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Bible Trivia: Women of the Bible — printable

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Bible Trivia: Women of the Bible — printable

Name: ______________________________ Date: ____________ Score: ______

  1. 1. Who watched from a distance as the infant Moses floated in the reeds? Easy

    1. A Miriam, his sister
    2. B Jochebed, his mother
    3. C Pharaoh’s daughter
    4. D Zipporah

  2. 2. Who said “where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge”? Easy

    1. A Naomi
    2. B Orpah
    3. C Ruth
    4. D Esther

  3. 3. Who laughed on hearing she would bear a son in old age? Easy

    1. A Sarah
    2. B Rebekah
    3. C Rachel
    4. D Hannah

  4. 4. Which queen goes uninvited before the Persian king to plead for her people? Easy

    1. A Vashti
    2. B Bathsheba
    3. C Jezebel
    4. D Esther

  5. 5. Who was judging Israel when she summoned Barak to fight Sisera? Medium

    1. A Jael
    2. B Deborah
    3. C Delilah
    4. D Abigail

  6. 6. Who hid the two spies on the roof at Jericho? Medium

    1. A Achsah
    2. B Rahab
    3. C Zipporah
    4. D The widow of Zarephath

  7. 7. Who prayed at Shiloh for a son and named him Samuel? Medium

    1. A Peninnah
    2. B Eli’s daughter-in-law
    3. C Michal
    4. D Hannah

  8. 8. Who was the seller of purple goods baptised at Philippi? Medium

    1. A Lydia
    2. B Priscilla
    3. C Dorcas
    4. D Damaris

  9. 9. Who drove a tent peg through Sisera’s temple? Hard

    1. A Deborah
    2. B Abigail
    3. C Jael
    4. D The woman of Thebez

  10. 10. Who was the prophetess in the temple who spoke of the infant Jesus? Hard

    1. A Elizabeth
    2. B Joanna
    3. C Mary Magdalene
    4. D Anna

  11. 11. Whom did Josiah’s officials consult about the book of the law found in the temple? Hard

    1. A Noadiah the prophetess
    2. B Huldah the prophetess
    3. C Miriam
    4. D Jeremiah

  12. 12. Who is commended in Romans 16 as a servant of the church at Cenchreae? Hard

    1. A Priscilla
    2. B Junia
    3. C Phoebe
    4. D Chloe

Answer key — teacher’s sheet

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

  1. 1. A — Miriam, his sister

    Exodus 2:4–8, where she is called only 'his sister'; the name Miriam first appears at Exodus 15:20. She is the one who proposes fetching a Hebrew nurse, which is how Moses' own mother is paid to raise him. Jochebed is named as that mother at Exodus 6:20, but she is not the one watching here.

  2. 2. C — Ruth

    Ruth 1:16, said to Naomi on the road out of Moab. Orpah is the other daughter-in-law, who kisses Naomi and turns back in the same passage — the speech is written to be read against her, and the book does not criticise her for going.

  3. 3. A — Sarah

    Genesis 18:12, laughing to herself behind the tent door, and denying it in 18:15 when it is heard. The name Isaac is built on the same Hebrew root for laughter. Rebekah and Rachel are both described as barren for a time, but neither has this scene.

  4. 4. D — Esther

    Esther 4:16–5:2, having said 'if I perish, I perish'. Approaching the king unsummoned carried a death sentence unless he extended the golden sceptre. Vashti is the queen deposed in chapter 1 for refusing to appear when she was summoned — the exact opposite move, and the reason Esther's risk is real.

  5. 5. B — Deborah

    Judges 4:4–6, where she is called a prophetess judging Israel under a palm between Ramah and Bethel. Barak refuses to go without her. Jael appears in the same chapter but is not a judge, and Delilah belongs to the Samson cycle in Judges 16.

  6. 6. B — Rahab

    Joshua 2:1–6, hiding them under stalks of flax laid out on the roof, then sending the pursuers off in the wrong direction. She is named again in Matthew 1:5, in the genealogy. The widow of Zarephath also shelters a man of God, in 1 Kings 17, which is the kind of overlap that makes the answers blur.

  7. 7. D — Hannah

    1 Samuel 1:20. She prays silently at Shiloh, Eli mistakes her for drunk, and she names the child Samuel. Peninnah is the rival wife who provokes her in the same chapter; Michal is Saul's daughter, and 2 Samuel 6:23 says she had no child to the day of her death.

  8. 8. A — Lydia

    Acts 16:14–15, a dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira, and the first named convert in Europe in Acts' telling. Dorcas is the disciple at Joppa known for making garments, in Acts 9:36; Damaris is the Athenian convert at Acts 17:34. Both are nearby in the book, neither is at Philippi.

  9. 9. C — Jael

    Judges 4:21, in the tent of Heber the Kenite, driving the peg through while he sleeps — and the poem in chapter 5 tells it again in verse. The woman of Thebez kills Abimelech with a millstone dropped from a wall in Judges 9:53, one chapter family away and genuinely easy to confuse.

  10. 10. D — Anna

    Luke 2:36–38 — Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, a widow of great age who did not leave the temple. Elizabeth prophesies too, but at her own house in Luke 1:41–45. Joanna appears later, at Luke 8:3 and 24:10, among the women at the tomb.

  11. 11. B — Huldah the prophetess

    2 Kings 22:14, repeated at 2 Chronicles 34:22. The officials go to Huldah the prophetess, who lives in Jerusalem, and her answer sets the terms of Josiah's reform. Jeremiah is prophesying in the same reign, which is what makes his name tempting, but the text does not send them to him.

  12. 12. C — Phoebe

    Romans 16:1–2, commended as a deacon or servant of the church at Cenchreae and as a patron of many, including Paul himself — she is very likely the person carrying the letter. Priscilla and Junia are greeted a few verses later in the same chapter; Chloe belongs to 1 Corinthians 1:11.

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 watched from a distance as the infant Moses floated in the reeds?

    • Miriam, his sister — correct
    • Jochebed, his mother
    • Pharaoh’s daughter
    • Zipporah

    Answer: Miriam, his sister

    Exodus 2:4–8, where she is called only 'his sister'; the name Miriam first appears at Exodus 15:20. She is the one who proposes fetching a Hebrew nurse, which is how Moses' own mother is paid to raise him. Jochebed is named as that mother at Exodus 6:20, but she is not the one watching here.

  2. Who said “where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge”?

    • Naomi
    • Orpah
    • Ruth — correct
    • Esther

    Answer: Ruth

    Ruth 1:16, said to Naomi on the road out of Moab. Orpah is the other daughter-in-law, who kisses Naomi and turns back in the same passage — the speech is written to be read against her, and the book does not criticise her for going.

  3. Who laughed on hearing she would bear a son in old age?

    • Sarah — correct
    • Rebekah
    • Rachel
    • Hannah

    Answer: Sarah

    Genesis 18:12, laughing to herself behind the tent door, and denying it in 18:15 when it is heard. The name Isaac is built on the same Hebrew root for laughter. Rebekah and Rachel are both described as barren for a time, but neither has this scene.

  4. Which queen goes uninvited before the Persian king to plead for her people?

    • Vashti
    • Bathsheba
    • Jezebel
    • Esther — correct

    Answer: Esther

    Esther 4:16–5:2, having said 'if I perish, I perish'. Approaching the king unsummoned carried a death sentence unless he extended the golden sceptre. Vashti is the queen deposed in chapter 1 for refusing to appear when she was summoned — the exact opposite move, and the reason Esther's risk is real.

Medium

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

  1. Who was judging Israel when she summoned Barak to fight Sisera?

    • Jael
    • Deborah — correct
    • Delilah
    • Abigail

    Answer: Deborah

    Judges 4:4–6, where she is called a prophetess judging Israel under a palm between Ramah and Bethel. Barak refuses to go without her. Jael appears in the same chapter but is not a judge, and Delilah belongs to the Samson cycle in Judges 16.

  2. Who hid the two spies on the roof at Jericho?

    • Achsah
    • Rahab — correct
    • Zipporah
    • The widow of Zarephath

    Answer: Rahab

    Joshua 2:1–6, hiding them under stalks of flax laid out on the roof, then sending the pursuers off in the wrong direction. She is named again in Matthew 1:5, in the genealogy. The widow of Zarephath also shelters a man of God, in 1 Kings 17, which is the kind of overlap that makes the answers blur.

  3. Who prayed at Shiloh for a son and named him Samuel?

    • Peninnah
    • Eli’s daughter-in-law
    • Michal
    • Hannah — correct

    Answer: Hannah

    1 Samuel 1:20. She prays silently at Shiloh, Eli mistakes her for drunk, and she names the child Samuel. Peninnah is the rival wife who provokes her in the same chapter; Michal is Saul's daughter, and 2 Samuel 6:23 says she had no child to the day of her death.

  4. Who was the seller of purple goods baptised at Philippi?

    • Lydia — correct
    • Priscilla
    • Dorcas
    • Damaris

    Answer: Lydia

    Acts 16:14–15, a dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira, and the first named convert in Europe in Acts' telling. Dorcas is the disciple at Joppa known for making garments, in Acts 9:36; Damaris is the Athenian convert at Acts 17:34. Both are nearby in the book, neither is at Philippi.

Hard

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

  1. Who drove a tent peg through Sisera’s temple?

    • Deborah
    • Abigail
    • Jael — correct
    • The woman of Thebez

    Answer: Jael

    Judges 4:21, in the tent of Heber the Kenite, driving the peg through while he sleeps — and the poem in chapter 5 tells it again in verse. The woman of Thebez kills Abimelech with a millstone dropped from a wall in Judges 9:53, one chapter family away and genuinely easy to confuse.

  2. Who was the prophetess in the temple who spoke of the infant Jesus?

    • Elizabeth
    • Joanna
    • Mary Magdalene
    • Anna — correct

    Answer: Anna

    Luke 2:36–38 — Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, a widow of great age who did not leave the temple. Elizabeth prophesies too, but at her own house in Luke 1:41–45. Joanna appears later, at Luke 8:3 and 24:10, among the women at the tomb.

  3. Whom did Josiah’s officials consult about the book of the law found in the temple?

    • Noadiah the prophetess
    • Huldah the prophetess — correct
    • Miriam
    • Jeremiah

    Answer: Huldah the prophetess

    2 Kings 22:14, repeated at 2 Chronicles 34:22. The officials go to Huldah the prophetess, who lives in Jerusalem, and her answer sets the terms of Josiah's reform. Jeremiah is prophesying in the same reign, which is what makes his name tempting, but the text does not send them to him.

  4. Who is commended in Romans 16 as a servant of the church at Cenchreae?

    • Priscilla
    • Junia
    • Phoebe — correct
    • Chloe

    Answer: Phoebe

    Romans 16:1–2, commended as a deacon or servant of the church at Cenchreae and as a patron of many, including Paul himself — she is very likely the person carrying the letter. Priscilla and Junia are greeted a few verses later in the same chapter; Chloe belongs to 1 Corinthians 1:11.

What this quiz draws on

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

Themes: People and places.

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.