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Bible Trivia: Genesis — printable

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Bible Trivia: Genesis — printable

Name: ______________________________ Date: ____________ Score: ______

  1. 1. Who was told to build an ark? Easy

    1. A Abraham
    2. B Enoch
    3. C Methuselah
    4. D Noah

  2. 2. What is placed in the sky as the sign of the covenant after the flood? Easy

    1. A A star
    2. B A rainbow
    3. C A cloud
    4. D A dove

  3. 3. Which city’s tower is described in Genesis 11? Easy

    1. A Ur
    2. B Nineveh
    3. C Babel
    4. D Sodom

  4. 4. Who are the first two sons of Adam and Eve named in Genesis? Easy

    1. A Cain and Abel
    2. B Cain and Seth
    3. C Abel and Seth
    4. D Seth and Enosh

  5. 5. What did Esau trade for a meal of stew? Medium

    1. A His father’s blessing
    2. B His flocks
    3. C His birthright
    4. D His name

  6. 6. Where does Jacob dream of a stairway reaching to heaven? Medium

    1. A Bethel
    2. B Beersheba
    3. C Hebron
    4. D Peniel

  7. 7. Who is described as “priest of God Most High” when he meets Abraham? Medium

    1. A Aaron
    2. B Jethro
    3. C Abimelech
    4. D Melchizedek

  8. 8. Which of Jacob’s sons proposed selling Joseph rather than killing him? Medium

    1. A Reuben
    2. B Judah
    3. C Simeon
    4. D Levi

  9. 9. What name is Jacob given after wrestling through the night? Hard

    1. A Jeshurun
    2. B Israel
    3. C Peniel
    4. D Edom

  10. 10. Which field does Abraham buy as a burial place for Sarah? Hard

    1. A Mamre
    2. B Moriah
    3. C Shechem
    4. D Machpelah

  11. 11. Who is named as the father of Abraham? Hard

    1. A Terah
    2. B Nahor
    3. C Haran
    4. D Peleg

  12. 12. What are the two cities destroyed in Genesis 19? Hard

    1. A Admah and Zeboiim
    2. B Sodom and Zoar
    3. C Sodom and Gomorrah
    4. D Gomorrah and Zoar

Answer key — teacher’s sheet

Print pages separately: hand out the worksheet, keep this one.

  1. 1. D — Noah

    Genesis 6:14, where the instruction is to build it of gopher wood, in three decks, and to pitch it inside and out. Methuselah is Noah's grandfather and the longest-lived name in the genealogy, which is why he so often gets attached to the story; Enoch is his father, and Genesis 5:24 says he did not die at all.

  2. 2. B — A rainbow

    Genesis 9:13 — the bow set in the cloud, given as the sign of a covenant made not only with Noah but with every living creature. The dove belongs to the earlier scene in chapter 8, sent out three times to test whether the waters had gone down; it is a test, not a sign.

  3. 3. C — Babel

    Genesis 11:1–9. The tower is at Babel, and the story explains the name by a play on the Hebrew balal, to confuse. Ur of the Chaldeans is where Abraham's family starts out two verses later; Nineveh belongs to Assyria, more than a thousand years further on.

  4. 4. A — Cain and Abel

    Genesis 4:1–2 names Cain first, then Abel. Seth arrives only at 4:25, and the text says outright why: Eve names him as one appointed in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Enosh is Seth's son, and the line the genealogy of chapter 5 then follows.

  5. 5. C — His birthright

    Genesis 25:29–34. Esau sells the birthright — the elder son's double share — for a bowl of red stew, and the text comments that he despised it. The blessing is a separate transaction two chapters later, taken by deception in Genesis 27. Keeping the two apart is the whole point of the narrative.

  6. 6. A — Bethel

    Genesis 28. He lies down at a place called Luz, dreams of the stairway with messengers going up and down it, and renames the place Bethel, 'house of God'. Peniel is where he wrestles through the night, four chapters later, and that is a different renaming altogether.

  7. 7. D — Melchizedek

    Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brings out bread and wine and is called priest of God Most High. He occupies two verses, has no genealogy and no exit, and is never explained — which is precisely why Psalm 110 and the letter to the Hebrews return to him.

  8. 8. B — Judah

    Genesis 37:26–27. Judah asks what profit there is in killing their brother and concealing his blood, and proposes selling him to the passing traders instead. Reuben, in verses 21–22, is the one trying to save Joseph outright: he suggests the pit intending to come back for him later.

  9. 9. B — Israel

    Genesis 32:28 — 'your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men'. Peniel is the name he gives the place, not himself. Edom is attached to Esau, back in Genesis 25:30, and named for the red stew.

  10. 10. D — Machpelah

    Genesis 23. Abraham buys the field of Machpelah near Mamre from Ephron the Hittite, and the chapter records the negotiation in unusual legal detail — the public setting, the price of four hundred shekels, the boundaries. Mamre is the district it lies in; Moriah belongs to Genesis 22.

  11. 11. A — Terah

    Genesis 11:27. Terah fathers Abram, Nahor and Haran, and later takes the family out of Ur towards Canaan. Haran is both Abraham's brother and, spelled differently in Hebrew, the city where the family settles and Terah dies — a genuine source of confusion that the English spelling makes worse.

  12. 12. C — Sodom and Gomorrah

    Genesis 19:24 — Sodom and Gomorrah. Zoar is explicitly spared at Lot's request in verses 20–22, which is why he is allowed to flee there instead of to the hills. Admah and Zeboiim belong to the same group of cities in Genesis 14 and Deuteronomy 29, but not to this chapter's destruction.

Every question, with the answer and the reason

The interactive module above runs in a sandbox of its own, which means its text is not part of this page. So here is the whole thing in full: all 12 questions, the options as they appear, the answer, and why that answer and not the one beside it. Nothing is held back to make you play first.

Easy

These turn on something stated outright in the text. If you have read the book, you have met the answer.

  1. Who was told to build an ark?

    • Abraham
    • Enoch
    • Methuselah
    • Noah — correct

    Answer: Noah

    Genesis 6:14, where the instruction is to build it of gopher wood, in three decks, and to pitch it inside and out. Methuselah is Noah's grandfather and the longest-lived name in the genealogy, which is why he so often gets attached to the story; Enoch is his father, and Genesis 5:24 says he did not die at all.

  2. What is placed in the sky as the sign of the covenant after the flood?

    • A star
    • A rainbow — correct
    • A cloud
    • A dove

    Answer: A rainbow

    Genesis 9:13 — the bow set in the cloud, given as the sign of a covenant made not only with Noah but with every living creature. The dove belongs to the earlier scene in chapter 8, sent out three times to test whether the waters had gone down; it is a test, not a sign.

  3. Which city’s tower is described in Genesis 11?

    • Ur
    • Nineveh
    • Babel — correct
    • Sodom

    Answer: Babel

    Genesis 11:1–9. The tower is at Babel, and the story explains the name by a play on the Hebrew balal, to confuse. Ur of the Chaldeans is where Abraham's family starts out two verses later; Nineveh belongs to Assyria, more than a thousand years further on.

  4. Who are the first two sons of Adam and Eve named in Genesis?

    • Cain and Abel — correct
    • Cain and Seth
    • Abel and Seth
    • Seth and Enosh

    Answer: Cain and Abel

    Genesis 4:1–2 names Cain first, then Abel. Seth arrives only at 4:25, and the text says outright why: Eve names him as one appointed in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Enosh is Seth's son, and the line the genealogy of chapter 5 then follows.

Medium

These need a detail held in place — a name, a sequence, a number that only means something next to another number.

  1. What did Esau trade for a meal of stew?

    • His father’s blessing
    • His flocks
    • His birthright — correct
    • His name

    Answer: His birthright

    Genesis 25:29–34. Esau sells the birthright — the elder son's double share — for a bowl of red stew, and the text comments that he despised it. The blessing is a separate transaction two chapters later, taken by deception in Genesis 27. Keeping the two apart is the whole point of the narrative.

  2. Where does Jacob dream of a stairway reaching to heaven?

    • Bethel — correct
    • Beersheba
    • Hebron
    • Peniel

    Answer: Bethel

    Genesis 28. He lies down at a place called Luz, dreams of the stairway with messengers going up and down it, and renames the place Bethel, 'house of God'. Peniel is where he wrestles through the night, four chapters later, and that is a different renaming altogether.

  3. Who is described as “priest of God Most High” when he meets Abraham?

    • Aaron
    • Jethro
    • Abimelech
    • Melchizedek — correct

    Answer: Melchizedek

    Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brings out bread and wine and is called priest of God Most High. He occupies two verses, has no genealogy and no exit, and is never explained — which is precisely why Psalm 110 and the letter to the Hebrews return to him.

  4. Which of Jacob’s sons proposed selling Joseph rather than killing him?

    • Reuben
    • Judah — correct
    • Simeon
    • Levi

    Answer: Judah

    Genesis 37:26–27. Judah asks what profit there is in killing their brother and concealing his blood, and proposes selling him to the passing traders instead. Reuben, in verses 21–22, is the one trying to save Joseph outright: he suggests the pit intending to come back for him later.

Hard

These turn on what the evidence actually supports, which is not always what the story is remembered as saying.

  1. What name is Jacob given after wrestling through the night?

    • Jeshurun
    • Israel — correct
    • Peniel
    • Edom

    Answer: Israel

    Genesis 32:28 — 'your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men'. Peniel is the name he gives the place, not himself. Edom is attached to Esau, back in Genesis 25:30, and named for the red stew.

  2. Which field does Abraham buy as a burial place for Sarah?

    • Mamre
    • Moriah
    • Shechem
    • Machpelah — correct

    Answer: Machpelah

    Genesis 23. Abraham buys the field of Machpelah near Mamre from Ephron the Hittite, and the chapter records the negotiation in unusual legal detail — the public setting, the price of four hundred shekels, the boundaries. Mamre is the district it lies in; Moriah belongs to Genesis 22.

  3. Who is named as the father of Abraham?

    • Terah — correct
    • Nahor
    • Haran
    • Peleg

    Answer: Terah

    Genesis 11:27. Terah fathers Abram, Nahor and Haran, and later takes the family out of Ur towards Canaan. Haran is both Abraham's brother and, spelled differently in Hebrew, the city where the family settles and Terah dies — a genuine source of confusion that the English spelling makes worse.

  4. What are the two cities destroyed in Genesis 19?

    • Admah and Zeboiim
    • Sodom and Zoar
    • Sodom and Gomorrah — correct
    • Gomorrah and Zoar

    Answer: Sodom and Gomorrah

    Genesis 19:24 — Sodom and Gomorrah. Zoar is explicitly spared at Lot's request in verses 20–22, which is why he is allowed to flee there instead of to the hills. Admah and Zeboiim belong to the same group of cities in Genesis 14 and Deuteronomy 29, but not to this chapter's destruction.

What this quiz draws on

Books in play: Genesis. Each of those leads to what the book contains, who has been proposed as its author, and how it is dated.

Themes: Creation and origins.

Answers here are drawn from the biblical text and, where an external record bears on the question, from the artefact or publication that carries it. How this site reads a text and how this site is written set out the rules, so you can check the reasoning rather than take the answer on trust.