Books of the Old Testament Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The Old Testament is the name for the first section of the Christian Bible and is based upon the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. In the protestant tradition the Old Testament consists of 39 books although the Catholic and Orthodox churches include more books.

Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament and tells the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Leviticus follows on from Exodus and largely contains speeches from God to Moses laying out the laws the Israelites must live by.

Ezra is one of the History books and contains two different Biblical narratives. The first part of the book, consisting of chapters 1-6, covers the reign of Cyrus the Great and tells of the building and dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The second part is the story of Ezra and his travels to Jerusalem and his concern that Jews have married non-Jews. The book of Nehemiah continues the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and in early Bibles was considered part of the book of Ezra but has been a separate book since the 16th century.

Ecclesiastes and Proverbs are both considered as books of Wisdom. Proverbs contains many sayings providing moral advice and discourses on a number of topics relating to life. Ecclesiastes contains the thoughts and sayings of Kohelet, who was a son of David.

The Book of Job is also considered one of the Wisdom books and considers the question of why God allows evil, focusing on a man named Job who loses his family and comfortable lifestyle and how he deals with this.

Lamentations is one of the books of the Major Prophets, containing poems known as laments which mourn the 586BC destruction of Jerusalem. It is traditionally assumed to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah.

Obadiah is one of the Minor Prophets and is the shortest book of the Old Testament with just one chapter of 21 verses. Jonah is also a book of the Minor Prophets and tells the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish after he defies God's wishes.

Nahum and Malachi are also from the books of the Minor Prophets. Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament while Nahum, written by a prophet of the same name, considers the fall of Nineveh as foretold by Nahum's prophecies.

The books of Joshua, 1 Kings and 2 Samuel are all considered History books. Joshua tells the story of the Israelites' campaigns in Canaan and sees the land divided amongst the Twelve Tribes of Israel. 1 Kings, along with its successor 2 Kings, covers the time from the death of King David up to the release of Jehoiachin, while both parts of Samuel cover the life of Samuel who was influential in the transition from Judges to Kings ruling the Israelites.

Of the wrong answers, Revelation, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon are all found in the New Testament while 3 Maccabees is from the Bible used in the Orthodox tradition. Wisdom is a book from both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions while 2 Nephi is from the Book of Mormon.