60 free Exodus trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Exodus is the Bible's great escape story: a baby in a basket, a bush that burns without burning up, ten plagues, a sea that opens and closes, and a mountain that shakes while the law is given. This quiz covers the whole book, from the store cities of Pithom and Rameses to the finished Tabernacle, plus the people around Moses — Aaron, Miriam, Zipporah and Jethro — who tend to get skipped in Sunday school. The early questions are the ones any Passover guest or Bible-study regular should manage: what the plagues were, why the bread is unleavened, what was written on the tablets. Later ones get harder — the Hebrew name of the book, which craftsman built the Ark, what the wilderness bread was said to taste like, and what became of the calf. A short closing section covers the films and the album that took the name, from Cecil B. DeMille to Bob Marley. Every answer is checked against the biblical text as summarised in standard reference works and each question links to its source.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Exodus is which book of the Bible?
The second
It follows Genesis and picks up with the descendants of Jacob multiplying in Egypt.
Q 02The English title Exodus comes from a Greek word meaning what?
Departure or going out
The Hebrew title is different altogether: Shemot, meaning 'Names', from the book's opening words.
Q 03What is the traditional Hebrew title of the Book of Exodus?
Shemot ('Names')
Each book of the Torah takes its Hebrew name from a word in its first verse; Exodus opens 'These are the names of the sons of Israel'.
Q 04According to Exodus, the enslaved Israelites were forced to build which two store cities?
Pithom and Rameses
Rameses is one reason Ramesses II is the pharaoh most often proposed for the story, though the Bible never names any pharaoh.
Q 05Who found the infant Moses hidden in an ark among the reeds of the Nile?
Pharaoh's daughter
She named him for having drawn him out of the water, and his own mother was hired to nurse him.
Q 06Why did Moses first flee Egypt for the land of Midian?
He had killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew
He hid the body in the sand, but the killing became known and Pharaoh sought his life.
Q 07What was the name of Moses' wife?
Zipporah
She was one of the seven daughters of a Midianite priest, and their first son was named Gershom.
Q 08Moses' father-in-law, the priest of Midian who later advised him to appoint judges, was called what?
Jethro
He is also called Reuel in the text and is revered by the Druze as their chief prophet.
Q 09What was Moses doing when he encountered God in the burning bush?
Tending his father-in-law's flock
The bush was on fire but not consumed, and he was told to remove his sandals because he stood on holy ground.
Q 10On which mountain does Exodus place the burning bush?
Horeb
Horeb is generally identified with Sinai, and the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery still show visitors a bush they hold to be the original.
Q 11What name does God give when Moses asks who is sending him?
I Am Who I Am
The Hebrew phrase is linked to the divine name YHWH, built from the verb 'to be'.
Q 12Because Moses protested that he was not a good speaker, who was appointed to speak for him?
His brother Aaron
The elder brother went on to become the first hereditary high priest of Israel.
Q 13How many plagues did God send on Egypt according to tradition?
10
Oddly, the book never adds them up; the number ten comes from counting the narrative, and Psalms list them differently.
Q 21What is the name of the book read at the Seder meal that retells the story of Exodus?
The Haggadah
The word means 'telling', and the meal itself follows a fixed order — 'seder' means order.
Q 22How many Israelite men on foot does Exodus 12:37 say left Egypt?
About 600,000
Numbers later gives a census figure of 603,550 men aged twenty and up, before women and children are counted.
Q 23According to Exodus 12, how long had the Israelites lived in Egypt when they left?
430 years
Genesis had foretold four hundred years of affliction, and the departure is dated 'to the very day'.
Q 14What was the first plague on Egypt?
The Nile turned to blood
The fish died and the river stank; the Egyptian magicians managed to copy this one.
Q 15Which plague followed directly after the river was struck?
Frogs
They came up into houses, bedrooms and kneading bowls, and when they died the land was piled with heaps of them.
Q 16How long did the plague of darkness last?
Three days
It was a darkness that could be felt, yet the Israelites had light where they lived.
Q 17What was the tenth and final plague?
Death of the firstborn
Egyptian households from Pharaoh's to the prisoner's lost their firstborn, and Pharaoh finally sent the Israelites away that night.
Q 18How were the Israelites told to mark their homes so the final plague would pass over them?
With a lamb's blood on the doorframe
The lamb was to be chosen on the tenth day of the month and sacrificed on the fourteenth, and eaten that night in haste.
Q 19Which Jewish festival commemorates the escape from Egypt described in Exodus?
Passover
It begins on the 15th of Nisan and runs seven days in Israel, eight in most of the diaspora.
Q 20Why is unleavened bread eaten during the spring festival that commemorates the escape from Egypt?
The Israelites left so fast their dough had no time to rise
Possessing or eating leavened food, chametz, is forbidden for the whole festival.
Q 24In what form did God lead the Israelites through the wilderness by day?
A pillar of cloud
By night it became a pillar of fire, so the people could travel at any hour.
Q 25The Hebrew name of the sea the Israelites crossed, Yam Suph, is often translated as what?
Sea of Reeds
That reading has led scholars to look at marshy lakes along the Suez isthmus rather than the Red Sea proper.
Q 26In the crossing account, what natural force does God use to drive the sea back overnight?
A strong east wind
Moses stretched his staff over the water, and the Israelites walked through on dry ground with walls of water on either side.
Q 27Which of Moses' siblings led the women in song with timbrels after the sea closed over the Egyptians?
Miriam
The Torah calls her 'the prophetess', and later she was struck with a skin disease for speaking against her brother.
Q 28What food did God provide each morning in the wilderness when the people complained of hunger?
Manna
It came with the dew and had to be gathered before the sun melted it, and it stopped once the Israelites reached settled land.
Q 29Exodus says the wilderness bread was white like coriander seed and tasted like what?
Wafers made with honey
A double portion was gathered on the sixth day so no one had to collect on the Sabbath, and unlike other days it did not spoil overnight.
Q 30The Hebrew name of the wilderness bread is traditionally explained as a question meaning what?
What is it?
Israelites reportedly asked 'man hu?' when they first saw the flakes on the ground, and the name stuck for forty years.