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Old Testament quiz questions

Some of these quiz questions were found in the Jots and Tittles quiz game published by Deseret Book many years ago. Click here to return to the Quiz menu.

What did Moses mean when he said, “Thy raiment waxed not old”? Answer: The clothes of the Israelites did not wear out during their wanderings.
What constitutes the “meat offering”? Answer: Wheat, with the addition of oil, salt, and frankincense (meat meant “food”).
What is the difference between a sin offering and a trespass offering? Answer: The sin offering is for sin in our nature, and the trespass offering is for the fruits of that trespass.
The houses in the Middle East are, in general, built with what kind of roofs? Answer: Flat roofs.
What was the symbolic meaning of placing dust upon one’s head? Answer: It was a token of great remorse and deep repentance.
The taking of what city became a model for the Israelites in the conquests of other cities? Answer: Ai
Solomon turned his heart to the worship of what goddess? Answer: Ashtoreth (or Astarte)
When Moses numbered the tribes at Sinai, there were approximately how many males over the age of 20? Answer: 600,000
What marked the doorposts of the Israelites, saving the firstborn of Israel? Answer: The blood of a lamb
Under the Law, what was the penalty for cursing one’s parents? Answer: Death
What two conditions determined the cleanliness of animals? Answer: They had to be cloven-footed and they had to chew their cud
What was the most solemn and sacred of the religious das in the Hebrew calendar? Answer: The day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
To what does the word prince in Hebrew refer: Answer: “A leader or ruler of the tribe”
What special gift were the seventy of Israel given through Moses? Answer: The ability to prophesy
What are the two orders of the Aaronic Priesthood? Answer: Aaronic and Levitical
In what singular way was Balaam rebuked? Answer: By a donkey, which was wrought upon by the Spirit of God
The worship of whom is generally cited as an example of the cruelest and most abhorrent idolatry known to man? Answer: Molech, or MIlcom
What was the “city of palm trees”? Answer: Jericho
How many judges of Israel were there? Answer: Twelve.
Ancient Israel divided the twelve hours of the night into how many “watches”? Answer: Three.
Abimelech asked his armor bearer to slay him so that men would not say what of him? Answer: That a woman had killed him.
How many of his brothers did Abimelech slay to become king? Answer: Seventy.
At Samson’s wedding celebration what did he propose to the Philistine guests? Answer: A riddle.
Who told the Philistines the answer to Samson’s riddle? Answer: His wife-to-be.
To whom did Samson’s father-in-law give Samson’s bride-to-be after Samson wreaked havoc on the Philistines? Answer: To his best man at the wedding.
The Philistine lords offered Delilah 1,100 pieces of silver for what? Answer: The secret of Samson’s strength.
What was ‘gleaning’? Answer: Gathering the random stalks of grain that were left after the harvest.
Who was Samuel’s father? Answer: Elkanah.
What was Hannah’s covenant with the Lord? Answer: If she was given a child, “no razor” would come upon his head.
Weaning took place among the Israelites late — the Hebrew mothers were in the habit of nursing for how long? Answer: Three years.
After he was weaned, where was Samuel taken to remain and receive training? Answer: To the Tabernacle.
Who called to Samuel in the House of the Lord? Answer: The Lord.
What type of government did Israel have under Samuel and those leaders who preceded him? Answer: A theocracy.
The elders of Israel rejected Samuel and asked that their government be changed to what system? Answer: A monarchy.
What king of Israel was about a foot taller than those of his generation? Answer: Saul.
Samuel anointed Saul to be what? Answer: Captain (over the Lord’s inheritance).
What did Saul do to dramatize the need for a united Israel? Answer: He slew his oxen and sent the pieces to every tribe.
What was a “share” used for by the Israelites? Answer: To plow the ground.
Where did the Israelites have to take their instruments to be sharpened? Answer: To the Philistines.
What were “spoilers” among the Philistines? Answer: Men assigned to go out and destroy crops and homes of enemies, to hamper their battle efforts.
What did Saul want to do to David after he killed Goliath and saw how much the people loved him? Answer: He wanted to kill him.
Who became Saul’s armor bearer? Answer: David.
What had David killed defending his father’s sheep? Answer: A lion and a bear.
Where did the stone from David’s sling hit Goliath? Answer: In the forehead.
Where did David take the head of Goliath? Answer: To Jerusalem.
How was David related to King Saul? Answer: David was Saul’s son-in-law.
David sought refuge for his parents in Moab to protect them from whom? Answer: Saul.
How did David protect himself from the king of Gath when he was fleeing Saul? Answer: He pretended to be mad.
The Israelites sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ______”? Answer: Ten thousands.
How did Saul meet his death? Answer: He fell upon his sword rather than fall into the hands of the Philistines.
Who was Mephibosheth, whom David took in and treated nearly as a son after he was secure on the throne? Answer: The lame son of Jonathan.
What does it mean “to poll one’s hair”, as Absalom had done to his? Answer: To thin it by means of combing or cutting.
How old was Solomon when he was anointed king? Answer: Twenty.
After the death of David, Adonijah requested what of Solomon? Answer: To have Abishag, the wife of David.
Solomon spoke of 3,000 what? Answer: Proverbs.
Solomon wrote 1,005 what? Answer: Songs.
In return for his supplies and services, Solomon gave King Hiram 125,000 bushes of what and a million gallons of what? Answer: Oil (yearly).
The molten sea of brass in Solomon’s Temple was used for what ordinance? Answer: Baptisms for the living.
Which took longer to build — Solomon’s Palace of Solomon’s Temple? Answer: Solomon’s palace (13 years).
The Bible says, “Solomon loved many strange women.” What are “strange” women? Answer: Foreign women.
From what biblical book does the phrase “apple of thine eye” come? Answer: Proverbs.
In the biblical phrase “apple of thine eye”, to what does the apple refer? Answer: The pupil.
What is a “hoary head”, as mentioned in the book of Proverbs? Answer: Hoary means white and thus could mean “the gray hair of old age”.
What does Proverbs say “a soft answer” does? Answer: Turneth away wrath.
To the Israelites, what were “landmarks”? Answer: Property markers.
What king of Israel destroyed the descendants of Ahab and rid the land of idolatry? Answer: Jehu.
Who was the king of Israel when the ten tribes were taken into captivity? Answer: Hoshea.
Which king of Israel committed suicide? Answer: Zimri.
How many rulers ruled both the northern and southern kingdoms? Answer: Twenty in each kingdom.
Of the twenty rulers who reigned over Judah from Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem, how many were wicked? Answer: Twelve.
Who was the one queen of Judah? Answer: Athaliah.
Whom did Athaliah kill to seize the throne for herself? Answer: Her grandchildren.
Which king of Judah was assassinated by his own servants because of his wicked deeds? Answer: Joash (Jehoash).
Which king of Judah became king at the age of 16 and reigned for a total of 52 years? Answer: Uzziah (Azariah).
What happened to King Uzziah when he unlawfully entered the sanctuary of the temple to officiate in priestly rites? Answer: He was stricken with leprosy.
What king of Judah restored the temple to the worship of Jehovah and destroyed the brazen serpent of Moses? Answer: Hezekiah.
Whose son did Elijah raise from the dead? Answer: The widow of Zarephath.
What did Elijah promise the widow of Zarephath if she shared her last food with him? Answer: That her barrel of flour and cruse of oil would not fail until the famine ended.
Four hundred fifty priests of Baal and 400 priests of Ashtoreth challenged what prophet? Answer: Elijah.
How long did the priests of Baal call upon their God during their challenge of Elijah? Answer: From morning to evening.
What did the priests of Baal do to their bodies while calling upon their God during their challenge with Elijah? Answer: They cut their bodies with knives.
What did the fire of the Lord consume in relation to Elijah’s challenge to the priests of Baal? Answer: The sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and the fire licked up the water.
The Lord told Elijah that there were still how many people in Israel that had not bowed to Baal? Answer: Seven thousand.
In Elijah’s day a coat or similar covering was called what? Answer: A mantle.
What did Elijah do on first meeting Elisha? Answer: He removed his mantle, and placed it on Elisha’s shoulders.
What did both Elijah and Elisha do to the waters of the Jordan? Answer: Divided them.
If a thief could not restore what he had stolen, what could be done under the Law of Moses? Answer: The thief could be sold to pay the debt.
What did Elisha do for the son of the Shunamite woman? Answer: He raised him from the dead.
What was Elisha’s servant allowed to see when the Israelites were surrounded by a large host of the Syrian army? Answer: The Lord’s host that had been sent to protect them.
How old was Jehoash when he began to reign? Answer: Seven years old.
What happened when the people threw a dead Israelite into the sepulcher of Elisha and he touched Elisha’s bones? Answer: He was revived.
What five books of the Bible are considered the major prophets? Answer: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel.
What was the practice of casting lots used for in ancient times? Answer: To arrive an impartial decisions.
The circumference of what great city visited by Noah was about 60 miles or 3 days journey? Answer: Nineveh.
The only instance of an animal talking to a man in the Bible happened to what man? Answer: Balaam.
What is meant by the worship of the “hosts of heaven”? Answer: Worship of the sun, moon, and stars (a form of idolatry).
The Gileadites came from what three tribes? Answer: Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.
What five books of the Bible are considered the poetry section? Answer: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.
What was a man from Nazareth called? Answer: A Nazarene.
Who was the first of the twelve judges of Israel? Answer: Othniel.
The two women who brought the child before Solomon were classified as what? Answer: Harlots.
What were the “tablets” used by women and mentioned in Isaiah? Answer: Perfume boxes.
What does it mean to “hiss” to the nations? Answer: To whistle, thus alerting the nations.
What are seraphs? Answer: Angels who dwell in the presence of God.
What is the longest proper name in the Bible? Answer: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
Whose son has the longest proper name in the Bible? Answer: The son of Isaiah.
What is the Hebrew meaning of the name Immanuel (Emmanuel)? Answer: God with us.
How many sons of Isaiah are recorded in the Bible? Answer: Two.
For what did Isaiah use his sons? Answer: To dramatize his message to the people.
How many times did David spare Saul’s life even though Saul was trying to kill him? Answer: Two.
What people resettled, conquered, and depopulated the territory of Samaria approximately 720 B.C.? Answer: The Assyrians.
From what man did King Hezekiah seek advice when the Assyrians were laying siege to Jerusalem? Answer: Isaiah.
Isaiah was a prophet-statesman who ministered during the reigns of how many kings of Judah? Answer: Four.
Cyrus conquered and took from what nation treasure equivalent to about 284 million dollars? Answer: Babylon.
What was the emblem of the tribe of Judah? Answer: A lion.
What were the emblems of the tribe of Levi? Answer: The Urim and Thummim.
A wild ox was the emblem of what tribe? Answer: Ephraim.
An olive tree was the emblem of what tribe? Answer: Asher.
Manasseh added a third form of idolatrous worship to Judah. What was it? Answer: The devotion to the heavenly bodies and the constellations.
According to tradition, which king of Judah was responsible for the death of Isaiah? Answer: Manasseh.
What king of Judah exceeded the idolatry of his predecessors? Answer: Manasseh.
King Josiah sent messengers to what prophetess? Answer: Huldah.
The phrase “slept with his fathers” is a way of stating what? Answer: That someone is dead.
How many times was the temple in Jerusalem desecrated under Nebuchadnezzar’s reign? Answer: Three.
What was King Mattaniah of Judah better known as? Answer: Zedekiah.
What Jews were not carried away into captivity? Answer: “The poor of the land”.
The prophet Zephaniah was a contemporary of what king? Answer: King Josiah.
To whom did the Lord say, “Write the vision and make it plain upon tables”? Answer: Habakkuk.
Under what king did Babylon reach the summit of its greatness and glory? Answer: Nebuchadnezzar.
Present-day archaeology supports the historian’s claim that the walls of what city were 84 feet wide and 336 feet high? Answer: Babylon.
What king of Judah seduced the people “to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed”? Answer: Manasseh.
Habakkuk was a contemporary of what Book of Mormon prophet? Answer: Lehi.
What does Malachi say will turn in the last verse of the Bible? Answer: The hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
Who was Baruch? Answer: The scribe of Jeremiah.
What did Jeremiah do after his roll of prophecies was burned? Answer: He had them rewritten.
What prophet was allowed to remain in Jerusalem as a free person after the capture and fall of Jerusalem? Answer: Jeremiah.
How was the interjection ‘aha’ used in Ezekiel? Answer: As an expression of malicious joy.
Ezekiel recorded twelve what? Answer: Visions.
What contemporary of Jeremiah and Daniel was among the exiles in Babylonia? Answer: Ezekiel.
What contemporary of Jeremiah was the Lord’s prophet in the courts at Babylon? Answer: Daniel.
What prophet wrote the two ‘sticks’ being joined together? Answer: Ezekiel.
What prophet of the captivity was a governor of Babylon and one of the empire’s chief rulers? Answer: Daniel.
What prophet was in Babylon serving various kings for 70 years of the Jewish captivity? Answer: Daniel.
Who were the five kings that Daniel served? Answer: Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus.
What is a ‘stick’, as referred to by Ezekiel? Answer: A wooden writing tablet.
Ezekiel received a detailed vision of the what latter-day temple? Answer: A temple in Jerusalem.
Magog is a region of territories presently occupied by what country? Answer: The Soviet Union and its allies.
What prophet of the captivity was made chief of the wise men and chancellor of a “national university”? Answer: Daniel.
What two patriarchs appeared to Daniel? Answer: Adam and Noah.
The first group of returning exiles arrived in Judea sometime after 536 B.C. under whose leadership? Answer: Zerubbabel.
Of what tribe was Zerubbabel? Answer: Levi
The Jews were under what political rule after their release by Cyrus until the time of Alexander the Great? Answer: Persian.
What was Nehemiah’s position in the Persian court? Answer: The royal cupbearer.
What did the ‘royal cupbearer’ do? Answer: He ensured that the king’s food and drink were safe for consumption.
What political position did Nehemiah hold? Answer: Governor of Judah.
What are actually the last two historical books of the Old Testament? Answer: Ezra and Nehemiah.
The Lord foreordained what person, he not being of the House of Israel, to make possible the return of the Jews? Answer: Cyrus.
What prophet prophesied concerning Cyrus, King of Persia, and thus may have influenced Cyrus’s actions toward the Jews? Answer: Isaiah.
What two prophets inspired the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem? Answer: Haggai and Zechariah.
What language was referred to as ‘the Syrian tongue’? Answer: Aramaic.
Why was the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple halted for 15 to16 years? Answer: Because of the interference of the Samaritans.
Who was charged by the Persian king to teach the people of Jerusalem the law and to set up a judgment system? Answer: Ezra.
In what person is the Book of Nehemiah written? Answer: First person.
What feast did Nehemiah reestablish? Answer: The Feast of the Tabernacles.
When did the language shift from Hebrew to Aramaic? Answer: When Judah returned from exile in Babylon.
What daughter of Saul was first promised David in return for his deeds of valor? Answer: Mereb.
What is known as the pure and undefiled language? Answer: The Adamic language.
People on the earth spoke what language until the languages were confounded at the Tower of Babel? Answer: The Adamic language.
How was the blood of the Canaanites preserved through the flood? Answer: Ham’s wife, Egyptus, was a Canaanite.
How many years of our time is equal to God’s one day in the reckoning of Kolob? Answer: One thousand years.
Who gave Abraham the Urim and Thummim? Answer: God.
What priesthood did Adam hold? Answer: The Melchizedek Priesthood.
Who saved Abraham from being sacrificed? Answer: An angel.
Whom does Genesis list as king of Salem? Answer: Melchizedek.
How did Melchizedek’s mortal life end? Answer: He was translated.
Who was the son of King Zedekiah that was preserved when the rest of his brothers were slain by the king of Babylon? Answer: Mulek.
Who do Moslems believe Abraham took to the mount to be sacrificed? Answer: Ishmael.
The site in Jerusalem purchased by David to build an altar had formerly been what? Answer: A threshing floor.
Why did Hezekiah have a 1,777 foot conduit cut through solid rock? Answer: To carry water from Gihon Spring to the pool of Siloam, protecting the supply.
What engineering feat was accomplished at Hezekiah’s tunnel? Answer: Workmen tunneled towards each other and met within 4 feet of each other.
What did the idolatrous Jews, including kings Ahaz and Manasseh, offer to the god Molech in the Hinnom Valley? Answer: Innocent children.
What person does Joshua name as being spared from the destruction at Jericho? Answer: Rahab the harlot.
How many times altogether did the priests and the Israelite people go around the city of Jericho? Answer: Thirteen.
What happened to the walls of Jericho when the people shouted and the trumpets were blown? Answer: They fell down.
What ceased coming when the Israelites were camped at Gilgal? Answer: The manna.
What did Elisha purify at Gilgal with some meal? Answer: Pottage.
Naaman was cured of what by washing in the Jordan River? Answer: Leprosy.
What Biblical book was not found among the Dead Sea scrolls? Answer: Esther.
The priest Ahimelech gave what to David at Nob? Answer: Goliath’s sword.
What was Saul proclaimed as in Mizpah? Answer: The first king of Israel.
What killed more of the Amorites in the battle at Gibeon than the swords and weapons of the children of Israel? Answer: Hailstones.
What tribes of Israel initially occupied the area of Samaria? Answer: Ephraim and Manasseh.
Obadiah hid 100 prophets to protect them so that who wouldn’t have them killed? Answer: Jezebel.
Which prophet healed Naaman, the Syrian leper? Answer: Elisha.
Who was Solomon’s mother? Answer: Bathsheba.
The marriage of what two people contributed to the downfall of the northern Kingdom? Answer: Ahab and Jezebel.
What did Elijah prophesy would happen to Jezebel? Answer: She would be eaten by dogs.
Manasseh could never subdue Beth-shan because of chariots made of what? Answer: Iron.
One giant of Gath killed by David’s nephew had what very distinctive features? Answer: He had twelve fingers and twelve toes (six on each hand and foot).
How tall was Goliath? Answer: Six cubits and a span (approximately 9 feet 9 inches)
Who was David’s father? Answer: Jesse.
What did David choose from the brook? Answer: Five smooth stones.
How did the Israelites eat the first Passover meal? Answer: Standing up (symbolic of being ready for a journey).
What were the requirements of the sacrificial lamb eaten at Passover? Answer: Male lamb, of the first year, without blemish, no bones broken.
What feast celebrated the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness and the gathering of all the fruit of the year? Answer: The Feast of the Tabernacles.
Which was the most joyous of the Israelite feasts? Answer: The Feast of the Tabernacles.
The characteristic rite of the Feast of the Tabernacles was what? Answer: Dwelling in booths made of the boughs of trees.
No fasting or mourning for any calamity or bereavement was allowed during what feast? Answer: The Feast of the Dedication (or Feast of Lights).
Which class of fish were the Israelites allowed to eat under the law? Answer: “Those that have fins and scales”.
The rituals of the Egyptian temples and tombs are designed with what main objective? Answer: Eternal exaltation.
By day, how did the Lord go before the Children of Israel? Answer: In a pillar of a cloud.
By night, how did the Lord go before the Children of Israel? Answer: In a pillar of fire.
What did manna taste like? Answer: Wafers made with honey.
Except on the seventh day, what happened to the manna if it was kept until the morning? Answer: It would breed worms and stink.
The Israelites gathered manna in omers. How much was an omer? Answer: About half a gallon (one-tenth of an ephah).
The word ‘manna’ translates to mean what? Answer: What is it?
When the sun got hot, what happened to the manna? Answer: It melted.
What were the dimensions of Noah’s ark? Answer: 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in breadth, 30 cubits in height.
How many stories tall was the Ark of Noah? Answer: Three.
What did Jacob make for Joseph to show his love for him? Answer: A coat of many colors.
Who dreamed that “the sun and the moon and the elven stars” made obeisance to him? Answer: Joseph.
According to Smith’s Bible Dictionary, what biblical name means “unmarried, chaste”? Answer: Jezebel.
Asa and his armies defeated how many Ethiopians at Mareshah? Answer: One million (a thousand thousand).
What famous Philistine was from Gath? Answer: Goliath.
With what did Samson slay 1,000 Philistines? Answer: The jawbone of an ass.
What other patriarch besides Abraham reported his wife to be his sister while at Gerar? Answer: Isaac (reported Rebekah as his sister).
What did Samson do with the doors of the gates of the city of Gaza? Answer: He carried them on his shoulders to Hebron (40 miles away).
Who cut or shaved off Samson’s hair? Answer: Delilah called for a man to do it.
What are “green withs” with which Samson old Delilah that she could try to bind him? Answer: New cords (fresh or most sinews from animals).
What was Samson known for slaying with his bare hands? Answer: A lion.
Ashdod was the chief seat of the worship of what Philistine god? Answer: Dagon.
What did the Philistines carry to Ashdod after their defeat of the Israelites? Answer: The Ark of the Covenant.
What were ’emerods’ with which the Philistines were smitten by the Lord? Answer: Tumors and boils.
Why did the Philistines return the captured Ark to the Israelites? Answer: Because they and their gods were destroyed or plagued.
The Philistines returned the Ark to the Israelites with a ‘trespass offering’ of what? Answer: Five golden emerods and five golden mice.
What did Moses’ spies bring back from the Valley of Eshkol? Answer: Grapes, pomegranates, and figs.
To the Jews, who was the first Jew? Answer: Abraham.
The Ark of the Covenant was built of shittim wood from what tree? Answer: The acacia tree.
King Og, who ruled Bashan, had what special physical characteristic? Answer: He was a giant.
What possession of King Og is described as follows: made of iron, 9 cubits long, and 4 cubits in breadth? Answer: His bed.
The Moabites descended from what relative of Abraham? Answer: Lot.
From where did the people of Midian take their name? Answer: Midian, a son of Abraham.
What son of Solomon and an Ammonite woman succeeded his father? Answer: Rehoboam.
What kind of mines at Wadi El Arabah contributed greatly to Solomon’s wealth? Answer: Copper mines.
Sidon was founded by Sidon, a grandson of which of Noah’s sons? Answer: Ham.
What king of Tyre was a good friend to David and Solomon? Answer: Hiram.
Name the feast of ancient Israel where people lived in booths for 8 days in memory of Israel’s wanderings. Answer: The Feast of the Tabernacles.
According to rabbinical teachings, what was an Israelites’ obligation if a Gentile were to fall into the sea? Answer: They ‘need not take him out’.
Who was the wife of David in his old age? Answer: Abishag.
Who was Abraham’s young brother? Answer: Haran.
About A.D. 1300, what famous explorer traveled in the area of Mt. Ararat and noted an ark near the summit? Answer: Marco Polo.
Masada had a ‘frigidarium’. What was it? Answer: A room containing a cold bath.
What is a wadi? Answer: The bed or valley of a stream.
What was the most sacred room in both the Egyptian and Israelite temples? Answer: The Holy of Holies.
Both the Egyptians and the Israelites allowed only whom to go into certain parts of the temple? Answer: Priests.

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