25 Bible Names Starting with the Letter 'B' Quiz

Answer: Bathsheba

Bathsheba, of course, is the correct answer. Her famous bath is documented in 2 Samuel 11. David and Bathsheba would go on to have an adulterous affair and then end up becoming husband and wife. However, the marriage did not take place until David orchestrated the murder of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. Later, Bathsheba would become the Queen Mother when her son Solomon assumed the throne.

As a result, she would be the most powerful woman in the land.

Answer: Ben-Oni

According to Scripture, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Just before she died, she called the baby Ben-Oni, but Jacob changed the name to Benjamin. (See
Genesis 35:18.)

Notes in the NKJV Study Bible state Ben-Oni means 'son of my sorrow' while Benjamin means 'son of my right hand'. Rachel's firstborn son was Joseph.

Jacob was also married to Leah, Rachel's older sister. The women were the daughters of Laban.

Answer: Bildad

Bildad was one of three friends who attempted to comfort Job after he suffered through a series of calamities. Bildad was a Shuhite and he was accompanied by Eliphaz a Temanite and Zophar a Naamathite. A fourth friend, Elihu, appears in the 32nd chapter of Job. Their conversations with Job comprise a major portion of the book.

The book of Job tells of Job having seven sons and three daughters who were killed when "suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people." On top of this, Job ended up in failing health and lost all his material wealth.

However, Job 42:12-17 tells of a happy ending to Job's life.

Answer: Balaam

According to Scripture, Balaam was addressed by a donkey. Scripture states that after the donkey spoke, Balaam saw an angel of the LORD standing in the road with His sword drawn. Prior to the donkey speaking, Balaam had beaten the donkey for disobedience as the animal refused to proceed when it saw the angel. Balaam, at the time, did not see the angel and took his anger out on the helpless beast. In fact, Scripture states he struck the animal three times.

The exchange between the donkey and Balaam can be found in Numbers 22:28-31.

Scripture goes on to tell of the LORD opening Balaam's eyes and when he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, Baalaam "bowed his head and fell flat on his face."

Answer: Belteshazzar

According to Scripture, Belteshazzar was the name given to Daniel the prophet by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Daniel's three friends also got new names: Hananiah was called Shadrach, Mishael was called Meshach and Azariah was called Abednego. See the first chapter of Daniel for details.

Answer: Belshazzar

According to the fifth chapter of Daniel, the fingers of an disembodied hand started writing a message on the wall after King Belshazzar hosted a lavish banquet in which he, his wives and his concubines drank from goblets taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem. Scripture states the king's gathering drank the wine from the sacred goblets and "praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone."

When the king brought in the prophet Daniel to interpret the writing on the wall, no punches were pulled. Daniel told the king "God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end". The chapter concludes by stating, "that very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain."

Belshazzar had replaced his father Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon, as per Daniel 5:1-2 and 22.

Answer: Boaz

Boaz is the man who married Ruth when she was a widow. She had been married to Mahlon, the son of Elimelek and Naomi and the brother of Chilion. (In the NIV, Chilion's name appears as Kilion.) According to Scripture, Nahlon, as well as his father and his brother died, leaving their wives as widows. However, Scripture does not indicate how the three men died.

Much of the book of Ruth is about the romance of Boaz and Ruth. Their marriage resulted in the birth of Obed (Ruth 4:17), who became the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, one of the most famous characters in the Old Testament.

Answer: Bethuel

According to Scripture, Bethuel was the nephew of Abraham and the father of Laban and Rebecca. He was the son of Nahor and Milcah, as per Genesis 24:24. Not much is known about Bethuel as he is largely mentioned in passing reference, although using the NKJV, his name appears nine times in the book of Genesis.

Rebecca would become the wife of Isaac while Laban's two daughters, Leah and Rachel, would become wives of Jacob.

Answer: Barak

Barak was leader of the military and Deborah was judge when the Israelites scored a major military victory over their Canaanite adversaries. According to Scripture, the LORD went before the Israelites, leading them to an overwhelming victory. The exploits of Barak and Deborah can be found the fourth chapter of Judges.

Deborah, according to Scripture, was the only female judge of Israel.

Answer: Barzillai

Barzillai is the correct answer. According to Scripture, he was an 80-year-old Gileadite who showed David and his followers considerable kindness after they had taken refuge in Mahanaim. 2 Samuel 17:27-29 tells of Barzillai, along with Shobi and Ammon, contributing a large number of essential items to David and his people. Scripture states they gave David "beds and basins, earthen vessels and wheat, barley and flour, parched grain and beans, lentils and parched seeds, honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd."

Later, when the civil war ended with David's side winning, an invitation was extended by David to Barzillai to move to Jerusalem and he would take care of his needs. However, in 2 Samuel 19:31-39, Barzillai explained his age prevented him from following David to Jerusalem.

Answer: Balak

Balak was the king of Moab, who was strongly opposed to the Isrealites settling in Canaan. In fact, in Numbers 22:6, Balak makes a plea to Balaam, son of Beor, to curse the Israelites. Balak, according to Numbers 22:2, was the son of Zippor. Balak was deeply concerned about the Israelites because they had scored spectacular military victories over the Canaanites and the Amorites and were approaching Moab.

For details about Balak and Balaam, see chapters 22 through 24 of Numbers.

Answer: Ben-Ammi

The child Lot's youngest daughter gave birth to as a result of their incestuous relationship was Ben-Ammi, as per Genesis 19:36-38. He became the father of the Ammonites. According to Wikipedia, Ben-Ammi means 'Son Of My People'.

For the record, Lot's oldest daughter gave birth to a son as well, and he was named Moab, who became father of the Moabites. The Ammonites and the Moabites would greatly trouble the Israelites.

No names are given for Lot's two daughters.

Answer: Bukki

Bukki is the correct answer. However, not much is known about him as he doesn't get a lot of coverage in the Old Testament apart from Numbers 34:22. According to the Website Biblical-Baby-Names.com, the name Bukki means 'wasting' and is pronounced 'book-kee'.

There is a second Bukki in the Bible. According to Scripture, the second Bukki was a high priest and he was the father of Uzzi. He was the son of Abishua.

Answer: Ben Hur

Ben Hur is the correct answer. According to Scripture, the governors were responsible for providing food for the king and his household for one month. 1 Kings 4:8 states Ben Hur governed over the district of Ephraim, in the mountains.

In addition to Ben Hur, six other governors had names starting with the letter 'B'. They were Benm-Deker, Ben-Hesed, Ben-Abinadab, Baana, Ben-Geber and Baanah. The remaining governors were Ahinadab, Ahimaaz, Jehoshaphat, Shimei and Geber.

See 1 Kings 4:7-19 for more details.

Answer: Bigtha

Bigtha is one of seven eunuchs named in Esther 1:10 and is one of two eunuchs to have a name starting with the letter 'B'. The other eunuch with a name starting with 'B' was Biztha. In addition to Bigtha and Biztha, the eunuchs were Mehuman, Harbona, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas. Esther 1:11 states the seven eunuchs were commanded by King Ahasuerus to bring Queen Vashti before a gala gathering.

However, Vashti refused to come at the king's command brought by his eunuchs and her fate was sealed. Scripture goes on to tell of Vashti being deposed and Esther becoming queen.

Answer: Basemath

According to Scripture, Esau, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, had two wives who were both named Basemath.

The first Basemath was the daughter of Elon the Hittite, as per Genesis 26:34.
The second wife with the same name was the daughter of Ishmael and sister to Nebajoth, as per Genesis 36:3.

According to Wikipedia, Basemath means 'sweet smelling' or 'sweet smile'.

Answer: Bilhah

Bilhah was Rachel's handmaiden. According to Genesis 29:29, Rachel's father Laban gave Bilhah to her when she became the wife of Jacob. Later, Rachel would give permission to Jacob to sleep with Bilhah to produce children. Scripture states Rachel was unable to conceive for a number of years, but would eventually give birth to Joseph and Benjamin.

According to Genesis 35:25, Bilhah bore two sons for Jacob. They were Dan and Naphtali.

Answer: Berechiah

Berechiah is the correct answer. Zechariah 1:1 states he was the son of Iddo and the father of Zechariah, but little is known about him as he is mentioned in passing reference. In Isaiah 8:2, Berechiah is referred to by the longer form of the same name, Jeberechiah.

Zechariah is the writer on one of twelve books that appear in the Minor Prophet section of the Christian Bible, or the Twelve Prophet section of the Hebrew Bible.

Answer: True

True. Four different men in the Old Testament are named Beriah. As per information gleaned from Wikipedia, the four men called Beriah were:
1.) One of Asher's four sons, and father of Heber and Malchiel, as per Genesis 46:17 and Numbers 26:45.
2.) A son of Ephraim, as per 1 Chronicles 7:20-23.
3.) A Benjamite, son of Elpaal. His sons were Michael, Ishpah and Joha, as per 1 Chronicles 8:13.
4.) A Levite, the son of Shimei, as per 1 Chronicles 23:10-11.

Answer: Blastus

Acts 12:20 states Blastus was a personal aide to Herod. (In the NIV it states he was a "trusted personal servant of the king.") Scripture goes on to state Blastus was befriended by the people to Tyre and Sidon, and they were successful in having a personal audience with Herod. The meeting, however, would be Herod's downfall.

While Herod was speaking, people kept shouting "the voice of a god, not of a man!", according to Acts 12:22. Scripture goes on to tell of an angel "immediately" striking Herod because he did not give glory to God and then he was "eaten by worms and died."

This is the only mention of Blastus in Scripture.

Answer: Boanerges

Jesus called John and James 'Boanerges', which means Sons of Thunder. Mark 3:16-19, in the NKJV Bible, gives a list of the names of the Twelve Disciples in which James and John are identified as both sons of Zebedee and Boanerges: "Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, 'Sons of Thunder'; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him."

Notes in the NIV Study Bible state the brothers were called Sons of Thunder because it was "probably descriptive of their dispositions."

The term Boanerges can be found in only this passage in Mark in the entire Bible, using the KJV, NKJV or the NIV.

Answer: Barabbas

According to Scripture, the crowd demanded the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus. It was the custom of the day to release a prisoner at the time of the Passover and Pilate thought it would be a wise move to release Jesus, as per Mark 15:6-15. The crowd, however, shouted for the release of Barabbas, a prisoner cited for committing murder in an insurrection. When Pilate asked the crowd what should be the fate of Jesus, Scripture reports they said to crucify Him. Matthew 27:16 describes Barabbas as a "notorious" prisoner.

Details about the release of Barabbas over Jesus can be found in Matthew 27:15-25, Mark 15:6-4, Luke 23:17-23 and John 18:39-40.

Answer: Barnabas

Barnabas is the correct answer. According to Acts 4:36, his original name was Joses and he was a Levite from Cyprus. (In the NIV he is known as Jospeh, rather than Joses.) However, the apostles opted to call him Barnabas, which means 'Son of Encouragement'. In addition to being an encouragement to others, Barnabas was a generous giver. Acts 4:37 states he sold a field he owned and "brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet".

Barnabas is often seen as a secondary worker in the early church, and this is unfortunate because he truly played a key role. In fact, he was so prominent his name often appears before the name of Paul, who was also known as Saul. For example, Acts 12:25 tells of Barnabas and Saul (not Saul and Barnabas) returning to Jerusalem after completing their mission. Acts 13:2 tells of the Holy Spirit telling believers in Antioch to "separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

Answer: Bartimaeus

Bartimaeus was a helpless blind beggar who regained his sight after he had a dramatic encounter with Jesus. His heartwarming story appears in Mark 10:46-52. According to Scripture, Bartimaeus was the son of Timaeus, but no other details are given about his family. After Bartimaeus miraculously regained his sight, Jesus told him his faith had made him well.

Answer: Bartholomew

The disciple is referred to as Bartholomew in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as in the book of Acts, which was also written by Luke. However, in the Gospel of John, he is referred to as Nathanael. Although Nathanael (Bartholomew) was one of the quiet disciples, he is known for being the first disciple to make the declaration Jesus was the Son of God.

He made the declaration in John 1:49, months, possibly years before Peter.