Jacob
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50 free Jacob trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Jacob is one of the Bible's great flawed heroes: a younger twin who bargains, schemes and deceives his way to his father's blessing, then spends years on the receiving end of someone else's tricks. His story runs from a struggle in the womb to a state funeral in Egypt, and it explains where a whole people got its name. This quiz follows him through the rivalry with Esau, the flight from home, the long service to Laban, the marriages to Leah and Rachel, the wrestling match in the dark, and the loss and recovery of Joseph. A good share of the questions cover his family: which wife or maidservant was the mother of which child, and what became of them. It suits Sunday school classes, Bible study groups, youth leaders who want printable questions, and anyone curious how well they remember the Old Testament. The early questions are friendly; the later ones reward a close reader.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did a famished Esau accept from his twin Jacob as the price of his birthright?
Lentil stew
Lentil stew, red in color, bought Jacob the firstborn's rights; afterward Esau simply ate, drank, got up and went on his way.
Q 02What did the fugitive Jacob see stretching from earth to heaven in a dream while sleeping outdoors?
A ladder
A ladder, or stairway, with angels going up and down it; from above, God promised Jacob the very ground he was lying on.
Q 03What new name was Jacob given by the mysterious stranger he wrestled on his way home?
Israel
Israel was the name the stranger gave him, explained on the spot as fitting a man who had contended with God and with men and prevailed.
Q 04What did Rebekah put on Jacob's hands and neck so that he would feel like Esau to the touch?
Goatskins
Goatskins did double duty: the two young animals they came from were also cooked into the savory dish Jacob carried in to his father.
Q 05Which part of his twin Esau was the newborn Jacob gripping as he followed him into the world?
Heel
Heel is the word the story ties to Jacob's name, which echoes the Hebrew for it; Esau later quips that the name suits a man who twice supplanted him.
Q 06How many years did Jacob first agree to work for Laban in exchange for marrying Rachel?
Seven
Seven years, which felt to Jacob like only a few days because he loved her; Laban's wedding trick then doubled the bill.
Q 07What gift from Jacob marked Joseph out as the favorite and made his older brothers hate him?
A colorful coat
A colorful coat is the traditional wording; some modern Bibles translate the same rare Hebrew phrase as a long robe with sleeves.
Q 08Which part of Jacob's body was knocked out of joint during his wrestling match with a stranger?
His hip
His hip left Jacob limping, and it is why Jewish law still forbids eating an animal's sciatic nerve.
Q 09How did Esau greet Jacob when the estranged twins finally met again after twenty years apart?
With an embrace
With an embrace: Esau ran to meet the brother who had cheated him, fell on his neck and wept, and at first refused the gifts Jacob pressed on him.
Q 10How many sons did Jacob have, each one remembered as the ancestor of a tribe?
Twelve
Twelve sons, plus a daughter; all but the last were born while Jacob worked for Laban, and the last arrived on the road home.
Q 11What did Jacob use as a pillow on the night of his famous dream while fleeing from Esau?
A stone
A stone served as his pillow, and in the morning Jacob stood it upright as a pillar and poured oil over it to mark the spot.
Q 12Which weakness of the elderly Isaac allowed Jacob to pass himself off as Esau and take the blessing?
Poor eyesight
Poor eyesight left Isaac relying on touch and smell, so he felt his son's hands and sniffed his borrowed clothes before blessing him.
Q 13What did God tell the pregnant Rebekah was in her womb when she asked about her struggling twins?
Two nations
Two nations, she was told, with the older destined to serve the younger, which turned the usual rights of a firstborn son upside down.
Q 21Which son, the oldest of all Jacob's children, was the first child that Leah bore him?
Reuben
Reuben got his name from Leah's hope that a son would win her husband's love; he later lost the firstborn's honors for sleeping with his father's concubine.
Q 22Which daughter of Jacob and Leah was at the center of her brothers' bloody attack on Shechem?
Dinah
Dinah is the only daughter of Jacob the text names, and after the massacre he feared her brothers had made the family hated by all its neighbors.
Q 23Counting wives and maidservants together, how many different mothers bore children to Jacob?
Four
Four mothers shared the family: Leah bore six sons and a daughter, Rachel two sons, and each wife's maid two more sons.
Q 14Which pursuit made Esau his father's favorite, while Jacob stayed quietly among the tents?
Hunting
Hunting put fresh game on Isaac's table, and that taste is the one reason given for his preferring Esau; Rebekah preferred Jacob.
Q 15By local custom, Laban told Jacob after the wedding-night swap, who had to be married off first?
The elder daughter
The elder daughter was Leah, so Jacob woke up married to her and had to promise more years of work before marrying Rachel a week later.
Q 16Which son of Jacob was born on the road to Ephrath as his mother Rachel lay dying?
Benjamin
Benjamin was the name Jacob chose; with her last breath Rachel had called the boy Ben-oni, usually read as son of my sorrow.
Q 17From which son of Jacob and Leah was the royal line of King David descended?
Judah
Judah also gave his name to a kingdom, to the region of Judea and, in time, to the word Jew.
Q 18Which crisis led Jacob to send ten of his sons down to Egypt, keeping only the youngest home?
A famine
A famine had gripped the whole region, and Jacob had heard there was grain for sale in Egypt, where Joseph, unknown to him, ran the storehouses.
Q 19Which patriarch, whose family burial cave later held Jacob too, was the father of Isaac?
Abraham
Abraham bought that cave as a tomb for his wife Sarah, and in time it held three generations of the family.
Q 20Which book of the Bible follows Jacob from his birth to his burial and ends with Joseph's death?
Genesis
Genesis has 50 chapters, and Jacob's life spans the back half: he is born in chapter 25 and buried in chapter 50.
Q 24What did Joseph order Egyptian physicians to do with Jacob's body before the long journey to Canaan?
Embalm it
Embalm it they did, a process that took forty days, and all Egypt went into mourning for the father of its governor.
Q 25What did Rachel steal from her father Laban as Jacob's family slipped away from his house?
Household idols
Household idols, called teraphim, vanished while Laban was away shearing; Jacob knew nothing and swore that whoever had them would not live.
Q 26Whom does Jesus ask for a drink of water at Jacob's Well in the Gospel of John?
A Samaritan woman
A Samaritan woman, who asks him in turn whether he is greater than Jacob, the ancestor who gave her people the well and drank from it himself.
Q 27Near which town, later known as King David's birthplace, did Jacob bury Rachel beside the road?
Bethlehem
Bethlehem, then called Ephrath, is where Jacob raised a pillar over her grave; a shrine revered as her tomb stands at the town's northern entrance.
Q 28Before becoming his father-in-law twice over, how was Laban already related to Jacob?
His uncle
His uncle: Laban was Rebekah's brother, which made Jacob's brides Leah and Rachel his first cousins as well.
Q 29What did Isaac say still belonged to Jacob, even though the hands he was feeling seemed Esau's?
His voice
His voice nearly gave Jacob away, yet the hairy hands won the argument and Isaac went ahead with the blessing.
Q 30What did Jacob conclude had become of Joseph when his other sons brought home false evidence?
A wild beast ate him
A wild beast ate him, Jacob decided, and he refused all comfort, saying he would go down to the grave still mourning his son.