True or false Bible quiz with answers: 50 questions that test what the Bible really says
A true or false Bible quiz with answers: 50 questions, many busting myths like the three wise men and the apple, each settled by its KJV verse.
In this article
- How to play this true or false Bible quiz
- Round 1: Christmas, Eden and the flood (1–10)
- Round 2: Is that really in the Bible? (11–20)
- Round 3: The Old Testament (21–36)
- Round 4: The New Testament (37–50)
- The 10 most common Bible myths at a glance
- How to write your own true or false Bible questions
- Frequently asked questions
A true or false Bible quiz gives you a statement about the Bible and asks whether the text actually says it. This true or false Bible quiz with answers has 50 statements, and the answer sits right under each one, with the King James Version verse that settles it. Expect myths: the Bible never says there were three wise men, never calls the forbidden fruit an apple, and never mentions an innkeeper.
A little under half are true. The rest are things many Christians have heard all their lives, from Christmas pageants, paintings, sermons and sayings, that the text doesn't say, or says differently.
The goal isn't to make you feel silly. It's to send you back to the actual words, which are usually more interesting than the myth.
How to play this true or false Bible quiz
Read each statement and decide: true or false. Then check the line marked Answer, which gives the verse.
Score 1 point for each correct answer. A few statements are "false as worded": the general idea is close, but the detail is wrong. Those are the ones that separate people who know the stories from people who know the text.
- 40 to 50: you read carefully. Try our hard Bible trivia questions.
- 30 to 39: solid. Most of your misses are probably in Round 1.
- Under 30: you're in good company. Tradition is loud. Start with the daily Bible quiz, one question a day.
Playing in a group? Read each statement aloud, have everyone hold up a thumb (up for true, down for false), then read the answer. It's fast and nobody has to speak first.
If you enjoy the "what does the text really say" kind of question, the app has thousands more, and every answer is explained with the verse it comes from.
Round 1: Christmas, Eden and the flood (1–10)
The stories everyone knows, which is exactly why the details drift.
1. The Bible says three wise men visited the young Jesus.
Answer: False. Matthew says "wise men from the east" (Matthew 2:1) and never gives their number. People assume three because there were three gifts:
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
2. The wise men found Jesus lying in the manger.
Answer: False. They came "into the house" and saw "the young child" (Matthew 2:11). The shepherds found Him in the manger (Luke 2:16). Herod later killed boys "from two years old and under" (Matthew 2:16), a hint that the wise men came some time after the birth. See the visit of the wise men.
3. Luke's Gospel mentions an innkeeper who turned Mary and Joseph away.
Answer: False. Luke says only that "there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7). No innkeeper speaks or appears.
4. Luke says Jesus was born in a stable.
Answer: False as worded. Luke says Mary "laid him in a manger" (Luke 2:7), a feeding trough. The word "stable" isn't used; the setting is inferred from the manger. More in where is the Christmas story in the Bible.
5. The Bible says the forbidden fruit was an apple.
Answer: False. Genesis says only "the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden" (Genesis 3:3) and "she took of the fruit thereof" (Genesis 3:6). The kind of fruit is never named. See the fall in Eden.
6. Genesis 3 names the serpent as Satan.
Answer: False. Genesis calls it "the serpent," "more subtil than any beast of the field" (Genesis 3:1). The identification comes much later, in Revelation 12:9: "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan."
7. Eve was made from one of Adam's ribs.
Answer: True. God "took one of his ribs" and from it "made he a woman" (Genesis 2:21-22).
8. Noah took exactly two of every kind of animal onto the ark.
Answer: False. Clean beasts and birds went in "by sevens," unclean beasts "by two" (Genesis 7:2-3). The famous pairs are only part of the picture. See Noah and the flood.
9. It rained for forty days and forty nights.
Answer: True. "The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:12).
10. Genesis says the ark landed on a single peak called Mount Ararat.
Answer: False as worded. The ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4), plural: a mountain region, not one named summit.
Round 2: Is that really in the Bible? (11–20)
Famous sayings. Some are Scripture, some are misquotes, and some aren't in the Bible at all.
11. "God helps those who help themselves" is a Bible verse.
Answer: False. It's an old proverb. No verse in the Bible says it.
12. "Cleanliness is next to godliness" is in the Bible.
Answer: False. It's a saying, not Scripture.
13. The Bible says "money is the root of all evil."
Answer: False as worded. Paul writes "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). The problem is the love, not the coins.
14. "Spare the rod, spoil the child" is a direct quote from Proverbs.
Answer: False. The closest verse is "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes" (Proverbs 13:24). The rhyming version isn't in the Bible.
15. The Bible says "pride goes before a fall."
Answer: False as worded. Proverbs 16:18 says "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." The saying merges the two halves.
16. Isaiah says "the lion shall lie down with the lamb."
Answer: False. Isaiah pairs the wolf with the lamb and the leopard with the kid (a young goat). The lion is there too, but with the calf:
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
17. "This too shall pass" is a Bible verse.
Answer: False. The phrase isn't in Scripture.
18. "Thou shalt not kill" is one of the Ten Commandments in the KJV.
Answer: True. Exodus 20:13. Many modern translations render it "You shall not murder."
19. "Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in the KJV.
Answer: True. John 11:35, two words. The full story is in the raising of Lazarus, and our guide to the shortest verse in the Bible explains how "shortest" depends on how you count.
20. "Be still, and know that I am God" comes from the Psalms.
Answer: True. Psalm 46:10.
Round 3: The Old Testament (21–36)
Names, numbers and endings. These test whether you know how the stories actually go.
21. Methuselah lived 969 years.
Answer: True. "All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died" (Genesis 5:27). He's the oldest person recorded in the Bible.
22. Moses entered the Promised Land before he died.
Answer: False. God showed him the land but told him, "thou shalt not go over thither," and he died in Moab (Deuteronomy 34:4-5). See the death of Moses on Mount Nebo.
23. David killed Goliath with his own sword.
Answer: False. A stone from his sling struck Goliath's forehead, and "there was no sword in the hand of David" (1 Samuel 17:49-50). Then David took Goliath's sword and cut off his head with it (1 Samuel 17:51).
24. Delilah cut Samson's hair herself.
Answer: False. "She called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head" (Judges 16:19). See Samson.
25. When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he went right away.
Answer: False. He "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" and boarded a ship at Joppa (Jonah 1:3).
26. The book of Jonah says a whale swallowed Jonah.
Answer: False. Jonah 1:17 says "a great fish." But here's the twist: in the KJV, Jesus says Jonas was "three days and three nights in the whale's belly" (Matthew 12:40). The Greek word there means a large sea creature, and modern versions often render it "huge fish." See Jonah and Nineveh.
27. Daniel was thrown into the lions' den under King Nebuchadnezzar.
Answer: False. It was King Darius who signed the decree (Daniel 6:9, 16).
28. Nebuchadnezzar saw four men walking in the fiery furnace.
Answer: True. "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt" (Daniel 3:25). Three were thrown in. See the fiery furnace.
29. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
Answer: True. 1 Kings 11:3, which adds: "and his wives turned away his heart."
30. The book of Esther never uses the word "God."
Answer: True. We searched every verse of Esther in the KJV text: neither "God" nor "Lord" appears. God's care is still visible all through the story. See Esther saves her people.
31. Elijah rode a chariot of fire up into heaven.
Answer: False as worded. A chariot of fire and horses of fire "parted them both asunder," separating Elijah from Elisha, but Elijah went up "by a whirlwind":
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
See Elijah taken up to heaven.
32. In the KJV, Jacob gave Joseph "a coat of many colours."
Answer: True. Genesis 37:3. Some modern translations render it "a richly ornamented robe," because the Hebrew phrase is uncertain.
33. Lot's wife became a pillar of salt.
Answer: True. "His wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:26).
34. The Ten Commandments were written on stone "with the finger of God."
Answer: True. Exodus 31:18.
35. Abraham's original name was Abram.
Answer: True. "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham" (Genesis 17:5).
36. Pharaoh's daughter gave Moses his name.
Answer: True. "She called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water" (Exodus 2:10).
Want three more on Genesis, where many of these myths start?
Quick quiz: Genesis
How long did the rain of the flood fall on the earth?
“The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” The hundred and fifty days are the time the waters prevailed upon the earth (7:24). Genesis 7:12
What did the LORD count to Abram as righteousness?
“He believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” This comes before circumcision, which does not appear until chapter 17. Genesis 15:6
What new name does Jacob receive after his wrestling at the ford of the Jabbok?
“Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast struggled with God and with men.” Edom is Esau’s nickname (36:1). Genesis 32:28
There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.
Round 4: The New Testament (37–50)
The last fourteen cover the Gospels, Acts and Revelation.
37. The Bible says Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.
Answer: False. Luke says she was a woman "out of whom went seven devils" (Luke 8:2). The idea that she was a prostitute comes from later tradition, which merged her with other women in the Gospels. See Mary Magdalene.
38. Jesus fed the five thousand with seven loaves.
Answer: False. Five loaves and two fishes fed the five thousand (Matthew 14:17-21). Seven loaves fed the four thousand (Matthew 15:34-38).
39. The Bible says Jesus was 33 years old when He died.
Answer: False. Luke says He "began to be about thirty years of age" when His ministry started (Luke 3:23). His age at the crucifixion isn't stated; 33 is an estimate based on the Passovers mentioned in John.
40. The Gospels name four brothers of Jesus.
Answer: True as the text reads. The crowd in Nazareth asks, "his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?" (Matthew 13:55). Christians understand "brethren" differently: many Protestants read them as younger sons of Mary and Joseph, while Catholic and Orthodox tradition sees them as cousins or as Joseph's children from an earlier marriage.
41. Paul was one of the twelve apostles.
Answer: False. Matthias replaced Judas among the Twelve (Acts 1:26). Paul was called later and calls himself "the least of the apostles" (1 Corinthians 15:9). Our 12 apostles quiz has the full list.
42. Saul fell off his horse on the road to Damascus.
Answer: False as worded. A light from heaven shone around him and "he fell to the earth" (Acts 9:3-4). No horse is mentioned; it comes from paintings. See the conversion of Saul.
43. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Answer: True. "The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:26).
44. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
Answer: True. "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:47-48).
45. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a horse.
Answer: False. He rode a donkey: Matthew mentions "the ass, and the colt" (Matthew 21:7). See the triumphal entry.
46. The Spirit of God came down like a dove at Jesus' baptism.
Answer: True. Jesus "saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him" (Matthew 3:16).
47. In John's Gospel, Jesus' last words before He died were "It is finished."
Answer: True. "He said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost" (John 19:30).
48. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on the first day of the week.
Answer: True. She came "early, when it was yet dark" and saw the stone taken away (John 20:1).
49. The last book of the Bible is called Revelations.
Answer: False. It's Revelation, singular: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1). One revelation, many visions.
50. Herod ordered the killing of boys in Bethlehem "from two years old and under."
Answer: True. Matthew 2:16. It's also one of the clues that the wise men arrived months after the birth, not on the night itself.
The 10 most common Bible myths at a glance
If you only remember one part of this page, make it this table. These are the myths behind most of the "false" answers above.
| Common belief | What the text actually says | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Three wise men | "Wise men," number not given; three gifts | Matthew 2:1, 11 |
| Wise men at the manger | Found the young child "into the house" | Matthew 2:11 |
| An innkeeper turned them away | "No room for them in the inn"; no innkeeper | Luke 2:7 |
| The forbidden fruit was an apple | "The fruit of the tree"; kind not named | Genesis 3:3, 6 |
| Two of every animal | Clean animals by sevens, unclean by two | Genesis 7:2-3 |
| Money is the root of all evil | "The love of money is the root of all evil" | 1 Timothy 6:10 |
| Jonah and the whale | "A great fish" in Jonah; "whale" in KJV Matthew | Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:40 |
| Elijah rode a chariot to heaven | Went up "by a whirlwind" | 2 Kings 2:11 |
| Mary Magdalene, former prostitute | Freed from "seven devils" | Luke 8:2 |
| Paul fell off a horse | "He fell to the earth"; no horse | Acts 9:4 |
Many of these come from good-faith sources: carols, nativity sets, Renaissance paintings, preachers filling in a scene. They aren't heresy. But when you know the difference between the story and the text, you read more carefully everywhere else too. For more surprising details, see interesting Bible facts, and for the Christmas ones, our Christmas Bible trivia.
How to write your own true or false Bible questions
True-or-false questions are easy to write badly. A few rules keep them fair:
- Base every statement on one verse you can quote. If you can't point to the verse, don't use it.
- Make false statements change one detail. "Jesus fed the five thousand with seven loaves" is a good false statement because only the number is wrong.
- Say which translation you're using. "Coat of many colours" is true in the KJV and not in every modern version.
- Use "false as worded" honestly. When a statement is close but off, explain what the text says instead of just marking it wrong.
- Be careful with "never." Saying the Bible "never" mentions something requires searching the whole text. For Esther, we did: the word "God" doesn't appear.
- Respect real disagreements. Where Christians interpret a passage differently (like Jesus' "brethren"), say so rather than picking a side in a quiz.
For a longer mix of question types, try our Bible trivia questions and answers, the A-to-D multiple choice Bible quiz or the book-by-book Bible quizzes.
The app's quiz path starts at your level and goes from beginner to expert, with every answer explained by the verse it comes from.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Bible say there were three wise men?
No. Matthew 2:1 says "there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem" without giving a number. The tradition of three comes from the three gifts listed in Matthew 2:11: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Later tradition also gave them names and called them kings, but neither the names nor the title appear in the Bible.
Was the forbidden fruit an apple?
The Bible doesn't say. Genesis 3 calls it "the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden" and never names the kind of fruit. The apple became the usual image in Western art. One popular explanation is a Latin wordplay, since malum can mean both "evil" and "apple," but either way it's tradition, not Scripture.
Is "God helps those who help themselves" in the Bible?
No. The phrase doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible. It's an old proverb, not Scripture. Scripture does value hard work (for example Proverbs 6:6-8), but its central message is that God helps those who cannot help themselves, as in Romans 5:6: "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."
Was Jonah swallowed by a whale?
The book of Jonah says "a great fish" (Jonah 1:17). In the King James Version, Jesus refers to "the whale's belly" in Matthew 12:40, translating a Greek word that means a large sea creature. Modern translations often say "huge fish" there. So the KJV uses both words, and the text doesn't specify the species.
Where can I find a true or false Bible quiz with answers?
This page has one: 50 true or false Bible statements, with the answer and the KJV verse under each. There are four rounds, on Christmas and Eden, sayings people assume are in the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The table of the 10 most common myths below Round 4 works as a short version for a group.
How many true or false Bible questions should a quiz have?
For a group, 10 to 20 statements is about right: long enough to be fun, short enough to discuss the surprises. Mix roughly half true and half false, and include a few "false as worded" items, which spark the best conversations. For personal study, a few statements a day after your reading works better than one long session.