Old Testament Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
8correct to beat the crowd
119 free Old Testament trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Old Testament trivia for youth quiz walks through the whole story from Genesis to the last of the prophets: creation and the flood, Abraham and Joseph, Moses and the plagues, the judges, the kings, the exile, and the prophets who spoke through it all. It is written for youth groups, Sunday school classes, confirmation students and families, so most questions can be answered by anyone who has heard the stories, and a handful at the end will stretch even the leaders. The questions cover the people (who was renamed Israel, who hid the spies, who was fed by ravens), the numbers (how many days of rain, how many men in Gideon's army, how old was Josiah when he was crowned), and the moments everyone remembers: the burning bush, the walls of Jericho, the sling and the stone, the fiery furnace, the lions' den and the great fish. Every answer is checked against the King James text, and each question shows the exact verse it comes from, so you can open the passage and read it aloud. Use it as a warm-up round, a family competition, or a way to see which stories your group knows cold and which ones are worth teaching next.
30 of 119 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01According to Genesis 1, on which day of creation did God make the sun, moon and stars?
The fourth day
The sun, moon and stars came on the fourth day, a day after the plants, even though light itself had been made on day one.
Q 02God made Eve from which part of Adam's body?
A rib
Adam himself was formed from the dust of the ground. God caused a deep sleep to fall on him before taking the rib.
Q 03Which son of Adam and Eve is described in Genesis 4 as 'a keeper of sheep'?
Abel
Abel kept sheep while his brother Cain farmed, and God's respect for Abel's offering over Cain's led to the Bible's first murder.
Q 04Who is the longest-lived person in the Bible, dying at 969 years old?
Methuselah
Methuselah was Noah's grandfather, and by the ages given in Genesis 5 he died in the very year of the flood.
Q 05How long did the rain fall during Noah's flood, according to Genesis 7?
Forty days and forty nights
The rain fell for forty days and forty nights, but the waters covered the earth for 150 days, and Noah's family spent about a year aboard.
Q 06On which mountains did Noah's ark come to rest?
Ararat
Genesis says 'the mountains of Ararat', meaning the ancient land of Urartu, a whole region rather than the single Turkish peak that bears the name today.
Q 07What did the dove bring back to Noah to show that the flood waters were going down?
An olive leaf
The first time the dove found nowhere to land; a week later it came back with an olive leaf, and a week after that it did not return at all.
Q 08After the flood, what did God set in the clouds as the sign he would never flood the earth again?
A rainbow
The King James text calls the rainbow simply 'my bow', and God makes the promise to every living creature, not only to people.
Q 09At the Tower of Babel, how did God stop the people finishing their city?
He confused their language
He confused their language, which Genesis says is why the city was called Babel, and the builders were scattered across the earth.
Q 10What was Abraham's name before God changed it, promising he would be 'a father of many nations'?
Abram
Abram became Abraham and his wife Sarai became Sarah, and their son Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old.
Q 11When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, what did he find caught in a thicket to offer instead?
A ram
Isaac had asked where the lamb was, but the animal God provided was a ram caught by its horns in a thicket.
Q 12What happened to Lot's wife when she looked back at Sodom?
She turned into a pillar of salt
She turned into a pillar of salt after the family was warned not to look back, and Jesus later said simply, 'Remember Lot's wife.'
Q 13Esau sold his birthright to his twin brother Jacob in exchange for what?
A bowl of lentil stew
Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew, 'pottage of lentiles' in the King James text, and Genesis says he 'despised his birthright'.
Q 21What was the first of the ten plagues on Egypt?
The river turned to blood
Moses' brother struck the Nile with the rod and the river turned to blood, killing the fish; frogs came second and darkness ninth.
Q 22At the first Passover, where were the Israelites told to put the lamb's blood?
On the door posts of their houses
They put it on the door posts of their houses, the sign for the final plague to pass over that home.
Q 23According to Exodus 14, what did God use to drive back the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross?
A strong east wind
Q 14In Jacob's famous dream at Bethel, what did he see reaching from earth to heaven?
A ladder with angels on it
Jacob saw a ladder with angels on it while fleeing Esau with a stone for a pillow, and he set that stone up as a pillar.
Q 15After Jacob wrestled a stranger all night, which part of his body was put out of joint?
His hip
His hip was put out of joint, leaving Jacob limping, and Genesis says that is why Jews don't eat the thigh sinew, the gid hanasheh.
Q 16Jacob showed that Joseph was his favourite son by giving him what gift?
A coat of many colours
Jacob gave Joseph the coat of many colours because he was 'the son of his old age', and his jealous brothers later dipped it in goat's blood to fake his death.
Q 17Which brother persuaded the others to sell Joseph instead of killing him?
Judah
Judah argued there was no profit in killing their brother, so they sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to traders bound for Egypt.
Q 18In Pharaoh's dream of fat and thin cows, what did Joseph say the fat cows meant?
Seven years of plenty
The fat cows meant seven years of plenty and the thin ones seven years of famine, so Joseph advised storing grain and Pharaoh made him second in command.
Q 19In Exodus, who found the baby Moses in a basket among the reeds of the river?
Pharaoh's daughter
Pharaoh's daughter found the child, and his watching sister offered to fetch a Hebrew nurse, so Moses' own mother was paid to raise him.
Q 20When God first spoke to Moses, what was unusual about the burning bush?
It burned but was not consumed
It burned but was not consumed, so Moses turned aside to see 'this great sight', and God told him to take off his shoes on holy ground.
Moses stretched out his hand and a strong east wind blew all night, and when the waters returned they drowned Pharaoh's whole army.
Q 24What was the name of the bread-like food God sent to feed the Israelites in the wilderness?
Manna
Exodus ties the word manna to the question 'What is it?', since the people didn't know what they were looking at, and quail came as meat.
Q 25Which is the first of the Ten Commandments?
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Christian lists count Thou shalt have no other gods before me as the first commandment, while Jewish tradition makes 'I am the Lord thy God' the first saying.
Q 26Which commandment comes with the promise 'that thy days may be long upon the land'?
Honour thy father and thy mother
Ephesians calls Honour thy father and thy mother 'the first commandment with promise'; Protestants and Jews count it fifth, Catholics and Lutherans fourth.
Q 27While Moses was on Mount Sinai, who made the golden calf for the people to worship?
Aaron
Aaron collected the people's gold earrings and shaped the calf with a graving tool. Moses ground it to powder and made the people drink it.
Q 28Who is called 'the prophetess' in Exodus 15 and led the women in dancing after the Red Sea crossing?
Miriam
Miriam was the sister of Moses, and probably the girl who had watched over the baby in the basket, before she led the women with a timbrel.
Q 29In the book of Numbers, which prophet was scolded by his own talking donkey?
Balaam
Balaam's donkey turned aside three times because it could see an angel with a drawn sword that its rider could not, and Balak was the king who hired him.
Q 30Of the twelve spies sent into Canaan, which two were allowed to enter the promised land?
Joshua and Caleb
Joshua and Caleb urged the people on while ten spies spread fear of giants, and every other man counted in the census died in the wilderness.