each time, since Nehemiah was sure they meant to harm him.
Q 30An unsealed letter to Nehemiah warned of rumours that he was fortifying Jerusalem in order to do what?
Make himself king
Make himself king is what the letter said he planned, adding that prophets were already proclaiming him; Nehemiah replied that it was all invented.