Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.  Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

• Genesis 2:5-7

And I had to skip a question in the original quiz because the Scripture above gives away the answer.  This quiz has a lot of giveaway answers, especially when you reach the Bible References, but the idea is important that God breathed the Scripture into the authors of the Bible and God breathes life into each of us.

Bing Crosby may know about every breath he takes, but would he pass this quiz about breathing in the Bible?

The following quiz is copied from J. Stephen Lang’s book, The Whimsical Quizzical Bible Trivia Book.  If the question is not in bold/italics, I have edited the question for Biblical accuracy.  But I only modified the answers and Biblical references a bit in this case.

And a note on rewriting questions for Biblical accuracy:  As a training manager for about 30 years, I had two goals when creating quizzes or examinations: 1) Make the questions hard enough to test the person’s knowledge on the topic, but not so much in these quizzes. And 2) Make sure, as much as possible, to be precisely accurate so that no one could interpret a different answer.  Therefore, I either do not use a question that is not precise, misrepresenting the Bible story in a slight way, or in some cases off by a mile, OR I must modify the question.  If I did not check the Scriptures relating to the question for accuracy, then someone who knows that story well would not be able to answer the question.

Disclaimer:  Whenever I quote something from this book, I will include this disclaimer.  The Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is useful for instruction.  Thus, none of Scripture could be considered “Trivia.”  And if this quiz causes people to look up the answers, that is not trivial at all.

Mr. Lang called his quiz, “Breathing Lessons,” but as the Scripture above states, God breathed the breath of life into Adam.  Where else is there a reference to breathing?  Actually, quite a few.

The Questions:

	Question
1	Who had the only known case of halitosis in the Bible?  Note: I doubt if any translations use the word ‘halitosis.’  So, consider the old TV ad, “You’ve got BAD BREATH!”
2	What happened when the risen Jesus ‘breathed on’ his disciples?
3	What Jewish fanatic was ‘breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,’ but later became an apostle?  Note: Most English translations use the word “breathing” or variants of the word.
4	What prophet had a vision of a valley of dry bones, brought to life when God breathed into them?
5	What military leader went into Canaan and ‘utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord commanded’?
6	What chilly weather phenomenon did Job think came from the breath of God?
7	What praise-filled book ends with the words ‘Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord?’ (KJV)
8	What prophet warned against worshiping gold and silver idols that have no breath in them?
9	In Luke’s Gospel, what did Jesus say before he breathed his last?  But since so many of the questions give away the answer when we give the Bible Reference, let’s have a bonus question here.  What Scripture did Jesus quote when He said this last thing (according to Luke)?
10	What apostle claimed that all Scripture is ‘God-breathed’?
11	In the book of Revelation, what people were brought to life when God breathed into them?
12	Who, according to 2 Thessalonians, will Christ overthrow by the breath of his mouth?
13	Which sensuous Old Testament book describes a lover whose breath has the fragrance of apples?
14	Which prophet described God blowing on the fires of hell to kindle the blaze?  Hint:  The word Tophet is used as the place of destruction, avoiding using the word “hell.”
15	According to Mark’s Gospel, what did Jesus do just before he breathed his last?

Some of these questions are giveaways once you know what book of the Bible where the answer can be found.  Hopefully, you already know.  In a couple of cases, I withheld the book, giving only the chapter and verse.

Bible References:

1. Job 19:17 – which might give the answer away
2. John 20:22
3. Acts 9:1
4. Ezekiel 37:1-14 – which might give the answer away.  Might I even say that I was throwing a bone, with a giveaway answer?
5. Joshua 10:40 – which again might give the answer away
6. Job 37:10
7. Psalm 150:6 – which again might give the answer away, but the question had hints in that direction anyway.
8. Habakkuk 2:19 – which again might give the answer away
9. Luke 23:46 – I will give the bonus Bible Reference in the answers.  I cannot give them all away.
10. 2 Timothy 3:16
11. Revelation 11:1-12
12. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8
13. Please, no more giveaways, but if you have the right book, look up chapter and verse, 7:8.
14. Again, if you have the right book, look up chapter and verse, 30:33.  And since there are only three prophetic books of the Old Testament with at least 30 chapters, that narrows it down a lot.
15. Mark 15:37

I had a bit of fun with the giveaway answers here.  I could have eliminated most of them and had a ten question quiz, but the whole point of these quizzes is to have a little fun looking up the answers, if you did not know the answer in the first place.  We need to keep Scripture in our hearts.  It allows us to know when it is the Holy Spirit talking to us.  It brings us closer to Jesus.  And there may be a time in the not too distant future when openly worshipping God can get us into trouble.  I pray this never happens, but looking at the end time prophecies, it might happen.  Already, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is rewriting Scripture, removing the deity of God and making the CCP the focal point of their version of the Bible.  Yet, if we have the Scriptures imprinted on our hearts, we will be able to see the lies.

The Answers:

1. Job – The various translations say offensive, repulsive, or strange breath or that Job’s wife abhors his breath.  The NLV states “smells bad” and the Common English Bible simply says that his breath “stinks.”
2. The Holy Spirit – Note:  They do not permanently receive the Holy Spirit until Pentecost.
3. Saul, later called Paul
4. Ezekiel
5. Joshua – Note: The author of the book questioned this statement, thinking that Joshua only killed the people, but in some cases, God commanded Joshua to kill everything, not taking the livestock as spoils of war.  I believe that we can trust the Biblical record, although in some cases the translation can lead to a bit of inaccuracy in the scope of what is meant.
6. Frost or ice, depending upon translation.
7. Psalms
8. Habakkuk
9. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  Psalm 31:5a, “Into your hands I commit my spirit; …”  (NIV)
10. Paul, and make no mistake, Paul’s “claim” is true.
11. The two witnesses, or prophets, who had been killed by the people of earth.  While celebrating the death of God’s prophets, the prophets came back to life and then ascended into Heaven, observed by their enemies.
12. The “man of lawlessness”
13. Song of Solomon or Song of Songs
14. Isaiah
15. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “With a loud cry” (NIV).

Since you did so well, treat yourself to a little Faith Hill.  The video is sensuous, and the song may be about a man and woman in love.  But think of it.  God breathed life into us, and when we are in close communion with Him, can you feel God breathe?

And a Hillsong worship song begins with “This is the air I breathe…”

Of course, if you did not do well on this quiz, maybe you just need some breathing lessons, like this lesson on circular breathing from Kenny G.

But did Kenny G use circular breathing on his song, One Breath?

And here is a different take on “every breath I take”, since we started with the Bing Crosby version, this one from Hillsong.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.