Questions and answers
Easy Bible Numbers & Statistics
How many churches does the risen Christ address by name in Revelation 2 and 3?
- ASevenCorrect
- BTwelve
- CFive
- DThree
Answer: Seven
Revelation 1:11 · ESV
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea receive seven letters. They were real congregations in real cities of Asia, but seven is the book's number of completeness, so what is said to them is said to the whole church, and each letter ends with a call to hear.
Revelation 1:11 names the seven, and chapters 2 and 3 give a letter to each in turn.
Why not this one. Twelve belongs to the tribes, the apostles, and the gates of the city later in Revelation; the letters at the front of the book are seven.
Medium Bible Numbers & Statistics
According to Mark, the darkness at the crucifixion lasted from the sixth hour to the ninth. How many hours is that?
- AThreeCorrect
- BOne
- CSix
- DNine
Answer: Three
Mark 15:33 · ESV
From the sixth hour to the ninth is three hours, roughly midday to mid-afternoon on a reckoning that counts from sunrise. Darkness at noon is the reverse of the natural order, and at the end of it Jesus cried out with the opening words of Psalm 22 and then breathed his last.
Mark 15:33–37 gives the span of darkness, the cry from the cross, the death, and the tearing of the temple curtain.
Why not this one. Six names the hour at which the darkness began rather than its length; the darkness ran from the sixth hour to the ninth.
Hard Bible Numbers & Statistics
Matthew 1:17 divides the genealogy of Jesus into three sets of how many generations each?
- AFourteenCorrect
- BTwelve
- CSeven
- DTen
Answer: Fourteen
Matthew 1:17 · ESV
Matthew counts fourteen from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen from the deportation to the Christ. He states the scheme openly and shapes his list to fit it, omitting some names, so the genealogy is arranged to preach the kingly line and not merely to record it.
Matthew 1:17 sets out the three sets of fourteen at the close of the genealogy that opens the Gospel.
Why not this one. Seven is half of fourteen and a number Matthew uses elsewhere, but the unit he names in this verse is fourteen.
Easy Bible Numbers & Statistics
How many days and nights did the rain fall in the account of the flood?
- AFortyCorrect
- BSeven
- COne hundred and fifty
- DThree hundred and sixty-five
Answer: Forty
Genesis 7:12 · ESV
Two different spans are given in the same chapter and they are often run together. The rain fell for forty days and forty nights; the waters then prevailed on the earth for a hundred and fifty days before beginning to subside. The forty is the downpour, not the whole flood, which took a full year from beginning to end.
Genesis 7:12; Genesis 7:24; Genesis 8:13-14.
Why not this one. This is a real number from the same account, and the closest of the four: it is how long the waters prevailed after the rain stopped. The question asks about the rain itself.
Medium Bible Numbers & Statistics
How many elders does John see seated on thrones around the throne of God in Revelation 4?
- A24Correct
- B12
- C70
- D144
Answer: 24
Revelation 4:4 · ESV
Twenty-four elders sit on twenty-four thrones, clothed in white with golden crowns. The number is commonly read as twelve joined to twelve, the tribes of Israel and the apostles of the Lamb, so that the whole people of God from both testaments is gathered in one act of worship.
Revelation 4:4 places them around the throne, and verse 10 shows them falling down and casting their crowns before him.
Why not this one. Seventy is the number of elders Moses appointed to help bear the burden of the people in Numbers 11, not the number John sees enthroned.
Hard Bible Numbers & Statistics
Numbers 14:34 sets Israel's forty years in the wilderness at a year for each of what?
- AEach of the forty days the spies searched the landCorrect
- BEach of the forty days Moses was on Sinai
- CEach of the forty days of rain in the flood
- DEach of the forty stripes allowed by the law
Answer: Each of the forty days the spies searched the land
Numbers 14:34 · ESV
The twelve spent forty days scouting Canaan and came back with a report that broke the nation's nerve. God answers with a year of wandering for each day of that reconnaissance, so the sentence is measured out by the sin itself and the generation that refused to enter dies in the desert.
Numbers 13:25 gives the forty days of spying, and Numbers 14:34 ties the forty years directly to them, a year for each day.
Why not this one. Moses did spend forty days on the mountain, but Numbers 14:34 names the spies' forty days as the measure of the sentence.
Easy Bible Numbers & Statistics
The section of the Old Testament called the Minor Prophets, running from Hosea to Malachi, contains how many books?
- A12Correct
- B10
- C5
- D17
Answer: 12
Hosea 1:1 · ESV
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi make twelve. They are called minor for their length and not for their weight, and they were traditionally copied together on a single scroll known simply as the Twelve.
The twelve close the Old Testament in the English arrangement, running from Hosea 1:1 through Malachi 4:6.
Why not this one. Five is the count of the Major Prophets, Isaiah through Daniel, which are grouped by their far greater length.
Medium Bible Numbers & Statistics
Which is the shortest book of the Old Testament, at a single chapter of twenty-one verses?
- AObadiahCorrect
- BHaggai
- CNahum
- DMalachi
Answer: Obadiah
Obadiah 1 · ESV
Obadiah runs to one chapter of twenty-one verses, an oracle against Edom for standing aside and gloating while Jerusalem was plundered. It is the shortest book in the Old Testament by any measure, and the only Old Testament book with no chapter division at all.
The whole book is Obadiah 1:1–21, moving from the charge against Edom to the promise that the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
Why not this one. Haggai is short but runs to two chapters and thirty-eight verses, comfortably longer than Obadiah's single chapter, and its subject is the rebuilding of the temple rather than Edom.
Hard Bible Numbers & Statistics
Sarah is the one woman in Scripture whose age at death is recorded. How old was she?
- A127Correct
- B90
- C110
- D137
Answer: 127
Genesis 23:1 · ESV
Sarah lived a hundred twenty-seven years and died at Kiriath-arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned for her and then bought the cave of Machpelah as a burying place, the first piece of the promised land actually held by the family.
Genesis 23:1–2 records her years and her death, and verses 17–20 the purchase of the field and cave from the Hittites.
Why not this one. Ninety was her age when God promised that she would bear Isaac and Abraham laughed at the thought, not her age at death.
Easy Bible Numbers & Statistics
How many chapters does the book of Psalms contain — the most of any book in the Bible?
- A120
- B135
- C150Correct
- D175
Answer: 150
Psalms (book overview) · ESV
The one hundred fifty are arranged in five books, ending at Psalms 41, 72, 89, 106, and 150, each of the first four closing with a short doxology. The fivefold shape has long been understood as a deliberate echo of the five books of Moses, and Psalm 150 serves as the doxology that closes the whole collection.
Psalms 41:13, 72:18-19, 89:52, 106:48, 150
Why not this one. Guessing high is understandable, since the Greek Septuagint carries an additional psalm about David and Goliath, numbered 151 and explicitly marked as outside the count. Even with it the total is one, not twenty-five, beyond one hundred fifty.
Medium Bible Numbers & Statistics
How many days was Jesus tempted by the devil in the wilderness?
- A3
- B7
- C40Correct
- D100
Answer: 40
Matthew 4:2 · ESV
The forty days are set against Israel's forty years, and the parallel is drawn in the answers themselves: Jesus replies to each temptation from Deuteronomy 6 through 8, the very passages that interpret Israel's testing in the wilderness. Where the nation grumbled and failed, he stands. Moses had likewise gone forty days without food on Sinai.
Matthew 4:1-11; Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, 6:13; Exodus 34:28
Why not this one. Three is right about the structure of the account, since Matthew records three temptations, but those come at the end of the fast rather than measuring its length. The tempting happened throughout the forty days; the three exchanges are what the Gospel writers preserve.
Hard Bible Numbers & Statistics
Leviticus 25 counts seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven. The Year of Jubilee is then proclaimed in which year?
- AThe fiftiethCorrect
- BThe forty-ninth
- CThe seventieth
- DThe seventh
Answer: The fiftieth
Leviticus 25:8–10 · ESV
Seven sevens make forty-nine, and the jubilee is the year that follows, the fiftieth. On the Day of Atonement a trumpet sounds, liberty is proclaimed throughout the land, ancestral property returns to the family that lost it, and Israelites sold into servitude go free.
Leviticus 25:8–10 gives the count of forty-nine years and the consecration of the fiftieth as the year of liberty.
Why not this one. Forty-nine is the sum of the seven sabbaths of years that lead up to the jubilee; the jubilee itself is the year after them.