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Bible Quiz: Jonah


Select one answer for each question. Then click the SCORE button at bottom to check your answers.

1) When God first called Jonah to be a prophet, he boarded a ship at Joppa bound for Tarshish. Why?

He was going to meet with the prophet Elijah.

He was going to meet with the apostle Paul.

He was trying to escape from the Assyrian army.

He was trying to run away from God.


2) What happened to the ship?

A great storm arose and threatened to break the ship apart.

It was overtaken and boarded by Assyrians.

It was overtaken and boarded by pirates.

It was attacked by a sea monster with a lashing tail.


3) How did Jonah end up in the sea?

The sailors threw him overboard.

He was thrown off the ship by the force of the storm.

He jumped into the sea to escape from the men trying to kill him.

God sent a whirlwind to lift him from the ship and drop him in the sea.


4) How did Jonah end up back on dry land?

He rode on the back of a giant fish which took him to shore.

He was swallowed by a giant fish which spit him out on the shore after three days.

He swam for three days and nights, finally reaching Tarshish.

He clung to a piece of the destroyed ship until it drifted to shore.


5) After his misadventure at sea, God sent Jonah to the great Assyrian capital city of Nineveh. What was the message Jonah gave to the Ninevites?

"Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!"

"Woe to Nineveh, city of wickedness!"

"Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!"

"The Lord, God is One. You shall have no other gods before Him!"


6) What did the king of Nineveh do in response to Jonah's proclamation?

He ordered Jonah to leave his city and never return.

He and his commanders ridiculed Jonah and called him a babbling fool.

He declared that everyone in Nineveh should give up their evil ways and violence, and wear sackcloth as a sign of repentance.

He directed that a temple be built and all his people should worship the God of Jonah.


7) What did God do to the city of Nineveh and its inhabitants?

He destroyed Nineveh and all its inhabitants in a storm of fire and brimstone.

He destroyed Nineveh and all its inhabitants in an earthquake.

He spared Nineveh from destruction because of the people's repentance.

He made of Nineveh an even greater city than it had been before.


8) What did Jonah do after delivering God's message to the Ninevites?

He made himself a shelter outside the city of Nineveh and waited to see what God would do.

He went to Tarshish to deliver God's message there.

He went to Joppa to deliver God's message there.

He begged God to leave him alone and let him go back to his home in Israel.


9) What did God do to teach Jonah a lesson?

God let Jonah eat lavishly, then sent him to a place of famine.

God called Jonah to a mountaintop and showed him all the lands of His creation.

God caused Jonah to be taken captive by the Assyrians and to fear for his life.

God grew a vine to shelter Jonah from the sun, then sent a worm to chew it up.


10) What is the main message of the book of Jonah?

God's intolerance of evil among any of His peoples.

The superiority of the Israelites as God's chosen people.

God's love and compassion for all His people -- pagans and Gentiles as well as His Chosen People, the Israelites.

The wicked and despicable ways of pagan and Gentile peoples in general and of Assyrians in particular.