Biblical Geography trivia, the map under the text.

In which town did Jesus base his Galilean ministry?

1. Nazareth
2. Capernaum
3. Bethsaida
4. Magdala

"And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali."Matthew 4:13

Nazareth was Jesus's hometown, but after his rejection there (Luke 4) he based his Galilean ministry in Capernaum — a fishing town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Peter's house was there, and a synagogue (the foundations of which are still visible at the site today) was the setting for several Gospel miracles.

In which town was Jesus born, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke?

1. Nazareth
2. Jerusalem
3. Bethlehem
4. Hebron

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel."Micah 5:2 (KJV)

Bethlehem ("house of bread") lies about five miles south of Jerusalem. It was the hometown of King David, which is why a Roman census required Joseph to register there. Matthew and Luke independently locate Jesus's birth in Bethlehem and explicitly tie it to Micah's prophecy. The Church of the Nativity, built over the traditional cave in 339 by Helena, is one of the oldest continuously used Christian sites in the world.

On which mountain did Moses receive the Ten Commandments?

1. Mount Nebo
2. Mount Carmel
3. Mount Sinai
4. Mount Tabor

"And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up."Exodus 19:20 (KJV)

Sinai (also called Horeb in some Old Testament passages) is the mountain where the Lord revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, and later gave the Law to Israel. The traditional identification with Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula goes back to the 4th century and is the site of St. Catherine's Monastery — one of the oldest functioning Christian monasteries, founded by Justinian in 565.

Which river did Joshua and the Israelites cross to enter the Promised Land?

1. Tigris
2. Jordan
3. Euphrates
4. Nile

"And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan … the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap … and the people passed over right against Jericho."Joshua 3:15-16 (KJV)

The Jordan flows from Mount Hermon in the north through the Sea of Galilee and down to the Dead Sea, forming the natural eastern boundary of historic Israel. It is the river of Joshua's crossing, Elijah's parting, Naaman's healing, and — most importantly for Christians — Jesus's baptism by John. The traditional baptism site is at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, on the eastern bank in modern Jordan.

In which country did the Israelites spend four hundred years before the Exodus under Moses?

1. Babylon
2. Assyria
3. Egypt
4. Persia

"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years."Exodus 12:40 (KJV)

Joseph's elevation in Pharaoh's court brought Jacob's family from Canaan to Goshen in the Nile Delta during a regional famine. They multiplied there until a new dynasty enslaved them. The Exodus narrative — whether the Pharaoh in question is Thutmose III, Rameses II, or another monarch debated by scholars — is the foundational story of Israel as a people and is recapitulated by Christ's own "exodus" through death (Luke 9:31, Greek).

To which capital city were the elites of Judah deported in the exile of 586 BC?

1. Nineveh
2. Babylon
3. Damascus
4. Susa

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion."Psalm 137:1 (KJV)

Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BC and carried Judah's leadership to Babylon, where they remained until Cyrus the Persian permitted return in 538. The Babylonian Exile reshaped Jewish religion — the synagogue, the careful preservation of Scripture, and the office of scribe all crystallized in this period. Psalm 137 is the lament of these exiles.

In which Roman province (in modern western Turkey) were the seven churches addressed in Revelation 2–3 located?

1. Galatia
2. Bithynia
3. Asia
4. Cappadocia

"John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come."Revelation 1:4 (KJV)

"Asia" in the New Testament always means the Roman province of that name — the western portion of Asia Minor with Ephesus as its leading city. The seven churches (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea) sit along a circular postal route. Paul, Timothy, and John all ministered in this region, and it remained one of the most densely Christian areas of the early empire.

In which Greek city did Paul deliver his Areopagus speech, citing "an unknown god"?

1. Corinth
2. Philippi
3. Athens
4. Thessalonica

"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious."Acts 17:22 (KJV)

The Areopagus was both a hill northwest of the Acropolis and the venerable council of Athens that met there. Paul's speech is the most extensively reported example of his preaching to a Gentile, philosophically literate audience — quoting the Cretan poet Epimenides and the Cilician Aratus, and pivoting from the city's altar to "the unknown god" to the resurrection of Christ. Dionysius the Areopagite, a member of the council, was among the converts.

At the end of Acts, in which imperial capital is Paul preaching the gospel "with all confidence" under house arrest?

1. Antioch
2. Jerusalem
3. Alexandria
4. Rome

"And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him."Acts 28:30-31 (KJV)

Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome — the geographical climax of a book that began in Jerusalem and traced the gospel's path "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Whether Paul was released and continued westward (perhaps to Spain, as Romans 15:24 anticipates) or was executed at the end of this two-year stay is debated. Tradition holds he was beheaded outside Rome under Nero, around AD 64–67.

Which mountain ridge on the eastern side of Jerusalem is associated with Jesus's agony and ascension?

1. Mount Moriah
2. The Mount of Olives
3. Mount Zion
4. Mount Gerizim

"And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him … and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed."Luke 22:39, 41 (KJV)

The Mount of Olives rises just east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. Gethsemane lies on its lower western slope; the Ascension is traditionally located on its summit. Zechariah 14 prophesies that the Lord's feet will stand on the Mount of Olives on the day of his coming — a verse that has shaped both Jewish and Christian eschatology, and that explains why the western slope has been used as a Jewish burial ground for over three thousand years.