Kings of Israel and Judah
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50 free Kings of Israel and Judah trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Old Testament gives more space to its kings than to almost anything else, and the story has everything: a shepherd who takes the throne, a kingdom that tears itself in two, palace coups, foreign armies and prophets who say what no ruler wants to hear. This quiz follows that story from the first crown to the last. It covers the united monarchy and David's family troubles, the rival northern and southern kingdoms with their good and bad rulers, and the invasions that ended both. Some questions ask which king did what; others are about the queens, generals, prophets and enemies around them. The questions suit Bible study groups, Sunday school classes and anyone reading through the Old Testament's history books. Every answer comes with a short explanation that adds a detail from the text or from archaeology.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which tall young man, sent to find his father's lost donkeys, was anointed the first king of Israel?
Saul
Saul was found hiding among the baggage on the day he was to be presented as king, though he stood a head taller than anyone else.
Q 02What did the young David try on and then refuse to wear when he went out to fight Goliath?
The king's own armour
The king's own armour, bronze helmet and coat of mail included, was untested in David's eyes, so he took it off and walked out with a staff, a sling and five smooth stones.
Q 03Which king of Israel settled two women's claim to the same baby by ordering the child cut in two?
Solomon
Solomon never used the sword he called for: the real mother gave up her claim to save the child, and that told him whose baby it was.
Q 04King David sent which loyal soldier to die in battle so that he could marry the man's wife, Bathsheba?
Uriah
Uriah carried his own death warrant: David sent him back to the front with a letter telling the commander to leave him exposed in the fiercest fighting.
Q 05Which Phoenician princess married King Ahab of Israel and filled his court with prophets of Baal?
Jezebel
Jezebel was a king's daughter herself: her father Ethbaal ruled the Sidonians, and hundreds of pagan prophets ate at her table.
Q 06Which rebel son of King David was killed after his head caught in the branches of an oak?
Absalom
Absalom was famous for his heavy hair, cut and weighed once a year. David had ordered his commanders to deal gently with him, and wept when the news came.
Q 07Which prophet called down fire on Mount Carmel to defeat the prophets of Baal under King Ahab?
Elijah
Elijah made the test harder for himself: he had the altar and its wood drenched with water three times over before the fire fell.
Q 08Which Babylonian king's army burned the first temple in Jerusalem and carried the people of Judah into exile?
Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem twice: he first carried off its young king and its craftsmen, then burned the city about a decade later after a revolt.
Q 09Which instrument did the young David play to soothe Israel's first king when a dark mood came over him?
A harp
A harp got David into the palace and nearly got him killed there: the king twice hurled a spear at him while he played.
Q 10Which foreign widow, the heroine of her own short biblical book, was King David's great-grandmother?
Ruth
Ruth married the landowner Boaz after gleaning in his barley fields; their son Obed was the father of Jesse, David's father.
Q 11Which prophet, raised at Shiloh by the priest Eli, anointed both of Israel's first two kings?
Samuel
Samuel had warned the people what a king would cost them, from their sons and daughters to a tenth of their flocks, but they demanded one anyway.
Q 12Which prophet confronted King David over Bathsheba with a story about a rich man stealing a poor man's lamb?
Nathan
Nathan let David pass sentence on the rich man in the story before telling him he was that man. The king confessed on the spot.
Q 13Which son of Israel's first king became David's closest friend and warned him to flee with a signal of arrows?
Jonathan
Jonathan was heir to the throne, yet he took David's side against his own father, and later died beside that father fighting the Philistines.
Q 21Which chariot commander, known for his furious driving, took Israel's throne after a prophet had him anointed?
Jehu
Jehu is thought to be the figure bowing before Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk in the British Museum, the only known ancient portrayal of a king of Israel or Judah.
Q 22Which empire conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC and deported its people?
Assyria
Assyria took the capital after a three-year siege and scattered the population across its empire, which gave rise to the legend of the ten lost tribes.
Q 23In 2 Kings, which invading king loses 185,000 soldiers in one night outside Jerusalem and goes home to Nineveh?
Sennacherib
Q 14Which king lost ten tribes after vowing to chastise his people with scorpions where his father used whips?
Rehoboam
Rehoboam had asked two sets of advisers: the elders urged a gentle answer, but he took the hard line of the young men he had grown up with.
Q 15What did the first king of the breakaway northern kingdom set up at Bethel and Dan to rival Jerusalem?
Golden calves
Golden calves were a political move: he feared that subjects who kept going south to sacrifice would drift back to the house of David and kill him.
Q 16King Ahab sulked on his bed and refused to eat after Naboth of Jezreel would not sell him what?
A vineyard
A vineyard beside the palace was wanted for a vegetable garden. Naboth would not sell his family inheritance, so the queen had him framed and stoned.
Q 17Which king of Israel reigned for only seven days before burning the royal palace down around himself?
Zimri
Zimri was a chariot commander who murdered his king during a drinking bout; the army in the field at once proclaimed its own general, Omri, instead.
Q 18Which king of Judah had a tunnel cut through rock to bring spring water inside Jerusalem's walls?
Hezekiah
Hezekiah's Tunnel still runs 533 metres under Jerusalem, and an inscription found inside tells how two teams of diggers met in the middle.
Q 19Which king of Judah took the throne aged eight and began sweeping reforms after a lost law book was found?
Josiah
Josiah tore his robes when the scroll was read to him, then held a Passover grander than any since the days of the judges.
Q 20Who was the only woman to rule Judah, seizing the throne by killing the royal heirs after her son died?
Athaliah
Athaliah reigned for six years, unaware that one infant grandson had been smuggled away and hidden in the temple; his coronation ended her rule and her life.
Sennacherib's own annals boast of shutting Judah's king up in Jerusalem like a caged bird, and record a payment of tribute rather than the capture of the city.
Q 24Which king of Judah reigned for 55 years, the longest reign in the history of either kingdom?
Manasseh
Manasseh is the villain of 2 Kings, yet 2 Chronicles adds a twist: hauled off in chains to Babylon, he repented and was given his throne back.
Q 25King Uzziah of Judah was struck with which disease after trying to burn incense in the temple himself?
Leprosy
Leprosy broke out on his forehead while he raged at the priests who tried to stop him, and he lived apart in a separate house until he died.
Q 26Which infant prince was hidden in the temple for six years and crowned king of Judah at the age of seven?
Joash
Joash was saved by his aunt and raised in secret under the priest Jehoiada, who armed the guard and staged a coup to crown the boy.
Q 27Which Persian king's decree let the exiles of Judah go home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem?
Cyrus
Cyrus also handed back the gold and silver temple vessels that had been carried off to Babylon decades earlier.
Q 28In which city did David rule the tribe of Judah for seven and a half years before taking Jerusalem?
Hebron
Hebron, already revered as the burial place of Abraham and Sarah, was where the elders of every tribe came to make David king of the whole nation.
Q 29Which sacred object did King David bring into Jerusalem while dancing before it in a linen ephod?
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant came in to shouting and trumpet blasts, while David's wife watched from a window and despised him for leaping about.
Q 30King David is traditionally credited with writing nearly half of which book of the Bible?
Psalms
Psalms names David in the headings of 73 of its 150 poems; others are credited to Asaph, the sons of Korah and even Moses.