100 Fun Facts About Prophets

What does 'minor' mean in 'Minor Prophets', a label as old as Augustine for Hosea, Nahum and ten other books?

Their length is all 'minor' means: Augustine wrote that the short prophetic books were called minor 'from the brevity of their writings', not their weight. Nahum runs to three chapters; Isaiah runs to sixty-six.

Which prophet's line 'let justice roll down like waters' did Martin Luther King Jr. echo in 'I Have a Dream'?

Amos, a herdsman from Tekoa, aimed the line at worshippers whose feasts and songs God refused to hear while justice was missing; King's 1963 speech made it 'until justice rolls down like waters'.

Which phrase from Isaiah 2:4 is carved on a granite wall facing the United Nations headquarters in New York?

Swords into plowshares is cut into the Isaiah Wall of Ralph Bunche Park, across First Avenue from the UN; in 1959 the Soviet Union gave the UN a bronze of a man hammering a sword into a plough.

Which animals mauled forty-two youths who jeered at Elisha as 'baldhead' on the road in 2 Kings 2?

Bears, two she-bears from the woods, mauled the youths of Bethel after Elisha turned and cursed them in the name of the Lord, soon after he took up Elijah's fallen mantle.

What did Nebuchadnezzar eat during the seven 'times' of madness that Daniel foretold?

Grass 'like an ox' was the king's diet after Daniel read his dream of a felled tree, and Daniel 4 says his reason returned only when he lifted his eyes to heaven and praised the Most High.

What is set out for the prophet Elijah at a Passover seder, where the door is opened for him to enter?

A cup of wine, a fifth beyond the seder's four, is poured for Elijah: the rabbis could not settle whether a fifth cup was owed, so the question was left for the prophet to answer on his return.

On which Jewish holy day is the whole Book of Jonah read aloud in synagogue as the afternoon haftarah?

Yom Kippur afternoon brings Jonah to synagogue because a whole pagan city repented and was forgiven, the day's own theme of turning back.

In Surah an-Naml, which bird brings Sulayman news of a southern queen whose court worships the sun?

The hoopoe, missed at Sulayman's roll-call of the birds, returns with news of Saba's sun-worshipping queen, and he sends it back with a letter calling her to submit.

In Surah Hud, who refuses to board Nuh's ark, vowing to take refuge on a mountain, and drowns?

His son drowned with those who denied Nuh's warning, a loss the Quran tells and Genesis, where all three of Noah's sons board, does not.

In Surah Al Imran, Isa shapes a bird from what, then breathes into it so that it lives by God's leave?

Clay is the stuff of the bird Isa fashions in Quran 3:49, one of the miracles the Quran grants Jesus along with speaking from the cradle in his mother's defence.

Which prophet told David his 'house' would be a dynasty, as he would not be the one to build the temple?

Nathan first told David to go ahead, then returned with the oracle of 2 Samuel 7: the king who lived in cedar while the Ark sat in a tent would get a dynasty instead, and Nathan later anointed Solomon with Zadok the priest.

Which prophet names Bethlehem, 'little among the thousands of Judah', as the birthplace of a future ruler?

Micah of Moresheth, a contemporary of Isaiah, wrote the verse Matthew's Gospel quotes when Herod's scribes are asked where the Messiah is to be born.

Which six-winged beings cry 'Holy, holy, holy' around the throne in Isaiah's temple vision?

Seraphim appear as heavenly beings only here in the Hebrew Bible: each has six wings, two covering the face, two the feet, two for flight, and one touches a burning coal to Isaiah's lips to purge his guilt.

Peter's Pentecost sermon quotes which prophet's promise that God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh?

Joel's promise that 'your sons and your daughters shall prophesy' follows his lament over a locust plague and drought; Peter opens with it to explain the disciples' speaking in tongues to the Jerusalem crowd.

Which prophetic book, a single chapter of 21 verses against Edom, is the shortest in the Hebrew Bible?

Obadiah condemns Edom for standing aside and gloating while strangers cast lots for Jerusalem, a betrayal of its 'brother Jacob', and promises that the same will be done to Edom.

In Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue, which Daniel read as four successive kingdoms, the head was of which metal?

Gold for the head, then silver, bronze and iron: Daniel tells the king 'you are the head of gold', and a stone cut without hands shatters the whole figure.

Which archangel does Daniel 12 call 'the great prince who protects your people', the guardian of Israel?

Michael is named in Daniel 10 too, fighting the 'prince of Persia' beside the angel who speaks to Daniel; Jewish tradition made him the guardian angel of Israel.

John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees who came out to his baptism a 'brood of' what?

Vipers, in Matthew 3:7, are what John sees in the religious elite coming out to the wilderness, and he tells them to 'bear fruit worthy of repentance' rather than trust their ancestry.

Which prophet's image of a king 'lowly, and riding on a donkey' do the Gospels quote on Palm Sunday?

Zechariah wrote the verse Matthew cites as Jesus rides into Jerusalem, and his later chapters gave the Gospels the thirty pieces of silver thrown to the potter, a line Matthew credits to Jeremiah.

Which name does the Quran give John the Baptist, the son granted to the aged Zakariya in Surah Maryam?

Yahya is John, a name the Quran says no one had borne before; when his aged father Zakariya asked for a sign, he was told he would not speak to anyone for three nights.

Which title does the Hebrew Bible give the single scroll that holds Hosea, Nahum, Haggai and the other minor prophets?

The Twelve closes the Prophets as a single book, which is one reason a Tanakh counts 24 books where a Protestant Old Testament finds 39 in the same text.

Who is the first person Genesis calls a prophet, when God warns King Abimelech of Gerar in a dream?

Abraham is called a navi in Genesis 20:7, where Abimelech, who has taken Abraham's wife into his household, is told 'he is a prophet, and he will pray for you'; Islam honours him as Khalilullah, the friend of God.

Which epithet of Muhammad, meaning 'the Chosen One', is also a common given name across the Muslim world?

Mustafa, 'the Chosen One', is one of dozens of honorifics for the Prophet, whose own name appears just four times in the Quran; Muslims customarily follow any mention of him with a blessing of peace.

Toward which port did Jonah sail from Joppa, in the opposite direction from the city he had been sent to?

Tarshish lay the wrong way entirely from Jonah's assignment; the storm, the casting of lots and the great fish followed, and the book never says whether the prophet learned his lesson.

Which prophet does the Quran call Dhul-Nun, 'the one of the fish', in Surah al-Anbiya?

Yunus is Jonah, and the tenth surah carries his name; 'companion of the fish' returns in 68:48, where Muhammad is told to be patient and not to be like the prophet who went off in anger.

Elijah the Tishbite, who announced a drought to King Ahab, came from which region east of the Jordan?

Gilead, the hill country across the Jordan, is where 1 Kings 17 places Tishbe, and Elijah steps from it into the story with no ancestry or introduction, already telling Ahab there will be no rain.

Isaiah dates his vision of the Lord enthroned in the temple to the death-year of which king of Judah?

Uzziah's death, in the mid-eighth century BCE, dates the call in which Isaiah cries that he is 'a man of unclean lips', then answers 'Whom shall I send?' with 'Here am I. Send me!'

What is the fire commanded to be, in Surah al-Anbiya, when Ibrahim's idol-worshipping people cast him in?

Cool and safe is the command of Quran 21:69, 'O fire! Be coolness and safety for Ibrahim', after his people cried 'Burn him'; he had smashed their idols and left only the largest standing.

What borrowed object did Elisha make float after it sank in the Jordan, by throwing in a stick?

An axe head flew off as the company of prophets cut timber for a bigger meeting place, and the man cried out because it was borrowed; Elisha 'made the iron float'.

What happened to a dead man thrown into Elisha's tomb by mourners fleeing Moabite raiders?

He revived and stood up on his feet the moment he touched Elisha's bones, a miracle worked by a prophet already dead, and the last of the many credited to Elisha.

As Isaiah foretold, which Assyrian king's siege of Jerusalem ended with 185,000 of his men dead in a night?

Sennacherib's own annals boast of trapping Hezekiah in Jerusalem 'like a caged bird' but never claim the city; 2 Kings 19 says the angel of the Lord struck his camp by night and he went home.

What branch did Jeremiah see in his first vision, a Hebrew pun on God 'watching' to fulfil his word?

Almond is shaqed in Hebrew and 'watching' is shoqed: a tree that blossoms as early as January became Jeremiah's sign that God was awake to his word, paired with a boiling pot tilting from the north.

Whose death did God forbid Ezekiel to mourn, as a sign to the exiles, in Ezekiel 24?

His wife, 'the delight of your eyes', died the evening after the word came, and Ezekiel was told to keep his turban on and shed no tears, as a sign that the exiles were not to mourn when Jerusalem's temple fell.

Which name, meaning 'not my people', did Hosea give his third child as a verdict on Israel?

Lo-Ammi followed a sister, Lo-Ruhamah, 'not pitied', and a brother, Jezreel, named for a massacre; Hosea's children were walking sermons, and the book later reverses both names into 'my people' and 'pitied'.

Which prophetess did King Josiah's officials consult when a book of the law turned up during temple repairs?

Huldah, married to the keeper of the wardrobe, lived in Jerusalem's New Quarter; she authenticated the scroll, foretold disaster for Judah, and promised Josiah he would be buried in peace first.

Thamud sealed their doom in the Quran by hamstringing which animal sent to the prophet Salih as a sign?

A she-camel, to be left to graze and to drink by turns with the tribe, was the Thamud's test; they cut her down, Salih gave them three days, and the city was destroyed.

To which people, traders who cheated in weights and measures, was the prophet Shu'ayb sent in the Quran?

Midian, Madyan in the Quran, is also where Moses took refuge; its leaders threatened to drive Shu'ayb out for preaching fair measure, and an earthquake left them dead in their homes.

Surah 54 opens with which heavenly body split in two, a sign tradition ties to Meccan demands for a miracle?

The moon gives Surah 54 its name, al-Qamar; many commentators read a literal miracle worked when the Meccans demanded a sign, while others take the verse as a figure of speech.

In Surah as-Saff, Jesus foretells a messenger who will come after him bearing which name?

Ahmad appears once in the Quran, at 61:6, where Isa tells the Children of Israel of a messenger to come 'whose name is Ahmad'; some Muslim scholars have read him as the Paraclete promised in John's Gospel.

Which Cushite court official pulled Jeremiah out of a muddy cistern with ropes and old rags during the siege?

Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian in King Zedekiah's service, got thirty men to haul the prophet up before he starved in the mud, and Jeremiah 39 promises him he will survive the fall of the city for it.

Which rival prophet snapped the yoke Jeremiah wore as a sign of Babylon's rule, and died within the year?

Hananiah promised the exiles home within two years and snapped the yoke off Jeremiah's neck; Jeremiah replied that God would replace wood with iron, and that Hananiah would be dead that year, which he was, in the seventh month.

Daniel's vision of the ram and the goat is set by the Ulai canal in Susa, citadel of which province?

Elam, in what is now western Iran, held Susa, later a Persian royal city; Gabriel explains the vision as Media-Persia overrun by Greece, whose 'great horn' is broken at the height of its power.

Which servant of Elisha was struck with leprosy after chasing a cured Syrian commander for silver?

Gehazi lied that his master had sent him for the gifts Elisha had refused, and the commander's leprosy clung to him 'and to your descendants forever'; he reappears later telling the king of Elisha's wonders.

Which prophet in Acts bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt to act out the apostle's coming arrest?

Agabus had already foretold a famine under Claudius in Acts 11; at Caesarea he took Paul's belt and declared that its owner would be bound in Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles.

Which people were destroyed by a violent wind for rejecting the prophet Hud, whose name titles Surah 11?

'Ad are linked in the Quran with 'Iram of the pillars' and were levelled by a wind that left only their dwellings to be seen; a ruin at Shisr in Oman, announced in 1992 as the lost city, is still disputed.

In the 'Hadith of Gabriel', a stranger in white asks Muhammad to define Islam, iman and which third term?

Ihsan, worshipping God 'as if you are seeing Him', completes the trio; Umar recalls the companions' amazement that the stranger asked each question and then pronounced the answer true, before he was named as Gabriel.

In 'Bel and the Dragon', which prophet is flown by an angel from Judea to feed Daniel in Babylon?

Habakkuk, carrying stew to the reapers, is told to take it to Daniel instead and protests that he has never seen Babylon, so the angel lifts him there; the tale is a Greek addition to Daniel kept in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles.

Which baptising faith of southern Iraq and Iran holds John the Baptist as its greatest and final prophet?

Mandaeism, practised along the Tigris, Euphrates and Karun, ranks John above every prophet since Adam and does not count Moses or Jesus among its prophets at all.

At which shrine, home of the ark, was the boy Samuel lying down under Eli's care when the Lord first called him?

Shiloh, where 'the Lord continued to appear' to Samuel, housed the ark until the Philistines captured it in Eli's old age; the boy ran to Eli three times before the old priest realised who was calling.

Which Quranic prophet, 'raised to a high place' in Surah Maryam, is identified by Islamic tradition with Enoch?

Idris is traditionally matched with the Enoch whom Genesis says 'walked with God' and was taken, an echo of the Quran's raising; commentators also credit him as the first man to write with a pen.

On Mount Carmel, Elijah challenged 450 prophets of which god to call down fire on a sacrifice?

Baal's prophets called from morning until the evening offering with no reply, while Elijah had his own altar drenched with water before fire fell on it.

How was Elijah taken up to heaven after a chariot and horses of fire separated him from Elisha?

In a whirlwind, not in the chariot: the horses and chariot of fire only came between the two men, and Elisha tore his own clothes in two as he watched.

Which birds brought Elijah bread and meat twice a day while he hid by the brook Cherith?

Ravens fed him every morning and evening until the brook dried up in the drought, and only then was Elijah sent on to a widow in Zarephath.

Which great city fasted in sackcloth, people and animals alike, after Jonah preached against it?

Nineveh was spared when even its king left his throne to sit in ashes, which made Jonah so angry that he asked to die.

What punishment did Daniel face for praying three times a day in defiance of King Darius's decree?

A den of lions was closed over him with a stone marked by the king's own signet, and at dawn Daniel said an angel had shut the animals' mouths.

What filled the valley where Ezekiel prophesied and watched an exceedingly great army rise to its feet?

Dry bones came together amid a noise and an earthquake and grew sinews, flesh and skin, but they only lived once Ezekiel called breath into them from the four winds.

Which seer, hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel, was rebuked by his own donkey?

Balaam had struck the donkey three times for swerving from an angel only she could see, and in the end he blessed Israel three times instead of cursing it.

Which woman, called a prophetess in Exodus, led Israel's women in dance after the Red Sea crossing?

Miriam, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand and the women followed her out, singing that horse and rider had been thrown into the sea.

On Mount Horeb, Elijah met God not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire but in what?

A still small voice followed the fire, and Elijah covered his face before stepping to the mouth of the cave, where he was asked what he was doing there.

What did John the Baptist eat along with wild honey while preaching in the wilderness of Judea?

Locusts were a permitted food under the law of Leviticus, so the desert diet of John the Baptist was austere but not forbidden.

Deuteronomy says no prophet arose in Israel like which leader, whom the Lord knew face to face?

Moses is set apart in the last lines of the Torah, which add that he was buried in a valley in Moab and that nobody knows where his tomb is.

Which prophetess judged Israel beneath a palm tree and sent Barak against Sisera's iron chariots?

Deborah warned Barak that the honour would go to a woman, and it did: Sisera fled the battle on foot and died in the tent of Jael.

Which childless woman vowed that no razor would touch her son's head, and became the mother of Samuel?

Hannah prayed with her lips moving but no sound, so the priest Eli took her for drunk before he sent her away with a blessing.

Whom did Samuel anoint as Israel's first king, a tall Benjamite out searching for lost donkeys?

Saul stood head and shoulders above everyone else, yet he protested to Samuel that he came from the smallest tribe and its least family.

What appeared at Belshazzar's feast and wrote on the palace wall a message only Daniel could read?

A human hand wrote four words on the plaster, and that same night Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took the kingdom.

What did Daniel ask to be fed for a ten-day test instead of the Babylonian king's rich food?

Vegetables and water left Daniel and his three friends looking healthier than the youths on royal rations, so the steward made the diet permanent.

Which craftsman did Jeremiah watch rework a spoiled vessel, a lesson in how God could reshape Israel?

A potter at his wheel became the message itself: Israel was told it lay in God's hand as the soft material lay in the craftsman's.

Which book of five poems on the fall of Jerusalem does tradition credit to Jeremiah?

Lamentations follows the Book of Jeremiah in Christian Bibles for that reason, though most scholars now doubt he wrote it. Its first four chapters are alphabetic acrostics.

Which queen swore to have Elijah dead within a day of his victory on Mount Carmel?

Jezebel, the Sidonian princess married to Ahab, sent the threat by messenger, and Elijah went a day's journey into the wilderness and asked to die.

Whose vineyard beside the palace in Jezreel did King Ahab covet, a seizure Elijah condemned to his face?

Naboth refused to part with the inheritance of his fathers and was stoned on false testimony, and Elijah confronted Ahab once he took possession.

Which Persian king does the Book of Isaiah call the Lord's anointed, the one who will free the exiles?

Cyrus is also called the Lord's shepherd in Isaiah, the ruler who would say of Jerusalem that it will be rebuilt, and he is the only non-Jew the Hebrew Bible calls a messiah.

Bedouin shepherds found the oldest complete copy of Isaiah in a cave as part of which collection?

The Dead Sea Scrolls copy dates from about 125 BCE, roughly a thousand years older than any Hebrew manuscript of Isaiah known before the caves at Qumran were explored.

In which town's synagogue did Jesus read from the book of Isaiah and declare it fulfilled that day?

Nazareth turned on him within the hour: the congregation of the town where he had been brought up led him to the brow of a hill to throw him off.

Which name does Isaiah give the child promised as a sign to King Ahaz, a name Matthew applies to Jesus?

Immanuel is translated in Matthew's Gospel as 'God with us', in the verse the evangelist quotes when an angel tells Joseph of the coming birth.

What was touched to Isaiah's lips in his temple vision to take away his guilt?

A live coal lifted with tongs from the altar cleansed his lips, and only then did Isaiah answer the question of whom to send by offering himself.

The living creatures in Ezekiel's first vision each have the faces of a man, an ox and which bird?

An eagle completes the four faces, which Christian art later borrowed as emblems of the Gospel writers; in the most common scheme the eagle stands for John.

Which scribe wrote down Jeremiah's prophecies on a scroll that King Jehoiakim cut up and burned?

Baruch simply wrote the whole scroll out again at Jeremiah's dictation after the king fed it to a brazier column by column, and this time many similar words were added.

To which country was Jeremiah taken against his own advice by Judeans fleeing after Jerusalem fell?

Egypt was exactly where Jeremiah had told the survivors not to go; their leaders called him a liar and took him along to Tahpanhes anyway.

Which woman did Hosea marry at God's command as a living picture of Israel's unfaithfulness?

Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, is introduced as a wife of prostitution, chosen because the land itself was said to have deserted God for other lovers.

Which book closes the Old Testament in most Christian Bibles with a promise that Elijah will return?

Malachi ends on the pledge to send Elijah before the day of the Lord, a hope that Luke's Gospel attaches to John the Baptist.

What work was Elisha doing in the fields when Elijah passed by and called him as his successor?

Plowing with oxen was the life Elisha gave up for good: he killed his team, boiled the meat over the animals' own gear and fed the people before following Elijah.

What did John the Baptist's father lose until his son was named, for doubting the angel Gabriel?

His speech returned the moment he wrote the boy's name on a tablet, overruling relatives who wanted the child named after his father.

Which ruler of Galilee beheaded John the Baptist, who had condemned his marriage to Herodias?

Herod Antipas held only the title of tetrarch, 'ruler of a quarter', yet the New Testament also calls him King Herod; he governed Galilee and Perea for 42 years.

Which Babylonian name was Daniel given at court, when his friends became Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?

Belteshazzar was the name picked by the chief of the eunuchs, and it is easily confused with Belshazzar, the king at whose banquet Daniel later appears.

What did Elisha throw into Jericho's bad spring from a new jar to make its water wholesome?

Salt went into the spring after the townspeople complained that their pleasant city had bad water and barren land; Elisha later cured a poisoned stew by throwing meal into the pot.

How did the sailors identify Jonah as the cause of the storm before throwing him overboard?

By casting lots they singled him out, but it was Jonah who told them to throw him into the sea, and the crew first rowed hard for land to avoid doing it.

Which nickname is given to Jeremiah, who was beaten, put in the stocks and thrown into a cistern?

The weeping prophet earned the label from his own pages, where he wishes his eyes were a spring of tears so he could cry day and night for his people.

By which title does God address Ezekiel more than ninety times in the book named after him?

Son of man is how God addresses Ezekiel 93 times, stressing that he is a mortal; the same phrase turns up 81 times in the Gospels, mostly on the lips of Jesus.

On which Aegean island was John when he received the visions recorded in the Book of Revelation?

Patmos is where John says he was on account of God's word, and from the island he addressed his book to seven churches in Asia, beginning with Ephesus.

To which oasis city, known before Islam as Yathrib, did Muhammad emigrate from Mecca in the Hijrah?

Medina received about seventy emigrants over a few months, and the year of that move, not of Muhammad's birth, became the starting point of the Islamic calendar.

Which wealthy merchant, Muhammad's first wife, was by tradition the first to accept his message?

Khadija had hired the young Muhammad to run a trade caravan to Syria and, impressed by his skill, was the one who offered him marriage.

In which cave on the Mountain of Light near Mecca is Muhammad said to have received his first revelation?

Hira is a bare grotto without water, where tradition says the angel Jibril delivered the first five verses of Surah al-Alaq on the Night of Power.

Which title in Surah al-Ahzab is read as marking Muhammad the last in a line that began with Adam?

Seal of the Prophets appears only once in the Quran, at verse 33:40, and Muslims generally take it to mean that no prophet follows Muhammad.

Who helped Ibrahim raise the foundations of the Kaaba in Mecca, according to Surah al-Baqarah?

Ismail prays alongside his father in the verse, asking God to accept the work from them, and a section beside the Kaaba is still known as Hijr Ismail.

Which scripture, identified with the Psalms, does the Quran say was given to the prophet Dawud?

Zabur is named just three times in the Quran, which quotes one line from it: that God's righteous servants will inherit the earth.

Which steed of Islamic tradition carried Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem in a single night?

Buraq means 'lightning', a name thought to reflect the creature's speed, though some trace it to a Persian word for a mount; the Quran's own verse on the Night Journey names no steed at all.

In Surah Maryam, how does the newborn Isa answer the townspeople who accuse his mother of unchastity?

He speaks from the cradle, calling himself a servant of God who has been given scripture and made a prophet; it is one of six miracles the Quran credits to him.

In which town did a medium call up the dead Samuel for Israel's first king before his last battle?

Endor was an awkward errand for a king who had himself driven mediums out of the land, so he went to the woman in disguise and after dark.

Which prophet did King Ahab say he hated because he never foretold anything good about him?

Micaiah stood alone against about four hundred court prophets who promised victory, and Ahab was fatally wounded by an arrow shot at random.

How did Isaiah walk about for three years as a living sign of how Assyria would lead its captives away?

Naked and barefoot began with an order to take off the sackcloth and sandals he usually wore, a warning to Judeans who were counting on foreign allies to save them.