50 free Judas Iscariot trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Judas Iscariot trivia quiz covers the apostle whose name became a byword for betrayal. The easy questions are the ones any Sunday-school pupil knows: how many pieces of silver he took, how he identified Jesus to the arresting party, where the arrest happened and who replaced him among the Twelve. From there it moves through what the four gospels actually say, the two irreconcilable accounts of his death, the potter's field, and the meaning of the name Iscariot. The harder end is for Bible scholars and art lovers: the prophet Matthew names when he seemingly means Zechariah, Papias's grotesque account of Judas's swelling, the roasted chicken that crows in the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Coptic codex that surfaced in 2006, the circle of Dante's Hell named after him, why Leonardo threatened to paint the prior of the convent as Judas, the tree that supposedly blushed and the goat that leads sheep to slaughter. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for Judas, the Gospels' accounts, the Gospel of Judas and the works of art and literature that portray him before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Bible, Twelve Apostles and Leonardo da Vinci quizzes next.
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Q 01For how many pieces of silver did Judas agree to betray Jesus, according to Matthew?
30
Mark also says he was paid, but only Matthew gives the amount.
Q 02How did Judas identify Jesus to the crowd that came to arrest him?
He kissed him on the cheek
The gospels' Greek verb, kataphileo, implies an emphatic, ostentatious kiss.
Q 03In which garden was Jesus arrested after Judas's kiss?
Gethsemane
The kiss came after the Last Supper and led directly to the arrest by the Sanhedrin's police.
Q 04Which two gospels suggest that Judas was possessed by Satan when he betrayed Jesus?
Luke and John
Mark and Matthew instead frame the betrayal as done in exchange for payment.
Q 05According to Matthew, how did Judas die?
He hanged himself
He first tried to return the silver to the priests, who refused it as blood money.
Q 06How does the Book of Acts say Judas died?
He fell headlong and burst open in a field
Peter says Judas bought the field himself with the money, and there is no sign of remorse.
Q 07What name was given to the plot of land bought with Judas's silver?
Field of Blood
Its Aramaic name, Akeldama, is rendered Aceldama in the King James Bible.
Q 08What did the priests intend the field bought with the blood money to be used for?
Burying strangers
It had been a potter's field, and Matthew presents the purchase as fulfilling prophecy.
Q 09Who was chosen to fill Judas's place among the Twelve Apostles?
Matthias
About 120 disciples nominated two candidates and then cast lots.
Q 10Who was the losing candidate when lots were cast to replace Judas?
Joseph called Barsabbas
Peter had proposed the vote to the assembled disciples after praying for God to show his choice.
Q 11What is the most widely accepted meaning of the epithet 'Iscariot'?
The man from Kerioth
The fourth gospel supports it by calling Judas the son of Simon Iscariot; rival theories link it to the Sicarii assassins.
Q 12The name Judas is a Greek form of which Hebrew name, meaning 'praise'?
Judah
It was hugely popular in the first century thanks to the hero Judas Maccabeus.
Q 13Which gospel says Judas kept the disciples' money bag and used to steal from it?
John
The same gospel never mentions the thirty pieces of silver.
In the fourth gospel, what did Judas say had been wasted on Jesus instead of given to the poor?
Q 21The Gospel of Judas, which casts the betrayal as obedience to Jesus, belongs to which tradition?
Gnostic
Irenaeus denounced it as heresy in 180 AD.
Q 22In which language is the only surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas written?
Coptic
It is part of the Codex Tchacos, radiocarbon dated to 220-340 CE.
Q 23Which magazine gave the Gospel of Judas dramatic worldwide exposure in April 2006?
National Geographic
April DeConick later argued the translation was badly flawed, notably rendering daimon as spirit.
After whom is the Codex Tchacos, containing the Gospel of Judas, named?
Expensive perfume
The evangelist adds that he only said it because he wanted the money for the purse he pilfered.
Q 15Which prophet does Matthew name for the thirty pieces of silver, though the passage matches Zechariah?
Jeremiah
Jerome and Calvin both concluded it was simply an error.
Q 16In Exodus 21:32, thirty pieces of silver was the compensation price for what?
A slave
Zechariah calls the same sum a handsome price, which some scholars read as sarcasm.
Q 17Which coins are the leading candidates for the silver pieces paid to Judas?
Tyrian shekels
Their 94% silver made them the coin accepted for temple dues.
Q 18Which early Church Father recorded that Judas swelled so grotesquely he could not pass down a street?
Papias of Hierapolis
He wrote around 100 AD that the stench of the death site lingered a century later.
Q 19In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, what miracle convinces Judas that Jesus will rise again?
A roasting chicken comes back to life
His wife had mocked him that Jesus could no more rise than the bird on her spit.
Q 20Which Christian writer cited Matthew and Acts clashing on Judas's death as a reason to reject strict inerrancy?
C. S. Lewis
Augustine's harmonisation was that the rope snapped and the fall burst his body.
The father of the dealer who bought it
Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos bought it in 2000; by then it had crumbled into over a thousand pieces.
Q 25Which heterodox sect, according to Irenaeus, revered Judas as an instrument of Divine Wisdom?
The Cainites
They saw his betrayal as a victory over the material world of the Demiurge.
Q 26Which day of the week before Easter is nicknamed 'Spy' day because Judas's betrayal is mourned then?
Holy Wednesday
Eastern Orthodox hymns that day contrast Judas with the woman who anointed Jesus.
Q 27In Dante's Inferno, who gnaws on Judas for eternity at the centre of Hell?
Lucifer
Brutus and Cassius, Caesar's assassins, hang from the other two mouths.
Q 28What is the name of the innermost zone of Dante's ninth circle, reserved for traitors to their lords?
Judecca
Its sinners are fully encased in ice and cannot speak.
Q 29What is Judas clutching in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper?
A small bag
It may signify the silver, and he is the only figure leaning back into shadow.
Q 30Whom did Leonardo threaten to use as the model for Judas when the friars said he worked too slowly?
The prior of the refectory
He had been wandering the streets of Milan looking for a criminal's face.