50 free Psalms trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Book of Psalms is 150 songs long, runs from the shortest chapter in the Bible to the longest, and has been sung in temples, synagogues and churches for well over two thousand years. This quiz covers the famous ones — Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Psalm 91, Psalm 119, Psalm 137 — plus the structure of the book, who it is attributed to, the mysterious word Selah, and the composers from Allegri to Bernstein who set the psalms to music. Great for Bible study groups, Sunday school, youth nights or anyone who wants to know the Psalter a little better. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
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Q 01How many psalms are in the Book of Psalms in Jewish and Western Christian Bibles?
150
Eastern churches keep a few more; the Septuagint adds one and some Syriac Bibles run to 155.
Q 02The Book of Psalms is divided into how many "books" or sections?
Five
Each section ends with a doxology; editors probably copied the five-fold division of the Torah.
Q 03Which famous line opens Psalm 23 in the King James Version?
The Lord is my shepherd
The psalm is widely read at funerals and gave English the phrases "valley of the shadow of death" and "my cup runneth over".
Q 04Which psalm, at 176 verses, is the longest chapter in the entire Bible?
119
It is an acrostic: one stanza for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, with every verse in a stanza starting with that letter.
Q 05Which two-verse psalm is the shortest chapter in the Bible?
117
It is so short that St Benedict added a fifth psalm whenever it was used at Vespers.
Q 06What does the Hebrew title of the book, Tehillim, mean?
Praises
The English word "psalm" comes instead from the Greek psalmoi, meaning instrumental music.
Q 07Which figure is named in the superscriptions of the most psalms, 73 in all?
David
Thirteen of those headings tie the psalm to a specific episode in the king's life.
Q 08Which psalm is the only one attributed to Moses in its heading?
90
Its line about a lifespan of "threescore years and ten" is thought to have inspired the opening of the Gettysburg Address.
Q 09Psalm 51, a confession written after the Bathsheba affair, is known by which Latin name?
Miserere
The name is its first word in Latin; the early Church recited it at the close of daily morning service.
Q 10What mysterious Hebrew word appears 71 times in the Psalms, possibly marking a pause?
Selah
Its meaning was already lost to ancient commentators; it also turns up three times in Habakkuk.
Q 11Which psalm opens with the cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me"?
22
The Gospels of Matthew and Mark record Jesus crying out its first verse from the cross.
Q 12In Psalm 137, the exiles hang which instruments on the trees and refuse to sing?
Harps
Asked to sing the Lord's song in a strange land, they will not; the psalm ends with a notoriously violent curse.
Q 13Which psalm does the devil quote to Jesus during the temptation in the wilderness?
91
Verses 11 and 12, about angels bearing you up, are quoted in Matthew 4 and Luke 4; it is known as a psalm of protection.
Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is based on which psalm?
Q 21Whose setting of Psalm 51 did a teenage Mozart famously write out from memory?
Allegri
The story comes from a single letter by Mozart's father, and some scholars doubt it.
Q 22Which group had a 1978 hit with "Rivers of Babylon", adapted from Psalm 137?
Boney M.
The song was written by Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970 and appeared in The Harder They Come.
Q 23Psalm 137 inspired "Va, pensiero", the slaves' chorus from which Verdi opera?
Nabucco
The opera tells the story of the Babylonian exile, which is exactly what the psalm laments.
46
It opens "God is our refuge and strength" and is sometimes called "Luther's Psalm".
Q 15How does the final psalm of the book urge the congregation to praise God?
With music and dancing
It names nine kinds of instruments and has been nicknamed "the musicians' psalm".
Q 16Which psalm begins "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands"?
100
Known as the Jubilate from its Latin opening, it is part of daily Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.
Q 17Psalm 1 opens with which words in the King James Version?
Blessed is the man
Its Latin incipit, Beatus vir, was often painted as a huge decorated initial in medieval psalters.
Q 18In the Bible's longest psalm, how many verses begin with each successive Hebrew letter?
Eight
The number of Hebrew letters times eight verses gives the psalm its 176 verses.
Q 19Which British politician recited the whole longest psalm walking home from Parliament?
William Wilberforce
The walk took him through Hyde Park, which is roughly what it takes to get through 176 verses.
Q 20The sons of which man are credited with eleven psalms in the superscriptions?
Korah
The family name also heads several psalms in the second book of the Psalter.
Q 24Why do Catholic and Protestant Bibles often number the same psalm one apart?
Greek and Hebrew texts split psalms differently
Psalms 9 and 10 in Hebrew numbering are a single psalm in the Greek Septuagint, shifting most later numbers.
Q 25Which extra psalm from the Septuagint also turned up in Hebrew among the Dead Sea Scrolls?
151
Some Syriac Bibles go further and include Psalms 152 to 155.
Q 26Which scholar's form criticism sorted the psalms into types such as hymns and laments?
Hermann Gunkel
He grouped psalms by genre rather than by their place in the book, and added minor types like wisdom and pilgrimage psalms.
Q 27What is the most common type of psalm according to Gunkel's classification?
Individual laments
They usually open by calling on God, pour out the complaint, and end on a note of confidence.
Q 28Psalms 120 to 134 form a group of fifteen known by what name?
Songs of Ascents
They were likely sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem, or by Levites on the Temple steps.
Q 29How many psalms are traditionally counted as the Penitential Psalms?
Seven
They are Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143 in Hebrew numbering; Cassiodorus named the set in the 6th century.
Q 30Which psalm begins "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills"?
121
It is structured as a dialogue, with the opening question answered, perhaps by a priest in the Temple.