Easy Bible History Quiz
OK, peek at the answers.
We are not all biblical scholars.
Links to additional information are underlined.
Test yourself on this fairly easy Bible history quiz.
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What is the overall theme of the Christian Bible?
a. The Bible encompasses the entirety of Earth's history, from Adam's birth to the year 1611.
b. It is about God’s love for mankind and His instructions for humanity to live by.
c. The Bible is totally about how God punishes those who disobey him.
b. It is about God's love for his people.
The Bible contains God’s master plan of salvation from humanity's disobedience.
It gives assurance of God’s forgiveness and salvation through the sacrifice that Jesus made with his crucifixion.
It presents the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
It explores themes of creation, redemption, and the relationship between God and humanity, emphasizing love, grace, and the importance of faith in everyday life.
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What is the estimated time frame for the writing of the Bible?
a. 3500 BC-000 BC.
b. 2000 BC—1400 BC.
c. 1400 BC–100 AD
c. 1400 BC–100 AD.
The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years.
It was written from around 1450 BC (the time of Moses) to about 100 AD (the time of John, the last apostle).
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What writings was the Bible created from?
a. The writings of Nostradamus.
b. Ancient Hebrew and Greek writings.
c. Aramaic writings found in the tombs beneath Jerusalem.
b. Ancient Hebrew and Greek writings.
The Bible is created from ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
A few writings were also in Aramaic.
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How did the early believers express their very first forms of scripture?
a. Written words on vellum and scrolls made from plant material using inks and stains.
b. Verbally (or orally) in songs, poems, stories, and other narratives.
c. Pictograms written on walls using chalk or kaolinite.
b. Verbally.
Adam and Eve were the first to express scripture verbally.
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What is another name for the ancient scriptural scrolls?
a. Codex or manuscript.
b. Anecdotes.
c. Pretext.
a. Codex or manuscripts.
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What are the first and last books of the standard Bible?
a. Moses and Revelation.
b. Genesis and Revelation.
c. The books of Lamentations and Romans.
b. Genesis and Revelation.
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Why do some of the books of the Bible have red lettering in them?
a. They are the words that were spoken by Jesus.
b. The purpose is to underscore the significant biblical concepts.
c. It is to emphasize the words given by God.
b. They are the words spoken by Jesus in the New Testament.
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When and where was the first Bible printed on a press?
a. 1454 in Germany.
b. 1611 in England.
c. 1663 in America.
a. 1454 AD.
Johannes Gutenberg invented the "moveable type mold" printing press.
He printed the first Bible using his printing press in 1454 AD.
He printed 180 Bibles, of which 48 copies exist today.
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Did the Bible always have sixty-six (66) books, as it does today?
a. No
b. Yes, exactly as it was in the year 100 A.D.
c. Yes, but some religious denominations added the Apocrypha.
a. NO.
The early believers used many more books that are not included in the Bible.
In 367 AD, Father Athanasius of the Catholic Church gathered together the books that the Catholic Church agreed should go into the Bible.
In 382 AD, the Council of Rome under Pope Damasus formalized these as the Bible.
In 400 AD, St. Jerome assembled and put together the first 66-book Bible.
It was handwritten and not bound as a single tome like we see today.
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Which section of the Bible was primarily written in Hebrew?
a. Apocrypha.
b. Old Testament.
c. New Testament.
d. The Gospels of Jesus.
b. Old Testament.
The Old Testament was primarily written in the ancient Hebrew language.
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Which section of the Bible was primarily written in Koine Greek?
a. Apocrypha.
b. Old Testament.
c. New Testament.
d. The Pentateuch.
c. New Testament.
The New Testament was primarily written in the older Koine Greek.
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Which English Bible version was printed in the year 1611?
a. The Catholic canon as approved by Pope Damasus the First.
b. The King James Version as approved by the King of England.
c. The Vulgate as approved by Saint Jerome.
b. King James.
The first version of the King James Bible was published in 1611.
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What is the Old Testament of the Bible all about?
a. The story of God and His people before the birth of Christ.
b. It explains what heaven is and what life is like there.
c. It is the basic story of the birth of Jesus and his life.
a. The story of God and his people.
It takes us from the creation of the Earth up to just before the birth of Jesus.
The stories show how God's chosen people were continually disobedient to Him and their punishments for being that way.
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What is the basic theme of the Book of Revelation?
a. Revelation reveals everything we need to know about Heaven and Hell.
b. It tells stories of the life and times of the twelve disciples.
c. The Book of Revelation describes apocalyptic visions and prophecies.
c. The Book of Revelation is about the end of the world.
It describes the fight between good and evil and that good will win.
The judgment of man and the arrival of a New Jerusalem will occur.
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Which section of the Christian Bible originated in the ancient religion of Judaism?
a. Apocrypha.
b. The Gospels.
c. Old Testament.
d. The New Testament.
c. Old Testament.
The Old Testament originated in Judaism and has been used by Jews ever since.
The Jewish people prefer to call the Old Testament the First Testament because it came before the Second Testament.
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What happened to the first few authors who translated the Bible into English?
a. The church praised their efforts and made them saints.
b. The church hung them on the cross for heresy against God.
c. These men were burned at the stake for blasphemy against the church.
c. These men were burned at the stake.
The church executed the first few scholars who translated the Bible into English for blasphemy.
The church did not like the idea of the common man being able to read the Bible and interpret it for themselves.
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What was the first complete Bible written in English?
a. King James Version.
b. Vulgate Translation.
c. Tyndale Bible.
c. Tyndale Bible.
The Tyndale Bible was the first complete English-language version.
The church literally and physically burned William Tyndale for this blasphemous deed.
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The early Christian church utilized this Latin Bible.
a. The Hebrew Bible.
b. Septuagint.
c. Vulgate.
c. Vulgate.
The Latin Vulgate was the most popular Bible used by the early Christian churches.
The Pope authorized the Bible to be translated by Saint Jerome in the year 382.
Latin was the common language of the Catholic Church at that time.
This practice was one of the early steps the Catholic Church took to control the masses.
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What groups of manuscripts were found in a cave near the sea?
a. Holy Aramaic scriptures found near the Red Sea.
b. Masoretic text found near the Sea of Galilee.
c. Dead Sea Scrolls.
c. Dead Sea Scrolls.
The scrolls were found in a cave on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea.
More than 25,000 fragments have been discovered.
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This monarch finally allowed Bibles to be printed in English.
a. Queen Mary I (1553).
b. Queen Elizabeth I (1558).
c. King James VI (1611), aka James VI (Scotland) a.k.a. James I (England).
c. King James.
King James allowed Bibles to be printed in English.
He authorized and insisted on a new translation that would be small enough for an individual to carry, written in a language that the common person could understand.
Queen Mary was known as Bloody Mary.
Queen Mary hated Christians and their beliefs, killing everyone who was a believer and destroying any religious artifacts and books they had.
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What is the Book of Exodus about?
It is a prophecy about the ending of the world.
b. The story of King Exodus and how he defeated the Philistines.
c. The Book of Exodus narrates how the Israelites, led by Moses, exited Egypt.
c. The story of how the Israelites left Egypt for the promised land with Moses.
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Which Bible book is considered the oldest and the first to be written?
a. Genesis.
b. Exodus.
c. Job.
c. Job.
Job is believed to be the first Bible book written.
It is in debate if the book was written during the time of Moses and possibly by Moses or if it was written later during the time of King Solomon.
People passed down many Bible verses verbally from generation to generation before someone actually wrote them in a book.
Job is believed to be such a book.
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This is the first English Bible with chapter divisions and numbered verses.
a. Geneva.
b. Bishops.
c. King James.
a. Geneva.
The Geneva Bible was the first version, having chapters and numbered verses.
It was written in 1560.
William Wittingham led several other scholars in creating the Bible after Queen "Bloody" Mary died.
She persecuted Christians.
The Geneva Bible was popular until the King James Version appeared in 1611.
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Who was the first person to begin writing the Bible in English?
a. Thomas Matthew in the year 1537 AD.
b. John Wycliffe in 1382 AD.
c. John Darby in 1872 AD.
b. John Wycliffe.
John Wycliffe was the first person to attempt to translate the books of the Bible into English.
Translating the Bible into English was considered heresy against the church.
The church burned Wycliffe at the stake for writing an English translation of the Bible.
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When did the Ten Commandments come into being?
a. 31st century BC (Adam).
b. 21st century BC (Noah).
c. 14th century BC (Moses).
c. 14th century BC.
The Ten Commandments were written in the 14th century BC on stone tablets by the finger of God.
God gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai.
The Ark of the Covenant, a gold-lined rectangular chest, housed them.
God created two sets, as Moses destroyed the first set in his anger.
Wow! That must have been a scene.
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16