ESV · free iPhone quiz
Genesis Bible Trivia Questions and Answers
Questions on creation, the garden, the fall, Cain and Abel, the flood, and Babel. The app has 106 questions in this set. 3 more quote the ESV at length, and those stay in the app rather than on this page. 12 are printed here.
Questions and answers
Easy Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
What was the name of the garden where Adam and Eve lived?
- AThe Garden of Eden.Correct
- BThe Garden of Gethsemane.
- CThe Garden of the Lord.
- DThe Garden of Nod.
Answer: The Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:8 · ESV
God plants a garden in Eden, in the east, and puts the man there to work it and keep it. Eden is the wider region; the garden is the planted place within it, watered by a river that flows out and divides into four heads. When Adam and Eve are driven out, cherubim are stationed at its east entrance, and the tree that stood at its center reappears at the very end of Scripture in Revelation 22.
Genesis 2:8–15
Why not this one. Gethsemane is the olive grove across the Kidron where Jesus prayed the night he was betrayed. Christians have long noticed that a garden is where the first man fell and where the last Adam submitted, but Gethsemane belongs to the Gospels, not to Genesis.
Medium Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
What were the two special trees in the Garden of Eden?
- AThe tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.Correct
- BThe tree of wisdom and the tree of eternal life.
- CThe tree of blessing and the tree of cursing.
- DThe tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of God.
Answer: The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9 · ESV
Genesis 2:9 has God causing every tree that is pleasant and good for food to grow, then singles out two standing in the middle of the garden. One is the tree of life. The other, named for the knowledge of good and evil, is the only tree in the garden that carries a prohibition. After the fall the concern shifts back to the first, and Adam and Eve are driven out precisely so that they will not eat of it and live forever in their ruined state.
Genesis 2:9; 3:22
Why not this one. Half of it is right, and the slip looks small, but knowing God and knowing good and evil are not the same thing. The forbidden tree offered moral autonomy, deciding good and evil for oneself, which is exactly what the serpent promised.
Hard Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
Genesis 10 lists Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras as the sons of which man?
- AJaphethCorrect
- BShem
- CHam
- DCanaan
Answer: Japheth
Genesis 10:2 · ESV
The table of nations opens with Japheth's line, whose descendants are associated with the coastland peoples spread to the north and the west. Ham's line follows, and then Shem's, so that every nation of the earth is traced back to one of Noah's three sons and no people stands outside that account.
Genesis 10:2 to 5, with Ham's line at 10:6 and Shem's at 10:21.
Why not this one. Ham's sons are Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan, listed only a few verses later in the same chapter. None of the seven names given in the question belongs anywhere in his line.
Easy Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
Who gave names to the livestock, the birds of the heavens, and every beast of the field?
- AThe manCorrect
- BThe LORD God
- CThe woman
- DThe serpent
Answer: The man
Genesis 2:19–20 · ESV
God brought the creatures to Adam to see what he would call them, and whatever he called each living creature became its name. Naming is an exercise of the dominion granted in Genesis 1, and the survey also demonstrates that among all the animals no helper fit for the man was found.
Genesis 2:19 to 20, which ends by noting that no fit helper was found for Adam.
Why not this one. God does the naming in Genesis 1, calling out Day, Night, Heaven, Earth, and Seas. When the creatures are made, he deliberately hands that work to the man instead of doing it himself.
Medium Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
What was the stated purpose of the builders of the tower of Babel for building a tower with its top in the heavens?
- ATo worship God on a high place nearer to heaven
- BTo make a name for themselves, lest they be dispersed over the face of the whole earthCorrect
- CTo demonstrate their skill and wisdom to the nations around them
- DTo create a monument as a memorial to those who died in the Flood
Answer: To make a name for themselves, lest they be dispersed over the face of the whole earth
Genesis 11:4 · ESV
The builders state both motives themselves in Genesis 11:4: a name of their own making, and staying together rather than being spread across the earth. Both cut against what God had said, since Genesis 9:1 charged Noah's family to fill the earth. And a name is exactly what God freely gives Abram in the next chapter, which is part of why Genesis 11 and 12 sit side by side.
Genesis 9:1; 11:4; 12:2
Why not this one. Ziggurats in that region really did serve as temple platforms, so the guess has some history behind it. But the account never mentions worship at all; the builders speak only of their own name and their own staying together, and the judgment answers exactly that.
Hard Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
On the day-age reading of Genesis 1, what is the Hebrew word yom taken to mean in the creation week?
- AA long but finite period of timeCorrect
- BAn ordinary day of about twenty-four hours
- CA literary device carrying no reference to duration at all
- DAn eternal state standing outside of time
Answer: A long but finite period of time
Genesis 1:5 · ESV
The day-age reading holds that each creative day covers an extended epoch, appealing to the flexible use of the word elsewhere in Scripture, as in the day of the LORD. Orthodox and inerrantist Christians divide here, and a confession like the Baptist Faith and Message leaves the question open rather than binding the conscience.
The term appears first at Genesis 1:5; compare its wider use at Genesis 2:4 and in 2 Peter 3:8.
Why not this one. That is the ordinary-day reading held by young-earth creationists, and it is the position from which the day-age view is explicitly distinguished. Both are held by Christians who affirm the full truth of Genesis.
Easy Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
What was the sign of God’s covenant with Noah after the flood?
- AA rainbow.Correct
- BA burning torch.
- CA pillar of cloud.
- DA dove with an olive branch.
Answer: A rainbow.
Genesis 9:13 · ESV
After the flood God sets his bow in the cloud as the sign of a covenant made not only with Noah but with every living creature and with the earth itself. The promise runs one way: he will never again cut off all flesh by a flood. A bow is a weapon, and this one is hung in the sky pointed away, and God says that when he sees it he will remember, which puts the remembering on his side rather than ours.
Genesis 9:12–17
Why not this one. The dove and the olive leaf come from Genesis 8:11 and have become the standing emblem of the whole story, so they slide easily into the place of the sign. The dove was Noah's way of testing the water level; the bow is what God himself named.
Medium Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
What bird did Noah first send out from the ark?
- AA raven.Correct
- BA dove.
- CA sparrow.
- DAn eagle.
Answer: A raven.
Genesis 8:7 · ESV
Forty days after the mountaintops appear, Noah opens the window of the ark and sends out a raven, which goes back and forth until the waters have dried from the earth. A raven eats carrion and will settle on anything floating, so it tells him almost nothing. The dove is the more sensitive instrument, and the point of her first flight is that she finds nowhere to set her foot and comes back to his hand.
Genesis 8:6–9
Why not this one. The dove is the bird the story is remembered by, and she is sent out three times, so it feels as though she must have gone first. Genesis 8:7 gives the raven that place; the dove's first flight comes in the next verse.
Hard Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
Genesis 2 says the land of Havilah has good gold. What two other things does it name as found there?
- ABdellium and onyx stoneCorrect
- BFrankincense and myrrh
- CSapphire and jasper
- DSilver and ivory
Answer: Bdellium and onyx stone
Genesis 2:11–12 · ESV
The description of Havilah is unexpectedly detailed for a geographical aside, naming a fragrant resin and a precious stone alongside the gold of that land. Onyx later turns up among the stones set in the high priest's ephod and breastpiece, and bdellium is used to describe the appearance of manna.
Genesis 2:11 to 12, with onyx in Exodus 28:9 to 20 and bdellium in Numbers 11:7.
Why not this one. Those are the aromatics associated with the tabernacle incense and with the gifts brought to the infant Christ. Neither of them appears anywhere in the description of Havilah in Genesis 2.
Easy Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
Of what material did God tell Noah to build the ark?
- AGopher woodCorrect
- BCedar of Lebanon
- CAcacia wood
- DReeds and pitch
Answer: Gopher wood
Genesis 6:14 · ESV
God specified the material as well as the dimensions of the ark, and told Noah to coat it with pitch inside and out. The vessel was built to divine instruction rather than to Noah's own design, which is part of why the New Testament treats its construction as a sustained act of faith in a warning about things not yet seen.
Genesis 6:14 to 16, with Noah's obedience commended in Hebrews 11:7.
Why not this one. Acacia is the wood specified for the tabernacle furnishings under Moses, including the ark of the covenant and its poles. It belongs to Exodus, and confusing the two arks is the easy mistake here.
Medium Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
According to Genesis 2:2, what did God do on the seventh day of creation?
- AHe rested from all his work that he had doneCorrect
- BHe blessed the earth and all living things
- CHe formed man from the dust of the ground
- DHe established the covenant of works with Adam
Answer: He rested from all his work that he had done
Genesis 2:2 · ESV
Genesis 2:2 says God finished his work on the seventh day and rested from all of it, and then he blesses that day and makes it holy. The blessing of living creatures had already come on days five and six, and the forming of man from dust in Genesis 2:7 belongs to the passage that circles back over the sixth day. The seventh alone has no evening and morning closing it out.
Genesis 2:1–3
Why not this one. God does bless in Genesis 1, the sea creatures and birds in verse 22 and man in verse 28, so blessing sounds like the right register for the seventh day too. What he blesses on the seventh day is the day itself.
Hard Old Testament — Genesis & Creation
Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 surveys the whole created order in sequence. What does the account beginning at Genesis 2:4 concentrate on instead?
- AThe forming of the man, the garden entrusted to him, and the making of the womanCorrect
- BThe naming of the nations that descended from Noah's three sons
- CThe making of the sun, moon, and stars and the seasons they govern
- DThe fall of the serpent and the stationing of the cherubim
Answer: The forming of the man, the garden entrusted to him, and the making of the woman
Genesis 2:4–25 · ESV
The two accounts are complementary rather than rival. The first moves from the heavens downward to man as the crown of the week; the second narrows to the man himself, the ground he is taken from, the garden he is placed in to work and keep, and the woman given him as a helper fit for him.
Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 read alongside Genesis 2:4 to 25.
Why not this one. Both of those belong to Genesis 3, which follows this account rather than forming part of it. Genesis 2 closes with the man and the woman naked and unashamed, before any of that has happened.