Exodus Trivia
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110 free Exodus trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 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 110 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Exodus is which book of the Bible?
The second
Exodus is the second book of the Bible, following Genesis; it opens with Jacob's descendants multiplying in Egypt and a new pharaoh enslaving them.
Q 02In Exodus 4, what does Moses' staff become when he throws it on the ground?
A snake
At the burning bush God tells Moses to throw down his staff, and it becomes a snake (Exodus 4:3); he flees from it until told to grasp its tail.
Q 03What is the traditional Hebrew title of the Book of Exodus?
Shemot ('Names')
The Hebrew title is Shemot, 'Names', taken from the book's opening verse: 'These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt'.
Q 04According to Exodus, the enslaved Israelites were forced to build which two store cities?
Pithom and Rameses
Exodus 1:11 names Pithom and Rameses as the store cities the enslaved Israelites built; the name Rameses is one reason Ramesses II is often proposed as the story's unnamed pharaoh.
Q 05Who found the infant Moses hidden in an ark among the reeds of the Nile?
Pharaoh's daughter
Pharaoh's daughter found the basket while bathing in the Nile (Exodus 2:5); she named the child Moses and unknowingly hired his own mother 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
Moses had killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:12), hid the body in the sand, and fled to Midian once Pharaoh learned of it and sought his life.
Q 07What was the name of Moses' wife?
Zipporah
Zipporah, one of the seven daughters of the priest of Midian, was given to Moses as his wife (Exodus 2:21); 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
Jethro, priest of Midian, advised Moses to appoint judges over the people (Exodus 18); the text also calls him Reuel, and the Druze revere him as their chief prophet.
Q 09What was Moses doing when he encountered God in the burning bush?
Tending his father-in-law's flock
Exodus 3:1 says Moses was tending his father-in-law's flock in the wilderness when he saw the bush burning yet not consumed and was told to remove his sandals on holy ground.
Q 10On which mountain does Exodus place the burning bush?
Horeb
Exodus 3:1 places the bush at Horeb, 'the mountain of God', generally identified with Sinai; Saint Catherine's Monastery there displays a bush its monks hold to be the original.
Q 11What name does God give when Moses asks who is sending him?
I Am Who I Am
God answers 'I Am Who I Am' (Hebrew Ehyeh asher ehyeh, Exodus 3:14), a phrase built on the verb 'to be' and linked to the divine name YHWH.
Q 12Because Moses protested that he was not a good speaker, who was appointed to speak for him?
His brother Aaron
His brother Aaron was appointed Moses' spokesman (Exodus 4:14-16): 'he shall be your mouth, and you shall be to him as God'; Aaron was three years the elder (Exodus 7:7).
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 Haggadah — the word means 'telling' — is the text read at the Seder; the meal follows a fixed order, which is what 'seder' means.
Q 22How many Israelite men on foot does Exodus 12:37 say left Egypt?
About 600,000
Exodus 12:37 counts about 600,000 men on foot, 'besides children'; Numbers 1:46 later gives a census of 603,550 men aged twenty and up.
Q 23According to Exodus 12, how long had the Israelites lived in Egypt when they left?
430 years
Exodus 12:40-41 says the Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years and left 'on that very day'; Genesis 15:13 had foretold a round four hundred years of oppression.
Q 14What was the first plague on Egypt?
The Nile turned to blood
In the first plague the Nile turned to blood (Exodus 7:20): the fish died, the river stank, and Egypt's magicians matched the feat with their secret arts.
Q 15Which plague followed directly after the river was struck?
Frogs
Frogs came next, the plague of Exodus 8: they swarmed into houses, bedrooms and kneading bowls, and when they died the land stank from the heaps of them.
Q 16How long did the plague of darkness last?
Three days
Exodus 10:22-23 says thick darkness covered Egypt for three days, a darkness 'that could be felt', while 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 to be spared from the final plague?
With a lamb's blood on the doorframe
Exodus 12:7 has each household mark its home with a lamb's blood on the doorframe, the two doorposts and the lintel; the lamb was chosen on the tenth of the month, slaughtered on the fourteenth, and eaten in haste.
Q 19Which Jewish festival commemorates the escape from Egypt described in Exodus?
Passover
Passover (Pesach) commemorates the Exodus; it begins on the 15th of Nisan and runs seven days in Israel and eight in most diaspora communities.
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
Exodus 12:39 says the Israelites left so fast their dough had no time to rise, so they baked unleavened cakes; leavened food, chametz, is banned for the whole festival.
Q 24In what form did God lead the Israelites through the wilderness by day?
A pillar of cloud
God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21), 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
Yam Suph is commonly rendered 'Sea of Reeds' (suph means reeds or rushes), which 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
Exodus 14:21: when Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the Lord drove it back 'by a strong east wind all that night' and turned the seabed into dry ground.
Q 27Which of Moses' siblings led the women in song with timbrels after the sea closed over the Egyptians?
Miriam
Miriam, called 'the prophetess' in Exodus 15:20, took a timbrel and led the women in song and dance; in Numbers 12 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
Manna came with the morning dew and had to be gathered before the sun melted it (Exodus 16:21); Joshua 5:12 says it ceased once Israel ate the produce of Canaan.
Q 29Exodus says the wilderness bread was white like coriander seed and tasted like what?
Wafers made with honey
Exodus 16:31 describes the wilderness bread as 'like coriander seed, white', with a taste 'like wafers made with honey'; a double portion fell on the sixth day for the Sabbath.
Q 30The Hebrew name of the wilderness bread is traditionally explained as a question meaning what?
What is it?
Exodus 16:15 says the Israelites asked 'man hu?' — 'What is it?' — when they first saw the flakes on the ground, and the bread's name is traditionally traced to that question.