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This women of the Bible trivia quiz covers 49 free questions with answers on the matriarchs, judges, queens, prophetesses and disciples of the Old and New Testaments. You will meet Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah in Genesis; Miriam, Deborah, Jael and Ruth in the days of Moses and the judges; Hannah, Bathsheba, Abigail, Esther, Jezebel and Huldah in the age of kings; and Mary, Elizabeth, Anna, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lydia, Priscilla, Dorcas and Phoebe in the Gospels and Acts. It is built for Bible study groups, Sunday school leaders, church quiz nights and anyone who wants a real test rather than the same ten easy questions. Difficulty ranges from names every churchgoer knows to details like Huldah's husband's job title and the adviser who had Vashti deposed. Every answer has been checked against the biblical text and standard reference articles, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before God renamed her in Genesis 17, Abraham's wife was known by what name?
Sarai
Both forms likely come from the same Hebrew root meaning 'important woman'; Abram was renamed Abraham in the same passage.
Q 02According to Genesis, how old was Sarah when she died?
127
Abraham bought the cave near Hebron to bury her, the first land the Israelites owned in Canaan.
Q 03After an angel found her by a desert spring, Hagar gave God a name usually translated as what?
El Roi
The name is often rendered 'the God who sees me', and the well was called Beer-lahai-roi.
Q 04Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, came from which nation?
Egypt
Later she found a wife for Ishmael from her own homeland while they lived in the Desert of Paran.
Q 05How did Abraham's servant recognise Rebekah as the right wife for Isaac at the well?
She offered to water his camels
He had prayed for exactly that sign, and she kept drawing until all ten camels were full.
Q 06Rachel died giving birth to which son of Jacob?
Benjamin
She named him Ben-Oni, 'son of my mourning', but Jacob renamed him.
Q 07Genesis 29:17 describes Leah with a phrase usually translated as having what kind of eyes?
Tender
Commentators still argue whether the Hebrew word means 'delicate' or simply 'weak'.
Q 08Leah traded what to Rachel in exchange for a night with Jacob?
Mandrakes
The plant was prized as a fertility charm; Leah went on to bear Issachar and Zebulun.
Q 09Deborah delivered her judgments while sitting beneath what kind of tree?
Palm
It stood between Ramah and Bethel and became known simply as the Palm of Deborah.
Q 10Which Israelite commander refused to march against Sisera unless Deborah went with him?
Barak
Deborah agreed but warned that the glory of the victory would go to a woman instead of him.
Q 11Jael killed the fleeing general Sisera with what?
A tent peg
The Song of Deborah, which celebrates the deed, is often called the oldest poem in the Bible.
Q 12When Sisera asked Jael for water, what did she give him instead?
Milk
The warm drink helped send him to sleep, and she covered him with a blanket first.
Q 13Jael is traditionally described as the wife of which Kenite?
Heber
His clan was at peace with King Jabin, which is why Sisera believed he would be safe with her.
Q 14Ruth, the great-grandmother of David, belonged to which people?
Q 21Esther is first introduced by a Hebrew name meaning 'myrtle tree'. What is it?
Hadassah
Her Persian name may come from Ishtar or the Persian word for 'star'.
Q 22Esther was raised by which cousin, whose refusal to bow to Haman set the plot in motion?
Mordecai
He also uncovered an assassination plot against the king, a service recorded in the royal annals.
Q 23Esther's rescue of the Jews of Persia is celebrated on which holiday?
Purim
The name comes from the lots Haman cast to choose the date for the massacre.
Q 24Which adviser urged Ahasuerus to replace Queen Vashti after she refused to appear?
Moabites
Deuteronomy barred her nation from the assembly of Israel, which makes her place in David's line all the more striking.
Q 15Which of Naomi's daughters-in-law turned back to her own people rather than go to Bethlehem?
Orpah
Rabbinic legend later made her an ancestor of Goliath, in pointed contrast to Ruth's line.
Q 16Returning widowed to Bethlehem, Naomi told the townspeople to call her by what name instead?
Mara
The name means 'bitter', because 'the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me'.
Q 17When Hannah prayed silently at the sanctuary in Shiloh, the priest Eli assumed she was what?
Drunk
Once she explained her vow, he blessed her, and her son Samuel was born within the year.
Q 18Before David, Bathsheba was married to which soldier?
Uriah the Hittite
David had him carry his own death warrant to the front line at the siege of Rabbah.
Q 19Abigail's wealthy husband, whose name means 'fool', insulted David. What was his name?
Nabal
Ten days after Abigail told him what she had done, 'God struck' him and he died, and David married her.
Q 20Because Abigail called herself a 'handmaid', her name became an English word for what?
A lady's maid
Swift, Fielding, Trollope and Charlotte Bronte all use it that way.
Memucan
He argued that every wife in Persia would otherwise start disobeying her husband.
Q 25Jezebel was a princess of which Phoenician city before she married King Ahab?
Tyre
Her father Ithobaal I was its king; classical genealogies even make her a great-aunt of Dido of Carthage.
Q 26Jezebel had which man executed on false blasphemy charges so Ahab could take his vineyard?
Naboth
The execution was staged with two witnesses to keep it technically legal.
Q 27After Jezebel was thrown from a window and eaten by dogs, which parts of her body were left to bury?
Her skull, feet and palms
She had put on make-up and a formal wig to face Jehu from the window.
Q 28Rahab hid Joshua's two spies on her roof under what?
Bundles of flax
Flax and barley ripen together in the Jordan valley, so the stalks would have been drying on the roof at harvest time.
Q 29Rahab of Jericho married Salmon and became the mother of which man in the line of David?
Boaz
Matthew's genealogy of Jesus lists her, spelled Rachab in the King James Version.
Q 30Delilah is described as a woman from which valley?
Sorek
She is the only woman in Samson's story who is given a name.