Job and Psalms Bible Trivia Questions

Easy Old Testament — Job & Psalms

How many sons and daughters did Job have before his trials began?

1. ASeven sons and three daughtersCorrect
2. BThree sons and seven daughters
3. CTen sons and ten daughters
4. DFive sons and five daughters

Answer: Seven sons and three daughters

Job 1:2 · ESV

Ten children, seven sons and three daughters, all of them grown and holding feasts in one another's houses. They are the reason for the habit described in 1:5, where Job rises early to offer a burnt offering for each of them in case they have sinned in their hearts. All ten die in the fourth blow, when a great wind out of the wilderness strikes the house where they are eating.

Job 1:2; compare Job 1:5 and 1:18–19

Why not this one. The right numbers in the wrong order. It matters at the end of the book, because Job 42:13 gives him seven sons and three daughters again, and then names only the three daughters and records that they received an inheritance alongside their brothers.

Medium Old Testament — Job & Psalms

The superscription of Psalm 51 connects it to a specific event in David’s life. What was that event?

1. AWhen Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone in to BathshebaCorrect
2. BWhen Saul sought to take his life in the cave of Adullam
3. CWhen he brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem
4. DWhen he fled from his son Absalom

Answer: When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba

Psalm 51:1 (superscription) · ESV

The heading ties the psalm to 2 Samuel 12, where Nathan tells David the parable of the poor man's lamb, then names him as the man in it. These superscriptions are part of the Hebrew text, not later captions, and thirteen of them link a psalm to a specific episode in David's life. Psalm 51 is the best known of the seven traditionally called the penitential psalms.

Psalm 51 superscription; 2 Samuel 12:1–14

Why not this one. That is a real Davidic superscription, but it belongs to Psalm 3, which is a morning psalm of confidence with enemies all around rather than a confession. The Absalom revolt is itself part of the judgment Nathan announced, which is probably why the two events sit so close together in memory.

Hard Old Testament — Job & Psalms

What is the shortest Psalm?

1. APsalm 117 .Correct
2. BPsalm 100 .
3. CPsalm 134 .
4. DPsalm 23 .

Answer: Psalm 117 .

2 verses · ESV

Psalm 117 is two verses long and consists of a call and a reason: all nations and peoples are summoned to praise, because his steadfast love toward Israel is great and his faithfulness endures. Its brevity is not its only interest. Paul quotes it in Romans 15:11 as one of four Old Testament proofs that the Gentiles were always meant to join Israel in praising God.

Psalm 117; quoted in Romans 15:11

Why not this one. A fair guess, since Psalm 134 is only three verses and is the shortest of the fifteen Songs of Ascents, the last one before the pilgrim reaches the temple. Three verses is short, but 117 is shorter by a third.

Easy Old Testament — Job & Psalms

According to Psalm 103:12, how far has the LORD removed our transgressions from us?

1. AAs far as the east is from the westCorrect
2. BAs deep as the depths of the sea
3. CAs far as the ends of the earth
4. DAs wide as the span of the heavens

Answer: As far as the east is from the west

Psalm 103:12 · ESV

Psalm 103 measures forgiveness by a distance that cannot be closed: east and west never meet, however far you travel. The psalm sets this beside the picture of a father's compassion for his children and God's knowledge that we are dust. Forgiveness here is not a partial distance but a separation that cannot be measured or reversed.

Psalm 103:11–14.

Why not this one. Casting sins into the depths of the sea is real biblical language, but it comes at the end of Micah, not in Psalm 103. This psalm's picture is horizontal distance, not depth.

Medium Old Testament — Job & Psalms

After the seven days of silence, Job is the first to speak. What does he do in that opening speech?

1. AHe curses the day of his birthCorrect
2. BHe curses God for his losses
3. CHe confesses a secret sin
4. DHe demands that his friends leave him

Answer: He curses the day of his birth

Job 3:1–3 · ESV

Job breaks the silence by cursing the day he was born and asking why he did not die at birth. It is bitter speech, and it is not the same thing as cursing God, which is what Satan predicted and what Job never does. He asks why light is given to one in misery, and that question opens the long dispute which follows.

Job 3:1–11; compare the accuser's prediction in Job 1:11 and 2:5.

Why not this one. This is precisely what Satan wagered Job would do, and what the book is at pains to say he did not do. Job protests, complains and demands a hearing, but he never curses God.

Hard Old Testament — Job & Psalms

What is the middle chapter of the Bible?

1. APsalm 117.Correct
2. BPsalm 118.
3. CPsalm 119.
4. DPsalm 100.

Answer: Psalm 117.

Counting the 1,189 chapters of the Protestant canon, Psalm 117 falls at number 595, with 594 chapters on either side of it. Worth knowing: the chapter divisions themselves are a medieval convenience, generally credited to Stephen Langton in the thirteenth century, and the verse numbers are later still. The shortest psalm landing exactly in the middle is a pleasant accident of that scheme, not a feature of the inspired text.

Psalm 117

Why not this one. Psalm 118 usually gets pulled into this because of a popular claim that Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible. That verse-count claim does not hold up, and even if it did, the middle chapter is counted separately and lands one psalm earlier.

Easy Old Testament — Job & Psalms

How many Psalms are in the book of Psalms?

1. A150.Correct
2. B120.
3. C160.
4. D175.

Answer: 150.

The Psalter as received in the Hebrew text runs to 150 psalms, arranged in five books, each of the first four closing with a doxology and the whole collection closing with Psalm 150. The Greek Old Testament divides and joins a few psalms differently, so its numbering runs one behind the Hebrew through much of the middle, and it appends a Psalm 151 that the church has never received as canonical.

Psalms 1–150; the book divisions close at 41:13, 72:18–19, 89:52, and 106:48

Why not this one. This is likely a memory of Psalms 120 through 134, the fifteen Songs of Ascents sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. That block starts at 120; it does not end the book, and thirty more psalms follow it.

Medium Old Testament — Job & Psalms

In Psalm 90 the psalmist asks God to teach us to number our days. To what end?

1. AThat we may get a heart of wisdomCorrect
2. BThat we may not fear death
3. CThat we may finish our appointed work
4. DThat we may keep the appointed feasts

Answer: That we may get a heart of wisdom

Psalm 90:12 · ESV

The prayer follows a long meditation on the brevity of life set against God's eternity: a thousand years are like yesterday to him, while our years are seventy or eighty and soon gone. Counting our days rightly is what produces wisdom. The psalm ends by asking that God's work be shown to his servants and that he establish the work of their hands.

Psalm 90:4–12.

Why not this one. Psalm 90 does not offer relief from the fear of death; it stares at mortality as the fruit of God's anger against sin. What it asks for is wisdom, and then that God would establish the work of our hands.

Hard Old Testament — Job & Psalms

The superscriptions of Psalms 88 and 89 name two men called Ezrahites. Who are they?

1. AHeman and EthanCorrect
2. BAsaph and Jeduthun
3. CMoses and Solomon
4. DDavid and Asaph

Answer: Heman and Ethan

Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 superscriptions · ESV

Psalm 88 is credited to Heman the Ezrahite and Psalm 89 to Ethan the Ezrahite, and together they close Book III. Both men are named among the wise in Solomon's day and among the Levitical musicians. Their two psalms stand back to back, one ending in darkness and the other wrestling with God's covenant promise to David.

The superscriptions of Psalms 88 and 89; 1 Kings 4:31 names both men.

Why not this one. Both names really do appear in psalm titles: Asaph over twelve psalms, and Jeduthun in the headings of Psalms 39, 62 and 77. Neither is called an Ezrahite, and neither heads Psalm 88 or 89.

Easy Old Testament — Job & Psalms

Psalm 42 opens with an image of longing for God. To what does the psalmist compare his soul?

1. AA deer panting for flowing streamsCorrect
2. BA weaned child resting with its mother
3. CA sparrow that has found a home
4. DA tree planted by water

Answer: A deer panting for flowing streams

Psalm 42:1 · ESV

The psalm begins with thirst. As a deer pants for running water, so the psalmist's soul pants for God, and he asks when he will come and appear before him. The image sets up a psalm of longing written from a distance from the sanctuary. Longing rather than contentment is the note this psalm sounds from its first line.

Psalm 42:1–2, a psalm of the sons of Korah.

Why not this one. The weaned child is the image of Psalm 131, where the point is quieted contentment rather than thirst. Psalm 42 is the opposite mood: an unsatisfied longing for God's presence.

Medium Old Testament — Job & Psalms

In Acts 4, released from custody, Peter and John join the believers in a prayer that quotes a psalm about the nations raging and the kings of the earth setting themselves against the LORD and his Anointed. Which psalm?

1. APsalm 2Correct
2. BPsalm 16
3. CPsalm 110
4. DPsalm 118

Answer: Psalm 2

Acts 4:25–26 · ESV

The church prays the opening of Psalm 2 and then identifies its figures: Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered against God's holy servant Jesus. The New Testament thus reads this royal psalm of Christ. What the church then asks for is not safety but boldness to keep speaking.

Acts 4:24–28 quoting Psalm 2:1–2.

Why not this one. Psalm 110 is quoted more often than any other psalm in the New Testament, but for the session at God's right hand and the priesthood of Melchizedek. The raging nations and conspiring kings belong to Psalm 2.

Hard Old Testament — Job & Psalms

Psalms 73–83 form a solid block bearing one man's name in their superscriptions. Whose?

1. AAsaphCorrect
2. BThe sons of Korah
3. CHeman the Ezrahite
4. DEthan the Ezrahite

Answer: Asaph

Psalms 73–83 superscriptions · ESV

Asaph was one of the Levites David appointed over the music of the house of the LORD, and twelve psalms carry his name: Psalm 50 and this unbroken run at the head of Book III. Psalm 73, on the prosperity of the wicked, opens the block.

The superscriptions of Psalm 50 and Psalms 73–83; 1 Chronicles 16:4–7 for Asaph's appointment.

Why not this one. The sons of Korah are a real group of psalm titles, covering Psalms 42, 44–49, 84, 85, 87 and 88. Their psalms sit on either side of the Asaph block rather than within it.