When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.
Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

• Acts 22:26-28

“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

• Genesis 49:3

I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he brandishes it against Egypt.

• Ezekiel 30:25

I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

• Ezekiel 34:16

I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will live securely,” declares the Lord.

• Zechariah 10:12

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

• Romans 4:20

But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.

• 1 Corinthians 14:3

May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

• 1 Thessalonians 3:13

In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

• Revelation 5:12

saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

• Revelation 7:12

Last night, the night before I wrote this, I thought of the capital cities of various empires.  I did not think there were enough, but there are several cities built by at least one empire that are significant in the Bible.  So, these questions are of major cities, capital cities or regional government centers.

The Bible reference will be one reference to the city in the Bible.

The questions are in Biblical order based on the reference being used.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What city was built by Nimrod and much later was ruled by Nebuchadnezzar?
2	Where did Xerxes reign as the emperor of the Medo-Persian empire and where he made Esther his queen?
3	Who was Jacob’s brother and whose descendants made Bosrah their capital?
4	What city is mentioned in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel to be synonymous with Egypt, where there will never be another Egyptian king, and a city in Tennessee along the Mississippi River is named after it?
5	What was the capital of the Assyrian Empire and where did Jonah not want to prophesy?
6	What was the capital city of the Arameans (Hadad, Ben Hadad) and later Paul was blinded along the road from Jerusalem to this city?
7	What Roman city founded a church by Paul going to the river to pray and talking to the women who gathered there, one being Lydia, a dealer of purple?
8	Where was Paul born so that he could be born a Roman citizen?
9	What city was the regional capital of the Roman empire for Judea, where Peter met Cornelius and Paul was taken for his own protection?
10	While it seemed the religious leaders were taking every opportunity to kill Paul, Paul appealed to Caesar, which meant he had to be taken as a prisoner to what city?

There is one influential empire that is not mentioned in this quiz.

Daniel prophesied that there would be one empire that would take over and when the emperor died, the empire would be divided among four kings.  Part of this prophecy was one king giving his daughter to another king and she turns against her father, siding with her husband (Daniel 11:1-16).

The emperor from Greece is Alexander the Great, but all that is mentioned here is a great king from Greece.

Alexander the Great obtained the kingdom from his father, and Alexander went off to expand the kingdom into an empire.  Alexander was born in Pella, Macedonia.  Pella is not mentioned in the Bible.

But there are two influential cities that are mentioned in the Bible from a philosophical viewpoint, and the Grecian democracy.  Greek philosophy was centered in Miletus.  In Acts 20, Paul travels to Miletus, trying to get back to Jerusalem by Pentecost.  He knew that if he returned to Ephesus, he might never leave.  He met the elders from Ephesus in Miletus, and the elders prayed and then followed him to the ship and saw him off.

Miletus was the center of philosophy in the Grecian controlled area of Europe and Asia until it was moved to Athens.  Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes were all philosophers in Miletus.

But the center of philosophical thought shifted to Athens.  Anaxagoras is credited with moving the philosophical center to Athens, but Aspasia of Miletus moved to Athens some time later.  Socrates was one of Aspasia’s pupils.

Paul gave his sermon on ‘an unknown god’ in Athens (Acts 17:22-34).

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What city was built by Nimrod and much later was ruled by Nebuchadnezzar?	Genesis 10:10
2	Where did Xerxes reign as the emperor of the Medo-Persian empire and where he made Esther his queen?	Esther 1:2
3	Who was Jacob’s brother and whose descendants made Bosrah their capital?	Isaiah 63:1
4	What city is mentioned in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel to be synonymous with Egypt, where there will never be another Egyptian king, and a city in Tennessee along the Mississippi River is named after it?	Jeremiah 46:19, Ezekiel 30:13
5	What was the capital of the Assyrian Empire and where did Jonah not want to prophesy?	Jonah 1:1-3
6	What was the capital city of the Arameans (Hadad, Ben Hadad) and later Paul was blinded along the road from Jerusalem to this city?	Acts 9:8
7	What Roman city founded a church by Paul going to the river to pray and talking to the women who gathered there, one being Lydia, a dealer of purple?	Acts 16:13-14
8	Where was Paul born so that he could be born a Roman citizen?	Acts 21:39
9	What city was the regional capital of the Roman empire for Judea, where Peter met Cornelius and Paul was taken for his own protection?	Acts 23:23
10	While it seemed the religious leaders were taking every opportunity to kill Paul, Paul appealed to Caesar, which meant he had to be taken as a prisoner to what city?	Acts 28:16-20

I liked this quiz, but it put me to work.

I had to look up a lot of things.  Pharoah moved around a lot while a power in the middle east.

The answer to question 4 and Thebes were the primary capital cities, but recent scholarship puts the Pharoah living near Goshen, further North, during the time of the Exodus, with recent archaeological finds to back that up.  The name of this city changed several times, one being Ramses.

Other locations are Pi-Ramesses, Amarna, and Tanis.  When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, followed by the Romans, the capital of the region was moved to Alexandria.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What city was built by Nimrod and much later was ruled by Nebuchadnezzar?	Genesis 10:10	Babylon
2	Where did Xerxes reign as the emperor of the Medo-Persian empire and where he made Esther his queen?	Esther 1:2	Susa
3	Who was Jacob’s brother and whose descendants made Bosrah their capital?	Isaiah 63:1	Esau
4	What city is mentioned in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel to be synonymous with Egypt, where there will never be another Egyptian king, and a city in Tennessee along the Mississippi River is named after it?	Jeremiah 46:19, Ezekiel 30:13	Memphis
5	What was the capital of the Assyrian Empire and where did Jonah not want to prophesy?	Jonah 1:1-3	Ninevah
6	What was the capital city of the Arameans (Hadad, Ben Hadad) and later Paul was blinded along the road from Jerusalem to this city?	Acts 9:8	Damascus
7	What Roman city founded a church by Paul going to the river to pray and talking to the women who gathered there, one being Lydia, a dealer of purple?	Acts 16:13-14	Philippi
8	Where was Paul born so that he could be born a Roman citizen?	Acts 21:39	Tarsus
9	What city was the regional capital of the Roman empire for Judea, where Peter met Cornelius and Paul was taken for his own protection?	Acts 23:23	Caesarea
10	While it seemed the religious leaders were taking every opportunity to kill Paul, Paul appealed to Caesar, which meant he had to be taken as a prisoner to what city?	Acts 28:16-20	Rome

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Boney M singing Rivers of Babylon.  This very upbeat song is based on Scripture: Psalm 137:1.  The Babylonian captors really did demand a song, and Psalm 137 is what the Isrealites in exile came up with, including the last verse of the psalm talking about happy is the one who will take your infants and bash them against the rocks.  Obviously, the Babylonians did not know Hebrew.  The bridge in the song is Psalm 19:14, almost.

Here is David and Nicole Binion with Hallelujah (Babylon has Fallen).

Here is Brooke Ligertwood singing Ninevah.

I only focused on two of the cities in this song section.  Two songs about Babylon, as Babylon is the image of evil in the Revelation prophecy.  Buy Ninevah, and the Assyrians, were considered horribly bloodthirsty and cruel.  The song asks if there is a small amount of Ninevah in us.

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.