Bible Trivia: Which Prophet Wrote What

Bible Trivia: Which Prophet Wrote What — printable

Name: ______________________________ Date: ____________ Score: ______

1. Which prophet was swallowed by a great fish? Easy
1. A Amos
2. B Hosea
3. C Nahum
4. D Jonah
2. Which prophet was taken up in a whirlwind, with chariots and horses of fire? Easy
1. A Elisha
2. B Elijah
3. C Isaiah
4. D Enoch
3. Which prophet was set down in a valley full of dry bones? Easy
1. A Jeremiah
2. B Ezekiel
3. C Daniel
4. D Isaiah
4. Which prophet anointed both Saul and David as king? Easy
1. A Nathan
2. B Gad
3. C Elijah
4. D Samuel
5. Which prophet was told to marry a woman named Gomer? Medium
1. A Hosea
2. B Amos
3. C Joel
4. D Micah
6. Which prophet described himself as a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs? Medium
1. A Micah
2. B Habakkuk
3. C Amos
4. D Obadiah
7. Which prophet confronted David with a parable about a poor man’s ewe lamb? Medium
1. A Gad
2. B Ahijah
3. C Samuel
4. D Nathan
8. Which prophetic book of the Old Testament is only a single chapter long? Medium
1. A Haggai
2. B Obadiah
3. C Nahum
4. D Joel
9. Which prophet was carried off to Egypt after the fall of Jerusalem, against his own advice? Hard
1. A Ezekiel
2. B Habakkuk
3. C Jeremiah
4. D Zephaniah
10. In which prophet’s book does a man go out with a measuring line to measure Jerusalem? Hard
1. A Zechariah
2. B Ezekiel
3. C Amos
4. D Daniel
11. Which prophet was told that his wife would die and that he must not mourn for her? Hard
1. A Hosea
2. B Jeremiah
3. C Ezekiel
4. D Isaiah
12. Which prophet asked why the wicked prosper and was answered that the Chaldeans were being raised up? Hard
1. A Habakkuk
2. B Zephaniah
3. C Nahum
4. D Malachi

Answer key — teacher’s sheet

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

1. D — Jonah

Jonah 1:17, followed by the prayer from inside the fish in chapter 2. Nahum is the tempting wrong answer because his book is also about Nineveh — but it announces the city’s fall rather than its repentance.
2. B — Elijah

2 Kings 2:11. Elisha watches it happen and picks up the cloak in 2:13, using it at once to part the Jordan. Elijah, for all his prominence, left no book of his own — everything we have of him is narrated in Kings, which is true of Elisha as well.
3. B — Ezekiel

Ezekiel 37:1–10, where he is told to prophesy to the bones and they come together with a rattling. The vision is explained in 37:11 as being about the whole house of Israel, not about individuals.
4. D — Samuel

1 Samuel 10:1 for Saul and 1 Samuel 16:13 for David. Nathan and Gad both serve in David’s court later, which is why they sound plausible, but neither of them anointed him.
5. A — Hosea

Hosea 1:2–3, where the marriage itself is the message. The three children born in chapter 1 are given sign-names — Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah 'not pitied', and Lo-ammi 'not my people' — and chapter 2 then reverses each of them in turn. The names carry the argument the book is making.
6. C — Amos

Amos 7:14, in his reply to Amaziah the priest at Bethel: “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son.” The line is a denial of the professional title, not of the message he has just delivered.
7. D — Nathan

2 Samuel 12:1–7, ending in “You are the man.” Gad is the seer who brings David the choice of punishments in 2 Samuel 24:11–14, and Ahijah is the prophet who tears his cloak for Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11:29.
8. B — Obadiah

Obadiah, twenty-one verses against Edom, the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible. Haggai is the next shortest at two chapters, which is why it is the usual wrong answer. Much of Obadiah's opening also appears, in a different arrangement, in Jeremiah 49:14–16.
9. C — Jeremiah

Jeremiah 43:5–7, where the remnant takes him to Tahpanhes after he had told them plainly to stay. Ezekiel is the prophet of the other direction — already in Babylon among the exiles, Ezekiel 1:1.
10. A — Zechariah

Zechariah 2:1–2. The confusion is understandable: Ezekiel 40:3 has a man with a linen cord and a measuring reed, and Amos 7:7–8 has the Lord standing by a wall with a plumb line.
11. C — Ezekiel

Ezekiel 24:15–18, where she is called the delight of his eyes and her death is made a sign for the exiles. Jeremiah 16:2 is the nearby confusion — he is told not to marry at all.
12. A — Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1:2–6. The answer is worse than the question — the remedy for injustice is an army more violent still — which is what drives the second complaint at 1:12–17 and the long psalm that closes the book in chapter 3. It is the only prophetic book built as an argument.

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.

Which prophet was swallowed by a great fish?
- Amos
- Hosea
- Nahum
- Jonah — correct
Answer: Jonah
Jonah 1:17, followed by the prayer from inside the fish in chapter 2. Nahum is the tempting wrong answer because his book is also about Nineveh — but it announces the city’s fall rather than its repentance.
Which prophet was taken up in a whirlwind, with chariots and horses of fire?
- Elisha
- Elijah — correct
- Isaiah
- Enoch
Answer: Elijah
2 Kings 2:11. Elisha watches it happen and picks up the cloak in 2:13, using it at once to part the Jordan. Elijah, for all his prominence, left no book of his own — everything we have of him is narrated in Kings, which is true of Elisha as well.
Which prophet was set down in a valley full of dry bones?
- Jeremiah
- Ezekiel — correct
- Daniel
- Isaiah
Answer: Ezekiel
Ezekiel 37:1–10, where he is told to prophesy to the bones and they come together with a rattling. The vision is explained in 37:11 as being about the whole house of Israel, not about individuals.
Which prophet anointed both Saul and David as king?
- Nathan
- Gad
- Elijah
- Samuel — correct
Answer: Samuel
1 Samuel 10:1 for Saul and 1 Samuel 16:13 for David. Nathan and Gad both serve in David’s court later, which is why they sound plausible, but neither of them anointed him.

Medium

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

Which prophet was told to marry a woman named Gomer?
- Hosea — correct
- Amos
- Joel
- Micah
Answer: Hosea
Hosea 1:2–3, where the marriage itself is the message. The three children born in chapter 1 are given sign-names — Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah 'not pitied', and Lo-ammi 'not my people' — and chapter 2 then reverses each of them in turn. The names carry the argument the book is making.
Which prophet described himself as a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs?
- Micah
- Habakkuk
- Amos — correct
- Obadiah
Answer: Amos
Amos 7:14, in his reply to Amaziah the priest at Bethel: “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son.” The line is a denial of the professional title, not of the message he has just delivered.
Which prophet confronted David with a parable about a poor man’s ewe lamb?
- Gad
- Ahijah
- Samuel
- Nathan — correct
Answer: Nathan
2 Samuel 12:1–7, ending in “You are the man.” Gad is the seer who brings David the choice of punishments in 2 Samuel 24:11–14, and Ahijah is the prophet who tears his cloak for Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11:29.
Which prophetic book of the Old Testament is only a single chapter long?
- Haggai
- Obadiah — correct
- Nahum
- Joel
Answer: Obadiah
Obadiah, twenty-one verses against Edom, the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible. Haggai is the next shortest at two chapters, which is why it is the usual wrong answer. Much of Obadiah's opening also appears, in a different arrangement, in Jeremiah 49:14–16.

Hard

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

Which prophet was carried off to Egypt after the fall of Jerusalem, against his own advice?
- Ezekiel
- Habakkuk
- Jeremiah — correct
- Zephaniah
Answer: Jeremiah
Jeremiah 43:5–7, where the remnant takes him to Tahpanhes after he had told them plainly to stay. Ezekiel is the prophet of the other direction — already in Babylon among the exiles, Ezekiel 1:1.
In which prophet’s book does a man go out with a measuring line to measure Jerusalem?
- Zechariah — correct
- Ezekiel
- Amos
- Daniel
Answer: Zechariah
Zechariah 2:1–2. The confusion is understandable: Ezekiel 40:3 has a man with a linen cord and a measuring reed, and Amos 7:7–8 has the Lord standing by a wall with a plumb line.
Which prophet was told that his wife would die and that he must not mourn for her?
- Hosea
- Jeremiah
- Ezekiel — correct
- Isaiah
Answer: Ezekiel
Ezekiel 24:15–18, where she is called the delight of his eyes and her death is made a sign for the exiles. Jeremiah 16:2 is the nearby confusion — he is told not to marry at all.
Which prophet asked why the wicked prosper and was answered that the Chaldeans were being raised up?
- Habakkuk — correct
- Zephaniah
- Nahum
- Malachi
Answer: Habakkuk
Habakkuk 1:2–6. The answer is worse than the question — the remedy for injustice is an army more violent still — which is what drives the second complaint at 1:12–17 and the long psalm that closes the book in chapter 3. It is the only prophetic book built as an argument.

What this quiz draws on

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

Themes: Authorship.

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.