Bible trivia
Bible Trivia for Youth Groups
Forty multiple-choice Bible questions for a youth group of teenagers: three rounds you read out, from easy to medium, and a fourth open-Bible round where you name the book and chapter and the teams find the answer themselves. Each question has four options, the answer, a one-line explanation and the reference, so a disputed answer is settled by opening the passage. Play it on screen here, or print the page with its answer key and run it on Friday using the forty-five-minute run sheet under the questions.
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What bird did Noah first send out from the ark?
Show answer
Answer: D. A raven
Genesis 8:7: Noah sent out a raven, which went back and forth until the waters had dried up. The dove comes next, in verse 8.
Genesis 8:7 -
Who were Isaac and Rebekah’s twin sons?
Show answer
Answer: C. Jacob and Esau
Genesis 25:24-26: Esau came out first, red and hairy; Jacob came out holding Esau’s heel. Isaac was sixty years old.
Genesis 25:24-26 -
Where did Moses’ mother hide him as a baby?
Show answer
Answer: B. A papyrus basket among the reeds
Exodus 2:3: when she could no longer hide him, she coated a papyrus basket with tar and pitch, put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the river bank.
Exodus 2:3 -
What was Saul doing when Samuel came to anoint him as king?
Show answer
Answer: A. Looking for his father’s lost donkeys
1 Samuel 9:3: Kish’s donkeys were lost and he sent Saul with a servant to look for them. Samuel tells Saul in 9:20 that they have been found.
1 Samuel 9:3; 9:20 -
What did God provide for Elijah by the brook Cherith?
Show answer
Answer: A. Ravens brought him bread and meat
1 Kings 17:6: the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
1 Kings 17:4-6 -
What guided the Magi to Jesus?
Show answer
Answer: A. A star
Matthew 2:9-10: the star they had seen in the east went before them until it stood over where the young child was, and they rejoiced. A dream comes later (2:12), warning them not to return to Herod.
Matthew 2:9-10 -
Who were the first to receive the announcement of Jesus’ birth?
Show answer
Answer: C. Shepherds
Luke 2:8-11: shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night; an angel of the Lord stood by them with good news of great joy.
Luke 2:8-11 -
What was Levi’s occupation before Jesus called him?
Show answer
Answer: B. Tax collector
Mark 2:14: Jesus saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office, said “Follow me”, and he got up and followed.
Mark 2:14 -
Who fell asleep during Paul’s long sermon and fell from a window?
Show answer
Answer: B. Eutychus
Acts 20:9: a young man named Eutychus, sitting in the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept talking and fell from the third floor. Paul went down and he was brought back alive (20:10-12).
Acts 20:9 -
What destroyed the plant that gave Jonah shade?
Show answer
Answer: D. A worm
Jonah 4:7: God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine so that it withered.
Jonah 4:7
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What injury did Jacob receive from wrestling all night?
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Answer: A. His hip was wrenched
Genesis 32:25: when the man saw he could not prevail, he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and it was strained as he wrestled.
Genesis 32:25 -
What did God provide as a substitute for Isaac?
Show answer
Answer: D. A ram caught in a thicket
Genesis 22:13: Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the thicket by its horns, and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Genesis 22:13 -
In which land did Moses find refuge and marry?
Show answer
Answer: C. Midian
Exodus 2:15: Moses fled from Pharaoh and lived in the land of Midian, sitting down by a well. In 2:21 the priest of Midian gave him his daughter Zipporah.
Exodus 2:15; 2:21 -
What did Hannah promise to God if He gave her a son?
Show answer
Answer: C. To give him to the Lord for all his life
1 Samuel 1:11: she vowed that if God gave her a boy she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor would come on his head.
1 Samuel 1:11 -
What did David do when he heard about Saul and Jonathan’s deaths?
Show answer
Answer: A. Mourned and fasted until evening
2 Samuel 1:11-12: David and all his men tore their clothes, and mourned, wept and fasted until evening for Saul, for Jonathan and for the people who had fallen by the sword.
2 Samuel 1:11-12 -
Why did the kingdom split after Solomon’s death?
Show answer
Answer: C. Rehoboam refused to lighten the people’s burden
1 Kings 12:13-16: Rehoboam answered the people roughly, abandoned the old men’s advice and promised a heavier yoke; all Israel answered “What portion have we in David?” and went home.
1 Kings 12:13-16 -
Where did Elijah hide when he fled from Queen Jezebel’s threats?
Show answer
Answer: A. Mount Horeb
1 Kings 19:8: strengthened by the food the angel brought, he went forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain. Mount Carmel was the contest with the prophets of Baal in the chapter before.
1 Kings 19:8 -
What miracle did Elisha perform for a poor widow?
Show answer
Answer: A. Multiplied her oil to pay her debts
2 Kings 4:1-7: a creditor was coming for her two sons; Elisha told her to borrow empty containers and pour from her one pot of oil. It stopped only when every container was full, and she sold the oil to pay the debt.
2 Kings 4:1-7 -
What happened when King Hezekiah prayed about Sennacherib’s threat?
Show answer
Answer: B. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died in one night
2 Kings 19:35: that night the angel of the Lord struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp; in the morning they were all dead bodies.
2 Kings 19:35 -
What was Esther’s Hebrew name?
Show answer
Answer: D. Hadassah
Esther 2:7: Mordecai brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, who had neither father nor mother.
Esther 2:7 -
At what age did Jesus visit the temple and discuss with teachers?
Show answer
Answer: A. 12
Luke 2:42-47: when he was twelve, after the feast, he stayed behind in Jerusalem; after three days his parents found him in the temple among the teachers, listening and asking questions.
Luke 2:42-47 -
How did Jesus respond to Satan’s temptation to turn stones to bread?
Show answer
Answer: C. It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone”
Matthew 4:4: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” He is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3.
Matthew 4:4 -
What payment did Jesus make for the temple tax?
Show answer
Answer: A. A coin from a fish’s mouth
Matthew 17:27: Jesus told Peter to cast a hook, open the mouth of the first fish, and find a stater coin to pay for them both.
Matthew 17:27 -
How many baskets of leftover bread were collected after feeding the 4,000?
Show answer
Answer: A. Seven
Matthew 15:37: they all ate and were filled, and took up seven baskets of broken pieces. Twelve baskets is the other feeding, of the five thousand (Matthew 14:20).
Matthew 15:37 -
What did the people want to do to Jesus after the feeding miracle?
Show answer
Answer: D. Make him king by force
John 6:15: perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
John 6:15 -
What did Jesus use to heal the deaf and mute man?
Show answer
Answer: B. Put his fingers in the man’s ears and touched his tongue with saliva
Mark 7:33: he took him aside from the crowd, put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue; then said “Ephphatha”, be opened (7:34).
Mark 7:33 -
Who complained about the expensive perfume being wasted?
Show answer
Answer: B. Judas Iscariot
John 12:4-5: Judas Iscariot asked why the ointment was not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor; verse 6 adds that he kept the money box and stole from it.
John 12:4-5 -
What miraculous thing happened while Jesus prayed in the garden?
Show answer
Answer: B. An angel appeared to strengthen him
Luke 22:43: an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. Only Luke records it.
Luke 22:43 -
What was the charge written above Jesus on the cross?
Show answer
Answer: B. The King of the Jews
Mark 15:26: the superscription of his accusation, written over him, was “THE KING OF THE JEWS”. John 19:19 gives the fuller wording Pilate wrote.
Mark 15:26 -
When did the Emmaus disciples recognize Jesus?
Show answer
Answer: A. When he broke bread
Luke 24:30-31: at the table he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them; their eyes were opened, they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.
Luke 24:30-31 -
Who suggested hanging Haman on his own gallows?
Show answer
Answer: A. Harbona the eunuch
Esther 7:9: Harbonah, one of the eunuchs with the king, pointed out the fifty-cubit gallows Haman had made for Mordecai, and the king said “Hang him on it!” Some Bibles spell him Harbona.
Esther 7:9 -
What did the writing on the wall say during Belshazzar’s feast?
Show answer
Answer: A. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin
Daniel 5:25: the inscription was MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, as the King James and World English Bibles print it; the “u” means “and”, so newer translations print PARSIN. Daniel reads the last word as Peres in his explanation (5:28).
Daniel 5:25 -
What was Jonah doing during the storm?
Show answer
Answer: B. Sleeping in the lowest parts of the ship
Jonah 1:5: while the sailors cried each to his god and threw the cargo overboard, Jonah had gone down into the innermost part of the ship and was fast asleep.
Jonah 1:5 -
How long was the test period for Daniel and his friends’ diet?
Show answer
Answer: D. Ten days
Daniel 1:12-15: Daniel asked for ten days of vegetables and water; at the end of them the four looked healthier than the youths who ate the king’s food.
Daniel 1:12-15 -
Which foreign king allied with Solomon to build the temple?
Show answer
Answer: B. Hiram of Tyre
1 Kings 5:1-10: Hiram king of Tyre, who had always loved David, sent his servants to Solomon, and supplied cedar and cypress timber for the house Solomon intended to build.
1 Kings 5:1-10 -
How did Barnabas help Saul in Jerusalem?
Show answer
Answer: C. Brought him to the apostles and vouched for him
Acts 9:27: the disciples were afraid of Saul, but Barnabas took him to the apostles and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road and preached boldly in Damascus.
Acts 9:27 -
What caused the split between Paul and Barnabas?
Show answer
Answer: B. Disagreement over taking John Mark on the second journey
Acts 15:37-39: Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, who had left them in Pamphylia; Paul did not. The contention grew so sharp that they separated, and Barnabas sailed to Cyprus with Mark.
Acts 15:37-39 -
What happened to the magic books in Ephesus?
Show answer
Answer: A. Publicly burned after many believed
Acts 19:19: many who had practised magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; the price came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Acts 19:19 -
What was Simon the Sorcerer’s mistake?
Show answer
Answer: A. Offering money for the power to give the Holy Spirit
Acts 8:18-19: when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money for the same power. Peter’s answer is in 8:20-23.
Acts 8:18-19 -
In Acts, who was chosen to replace Judas as an apostle?
Show answer
Answer: B. Matthias
Acts 1:26: they drew lots between Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias, and the lot fell on Matthias, who was counted with the eleven.
Acts 1:26
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Answer key
- D. A raven
- C. Jacob and Esau
- B. A papyrus basket among the reeds
- A. Looking for his father’s lost donkeys
- A. Ravens brought him bread and meat
- A. A star
- C. Shepherds
- B. Tax collector
- B. Eutychus
- D. A worm
- A. His hip was wrenched
- D. A ram caught in a thicket
- C. Midian
- C. To give him to the Lord for all his life
- A. Mourned and fasted until evening
- C. Rehoboam refused to lighten the people’s burden
- A. Mount Horeb
- A. Multiplied her oil to pay her debts
- B. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died in one night
- D. Hadassah
- A. 12
- C. It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone”
- A. A coin from a fish’s mouth
- A. Seven
- D. Make him king by force
- B. Put his fingers in the man’s ears and touched his tongue with saliva
- B. Judas Iscariot
- B. An angel appeared to strengthen him
- B. The King of the Jews
- A. When he broke bread
- A. Harbona the eunuch
- A. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin
- B. Sleeping in the lowest parts of the ship
- D. Ten days
- B. Hiram of Tyre
- C. Brought him to the apostles and vouched for him
- B. Disagreement over taking John Mark on the second journey
- A. Publicly burned after many believed
- A. Offering money for the power to give the Holy Spirit
- B. Matthias
How to run it with a youth group
- Teams of three or four, mixed ages, with the youngest on each team holding the pen. Six teenagers is two teams; twenty is five or six. A team of eight means three answer and five watch, so split it.
- Phones away for rounds 1 to 3. Read each question and its four options aloud, twice, and give twenty seconds. Each team writes a letter on a slip; collect the slips before you read the answer, so a late change of mind cannot be argued.
- Read the answer, then the explanation and the reference. If anyone disputes an answer, open the passage and read it aloud. The text decides, not the leader and not this page.
- Round 4 is the open-Bible round. Say the book and chapter from the reference (for question 31, “Esther 7”), put the question on the screen, and give ninety seconds with a paper Bible or a Bible app. Two points each. It rewards the team that can find a chapter fastest, which is a skill worth more than remembering trivia.
- Score one point for rounds 1 to 3 and two points for round 4: fifty points in all, so a team that is behind after three rounds is still in it.
- After each round, read one of the explanations again and ask the room one question about it (round 2: why did David mourn for the man who had hunted him?). Two minutes, no right answer required. That is where the evening stops being trivia.
| Round | Questions | Points per correct answer |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Warm-up, questions 1–10, read out | 1 point |
| Round 2 | Old Testament stories, questions 11–20, read out | 1 point |
| Round 3 | Jesus, questions 21–30, read out | 1 point |
| Round 4 | Open Bible, questions 31–40, teams look it up | 2 points |
The forty-five-minute run sheet
Timed for a group of about fifteen with four teams. A bigger group needs longer between rounds, not longer questions.
| Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–5 | Teams, pens, slips, phones in a box. Say the rules in rule 2 and 5 and the points. |
| 5–13 | Round 1. About forty-five seconds a question with the explanation read. |
| 13–15 | Two-minute talk: one explanation, one question to the room. |
| 15–23 | Round 2. |
| 23–25 | Talk. |
| 25–33 | Round 3. |
| 33–35 | Scores on the board. Hand out Bibles; phones may come out for a Bible app only. |
| 35–44 | Round 4, open Bible, ninety seconds a question. |
| 44–45 | Final scores, tie-breaker if needed, finish on the question from round 4 everyone got wrong. |
Tie-breaker
If two teams are level at the end, ask one closest-number question. Every team writes a number; the nearest wins, and no points are awarded. Two to choose from, with the answer in the text:
- How many people were saved in the ark, according to 1 Peter? 8 1 Peter 3:20
- About how many people were baptized on the day of Pentecost? About 3,000 Acts 2:41
Why these forty
All forty come from the question bank behind Kingdom Bible Quiz, the app this site belongs to, where every question carries a difficulty level and a review verdict. We kept easy and medium questions about people and events, left out anything a ten-year-old in Sunday school answers from memory, anything that depends on one translation’s wording, and anything where a second option could be defended from the text. Round 4 holds the questions a teenager is least likely to know, because that round is played with the Bible open and the point is to find the chapter. None of the forty appears on this site’s adults page, so the two can be run in the same term. Every reference was fetched from the World English Bible text served by bible-api.com and read on the day the page was written; each explanation says what the passage records, not how any church reads it.
Printing it
The print button below the questions prints the forty questions and their options without the answers, then the answer key on its own last page. For round 4, print the questions-only pages for each team and keep the key. Nothing is gated and there is no sign-up.
When this is not the page you want
For children under about eleven, use the Bible quiz for kids. For a church social or small group of adults, the Bible trivia for adults page has twenty medium and twenty hard questions with the same rules. The true or false questions make a quick opener while people arrive, and the Bible quizzes page has a quiz for every book if your group is working through one.
If the group wants to keep going after Friday, the app has thousands more questions in the same format, each with an explanation and a reference, and a Together tab for playing the same quiz on everyone’s phones. It is optional; everything on this page works without it.
Questions people ask
How hard are these for teenagers?
Rounds 1 to 3 are the easy and medium levels of the question bank they come from; someone who has been in a youth group for a year will know most of round 1 and about half of rounds 2 and 3. Round 4 is harder on purpose and is played with the Bible open, so the skill being tested is finding the chapter, not remembering it. None of the forty is a children’s question (how many animals, who built the ark), and none depends on one translation’s wording.
Can I use it with a mixed group of 11 to 18 year olds?
Yes, if the teams are mixed. Put one older teenager and one younger one on every team, give the pen to the youngest, and in round 4 let the older one hold the Bible while the younger one reads the verse. A team of only 11 year olds will struggle in round 3; a team of only 17 year olds will be bored in round 1.
Does it work for a church youth group with different denominations?
Yes. Each explanation says what the passage records and gives the reference; none says how a church reads it. Questions where a second option could be defended from the text were left out, and the one place translations differ (the writing on the wall, question 32) is explained in the answer.
Can I print it, and do I need to sign up?
Press the print button under the questions. The forty questions print without their answers, then the answer key prints on its own last page. Print one copy per team for a written round, or one for the reader. There is no sign-up, no email and nothing held back.
What if I think an answer is wrong?
Open the reference in your own Bible first; the text wins over this page. Every reference was fetched and read on the day the page was written, but if you find a mistake, trust the Bible and tell us through the app’s support page.