Bible People and Names Trivia Questions

Easy People & Names

Who was the mother of John the Baptist?

1. AElizabethCorrect
2. BMary
3. CAnna
4. DSalome

Answer: Elizabeth

Luke 1:13 · ESV

She was of the daughters of Aaron, married to the priest Zechariah, and Luke says both were righteous and blameless but childless and well along in years. Gabriel announced the birth to Zechariah at the altar of incense and struck him mute for doubting. She kept herself hidden five months, and when her relative came to visit, the child leaped inside her and she was the first to call Mary the mother of her Lord.

Luke 1:5-13, 39-45

Why not this one. The two women are relatives, they are pregnant at the same time, and Luke tells their annunciations side by side in one chapter, which is why the names blur. She is the visitor in that scene and the mother of Jesus, not of his forerunner.

Medium People & Names

Which woman in the book of Acts was a seller of purple goods from Thyatira, and the first convert in Europe?

1. ALydiaCorrect
2. BPriscilla
3. CPhoebe
4. DTabitha

Answer: Lydia

Acts 16:14 · ESV

Paul found no synagogue in Philippi, so on the Sabbath he went to the riverside where women had gathered to pray. She was a dealer in purple cloth, an expensive trade, originally from Thyatira in Asia, and already a worshiper of God. Luke says the Lord opened her heart to pay attention, which locates the cause of her faith outside herself. She and her household were baptized, and she pressed the missionaries to stay in her home.

Acts 16:13-15

Why not this one. She is the other well-known woman in Acts who opened her home to Paul and worked beside him, which makes the two easy to swap. She met Paul in Corinth after being expelled from Italy, and the purple trade and Thyatira belong to the woman at Philippi.

Hard People & Names

Which son of Elimelech and Naomi was Ruth's first husband, named by Boaz at the redemption in the gate?

1. AMahlonCorrect
2. BChilion
3. CElimelech
4. DObed

Answer: Mahlon

Ruth 4:9–10 · ESV

Boaz declared before the elders that he was buying all that had belonged to Elimelech and his sons, and that he was taking Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. Naming the dead husband is the point of the levirate custom being honored.

Ruth 4:9–10; the family is introduced in Ruth 1:1–5.

Why not this one. Chilion was the other son who died in Moab, but Ruth 4 names Mahlon, not Chilion, as the husband whose widow Boaz redeemed; the first chapter never pairs the sons with their wives.

Easy People & Names

Who was the father of Solomon?

1. ADavidCorrect
2. BSaul
3. CJesse
4. DJonathan

Answer: David

2 Samuel 12:24 · ESV

The birth comes directly after the death of the first child born to Bathsheba, in the chapter where Nathan confronts the king. The text says the LORD loved the boy and sent word through Nathan to call him Jedidiah, beloved of the LORD, which is a striking thing to say over a marriage that began in adultery and murder. Solomon was not the eldest son and had no natural claim to the throne.

2 Samuel 12:24-25

Why not this one. He is the father in this family, just one generation off, the Bethlehemite whose eight sons were paraded past Samuel until the youngest was sent for from the sheep. He is the grandfather of the king in question.

Medium People & Names

Who was the first high priest of Israel?

1. AAaronCorrect
2. BEleazar
3. CPhinehas
4. DIthamar

Answer: Aaron

Exodus 28:1 · ESV

The office is created by command at Sinai, with Aaron and his four sons called out of the people to serve as priests and Aaron alone given the ephod, the breastpiece with twelve stones, and the turban with its gold plate. He alone entered the Most Holy Place, once a year on the Day of Atonement, and Hebrews reads that yearly repetition as proof the arrangement was never final.

Exodus 28:1-4; Leviticus 16

Why not this one. He genuinely held the office, succeeding his father after Aaron's garments were transferred to him on Mount Hor and Aaron died there. He was the third to hold it in the family and the second overall, not the first.

Hard People & Names

Which of Paul's companions did he say he had left ill at Miletus, in his last recorded letter?

1. ATrophimusCorrect
2. BTychicus
3. CErastus
4. DEpaphroditus

Answer: Trophimus

2 Timothy 4:20 · ESV

Trophimus was an Ephesian whose presence in Jerusalem sparked the riot that led to Paul's arrest. In the closing notes of 2 Timothy, written among Paul's last personal instructions as he asks Timothy to come before winter, he mentions leaving this companion behind sick. It is a plain reminder that the apostle did not heal his friends at will.

2 Timothy 4:20; Trophimus appears in Acts 20:4 and 21:29.

Why not this one. Erastus is named in that very verse, but Paul says he remained at Corinth; the companion left behind sick was Trophimus.

Easy People & Names

Which nephew of Abraham settled in Sodom and was brought out of the city by angels before its destruction?

1. ALotCorrect
2. BEliezer
3. CIshmael
4. DBethuel

Answer: Lot

Genesis 19:1–17 · ESV

Lot had chosen the well-watered Jordan Valley and ended up dwelling in Sodom. When judgment came, the angels seized him and his family by the hand because he lingered, the LORD being merciful to him. Peter still calls him righteous, a man worn down by the conduct of the city around him.

Genesis 13:10–12 for the choice; Genesis 19:1–17 for the rescue; 2 Peter 2:7–8.

Why not this one. Eliezer of Damascus was Abraham's servant and his prospective heir before Isaac was born; he is never linked with the cities of the valley.

Medium People & Names

Which runaway slave, converted while Paul was in prison, was sent back to his master with a letter asking that he be received as a beloved brother?

1. AOnesimusCorrect
2. BEpaphras
3. CTychicus
4. DArchippus

Answer: Onesimus

Philemon 10–16 · ESV

Paul calls Onesimus his child, begotten in his imprisonment, and sends him back to Philemon no longer merely as a slave but as a brother in the Lord. Paul offers to cover whatever the man owes, putting himself in the debtor's place while leaving the master free to act willingly.

Philemon 10–19; Onesimus is named again as a faithful and beloved brother in Colossians 4:9.

Why not this one. Tychicus travelled with Onesimus and carried the letter to Colossae, but he was Paul's free fellow servant, not the returning slave.

Hard People & Names

Which of David's wives had first been married to a harsh Calebite of Maon whose folly nearly brought bloodshed on his whole household?

1. AAbigailCorrect
2. BAhinoam
3. CMaacah
4. DBathsheba

Answer: Abigail

1 Samuel 25:2–42 · ESV

Nabal insulted David's men after they had guarded his shepherds, and Abigail intercepted David with provisions and a plea that kept him from avenging himself with his own hand. She addressed him as one who fights the LORD's battles and asked that he not carry the guilt of blood. Nabal died about ten days later, struck by the LORD, and David took Abigail as his wife.

1 Samuel 25:2–42, with the plea itself in verses 23–31.

Why not this one. Bathsheba had been the wife of Uriah the Hittite, not of Nabal, and she came into David's house much later and in Jerusalem.

Easy People & Names

Who interpreted dreams in the Old Testament and later in Babylon?

1. AMoses (Exodus) and Elijah (1 Kings).
2. BJoseph (Genesis) and Daniel (Daniel).Correct
3. CSolomon (Proverbs) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel).
4. DJacob (Genesis) and Isaiah (Isaiah).

Answer: Joseph (Genesis) and Daniel (Daniel).

The two accounts are deliberately alike. Both men are exiles serving a foreign court, both are handed dreams no one else can read, and both refuse the credit before they say a word, insisting that interpretations belong to God. One reads Pharaoh's seven years of plenty and famine, the other Nebuchadnezzar's great statue and the tree cut to a stump.

Genesis 40-41; Daniel 2 and 4

Why not this one. This half is almost right in a way that trips people. Jacob does have the most famous dream in Genesis, the ladder at Bethel, and Isaiah is a major prophet with visions. Jacob received a dream rather than interpreting anyone else's, and Isaiah's book contains no dream interpretation at all.

Medium People & Names

Which God-fearing centurion at Caesarea sent for Peter and saw his household receive the Holy Spirit?

1. ACorneliusCorrect
2. BJulius
3. CSergius Paulus
4. DPublius

Answer: Cornelius

Acts 10:1–48 · ESV

Cornelius was a devout man who feared God, gave alms, and prayed continually, and an angel told him to send for Peter. While Peter was still speaking the Spirit fell on all who heard, and the circumcised believers were astonished that the gift was poured out on Gentiles. Baptism followed the evident work of God.

Acts 10:1–48; Peter defends the episode in Acts 11:1–18.

Why not this one. Julius was the centurion of the Augustan Cohort who treated Paul kindly on the voyage to Rome, years later and with no such visitation.

Hard People & Names

Which Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, had John the Baptist beheaded after a rash oath at a birthday banquet?

1. AHerod AntipasCorrect
2. BHerod the Great
3. CHerod Agrippa I
4. DHerod Agrippa II

Answer: Herod Antipas

Matthew 14:1–12 · ESV

John had told the tetrarch that his marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife, was unlawful. Herod feared John and heard him gladly, but a promise made before his guests trapped him, and he sent for the prophet's head. This is the same Herod to whom Pilate sent Jesus during the trial.

Matthew 14:1–12 and Mark 6:17–29; Luke 23:6–12 records the hearing before this same Herod.

Why not this one. Herod the Great was the king who ordered the killing of the infants at Bethlehem, and he had died while Jesus was still a young child.