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70 free Old Testament trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 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 70 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
Light itself was created on day one, but the 'two great lights' and the stars came three days later. Plants were made on day three, before the sun.
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
His brother Cain was 'a tiller of the ground', and the difference in their offerings led to the first murder in the Bible.
Q 04Who is the longest-lived person in the Bible, dying at 969 years old?
Methuselah
His grandson was Noah, and by the numbers in Genesis 5 he died in the very year of the flood. Adam lived to 930.
Q 05How long did the rain fall during Noah's flood, according to Genesis 7?
Forty days and forty nights
The waters then 'prevailed' on the earth for 150 days before beginning to recede, so Noah's family was aboard for about a year in total.
Q 06On which mountains did Noah's ark come to rest?
Ararat
Ararat is in modern-day Turkey. Noah then sent out a raven and a dove to test whether the waters had gone down.
Q 07What did the dove bring back to Noah to show that the flood waters were going down?
An olive leaf
The first time Noah sent the dove out it found nowhere to land; a week later it came back with the 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 it simply 'my bow'. It is the first covenant sign in the Bible and applies to every living creature, not only people.
Q 09At the Tower of Babel, how did God stop the people finishing their city?
He confused their language
Genesis says the name Babel comes from this confounding of speech, and the people 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
His wife's name changed too, from Sarai to Sarah. 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
The animal was caught by its horns. Abraham named the place Jehovah-jireh, meaning 'the Lord will provide'.
Q 12What happened to Lot's wife when she looked back at Sodom?
She turned into a pillar of salt
The angels had warned the family not to look behind them as they fled. 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
The King James Version calls it 'pottage of lentiles'. Genesis says Esau 'despised his birthright' by trading it for a single meal.
Q 21What was the first of the ten plagues on Egypt?
The river turned to blood
Moses' brother struck the Nile with the rod in front of Pharaoh, and the fish died. Frogs came second; darkness was the ninth plague.
Q 22On the night of the first Passover, where were the Israelites told to put the blood of the lamb?
On the door posts of their houses
The blood on the two side posts and the top of the door was 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 was running away from Esau at the time and sleeping with a stone for a pillow. He set the stone up as a pillar when he woke.
Q 15After wrestling with a stranger all night, Jacob was given which new name?
Israel
The name is explained as 'a prince hast thou power with God and with men'. Jacob limped afterwards, because the stranger touched the hollow of his thigh.
Q 16Jacob showed that Joseph was his favourite son by giving him what gift?
A coat of many colours
Genesis says it was because Joseph was 'the son of his old age'. His jealous brothers later dipped the coat in goat's blood to fake his death.
Q 17For how many pieces of silver was Joseph sold to the merchants heading to Egypt?
Twenty
The buyers were Ishmeelites, distant relatives descended from Abraham's son Ishmael. Thirty pieces of silver is the New Testament price paid to Judas.
Q 18In Pharaoh's dream of fat and thin cows, what did Joseph say the fat cows meant?
Seven years of plenty
The thin cows meant seven years of famine, so Joseph advised storing grain, and Pharaoh made him second in command over Egypt.
Q 19Who found the baby Moses floating in a basket among the reeds of the river?
Pharaoh's daughter
Moses' sister was watching nearby and offered to fetch a Hebrew nurse, so his own mother was paid to raise him.
Q 20When God first spoke to Moses in the wilderness, what was unusual about the burning bush?
It burned but was not consumed
Moses turned aside to see 'this great sight', and God told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the waters divided, standing as a wall on either side. Pharaoh's army was drowned when the waters returned.
Q 24What was the name of the bread-like food God sent to feed the Israelites in the wilderness?
Manna
The name is a play on the Hebrew for 'What is it?', because the people did not know what they were looking at. Quail were sent as meat.
Q 25Which is the first of the Ten Commandments?
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
The commandments were given at Mount Sinai. The first four concern God and the last six concern how people treat one another.
Q 26Which commandment comes with the promise 'that thy days may be long upon the land'?
Honour thy father and thy mother
It is the fifth commandment, and the New Testament calls it 'the first commandment with promise'.
Q 27While Moses was on the mountain, 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
She was the sister of Moses, and probably the girl who watched over the baby in the basket. Another prophetess appears much later, in Judges.
Q 29In the book of Numbers, which prophet was scolded by his own talking donkey?
Balaam
The donkey had stopped three times because it could see an angel with a drawn sword that its rider could not. Balak was the king who had hired him.
Q 30Of the twelve spies sent into Canaan, which two were allowed to enter the promised land?
Joshua and Caleb
The other ten spread fear about giants in the land. Everyone else of that generation died in the wilderness during forty years of wandering.