Jailbirds in the Old and New Testaments Quiz

Answer: Attempted rape

Joseph was imprisoned after being falsely accused of attempted rape by Potiphar's vindictive wife, as per Genesis 39:7-15. According to the passage, Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph but the young Hebrew would have nothing to do with her plans.

Reeling from his rejection, she accused Joseph of attempted rape and he was imprisoned.

At the time, Joseph was a servant in Potiphar's household. No name is given in Scripture for his evil wife.

Answer: Philistines

After being betrayed by Delilah, Samson was blinded and imprisoned by the Philistines after his capture.

Details about his betrayal and capture can be found in Judges 16:1-31.

According to Scripture, Philistine officials offered Delilah a massive amount of money if she could find out the secret to Samson's supernatural strength. After Delilah found out Samson's long hair was the secret to his phenomenal strength, his locks were cut while he was in a deep sleep.

With his strength gone, the Philistines captured him, gouged out his eyes and imprisoned him in Gaza.

Answer: Jeremiah

Jeremiah the prophet told it the way it is and he paid for it by being imprisoned multiple times. His prophecies about the Babylonians on the cusp of conquering Jerusalem was a message the leaders of the day did not want to hear.

Jeremiah claimed the Jewish nation had drifted away from being obedient to God and as a result there would be a severe price to pay. The leaders of the day, however, saw his prophesies as treasonous and he ended up being imprisoned on at least five different occasions.

Answer: Daniel

Daniel was definitely incarcerated but he was not locked up in a prison -- he was thrown into a den of lions. Miraculously, the prophet of God survived the ordeal without even a scratch.

According to Scripture, Daniel was tossed into a lions' den because he prayed to God despite a king's decree against doing such a thing. An angel shut the mouths of the lions and Daniel was found unharmed the next morning.

King Darius was so impressed with Daniel being able to survive the ordeal he ordered him set free.

See Daniel 6:10-23 for details.

Answer: Herod

John the Baptist didn't pull any punches in his dealings with Herod and the man who is known as the forerunner of Christ paid with his life.

In a nutshell, John ended up being imprisoned and Herod's wife Herodias orchestrated things behind the scenes to have him beheaded.

According to Scripture, John condemned the marriage of Herod and Herodias because she had been married to Herod's brother Philip. John's condemnation of the marriage resulted in him being imprisoned.

With John in prison, Herodias took action to make sure he would never leave the facility alive. It all came to a grisly end for John when Herodias' unnamed daughter performed an eye-catching dance at gala banquet hosted by Herod. At the end of the dance, an apparently drunken Herod told the girl she could have whatever she wanted -- up to one half of his kingdom.

After consulting with her evil and vindictive mother, the girl requested John's head on a platter. Scripture goes on to tell of Herod reluctantly granting the girl's request and John was beheaded.

For details about John the Baptist being beheaded, see Matthew 14:1-12 and Mark 6:14-29.

Answer: No name is given

No name is given in Scripture for the angel who set Peter free from prison.

According to Acts 12:5-19, Herod had Peter arrested and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel message. Things looked extremely bleak for Peter as Herod had just had James, the brother of John, imprisoned and executed for doing the same things Peter was doing.

Thanks to divine intervention, Peter was able to escape to freedom. According to Scripture, an unnamed angel visited Peter at night in his cell and led him safely out of the prison.

Answer: Philippi

Paul and Silas were stripped naked and ruthlessly beaten by a mob in Philippi, a city in Greece. After the beating, the two men were imprisoned.

According to Scripture, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns at midnight when an earthquake set them free from their chains. They used the occasion to convert the jailer to Christianity. For details see, Acts 16:16-34.

Philippi was on a key trading route that linked Europe with Asia.

Answer: True

An unstated number of the Apostles were put in "a common prison" by the high priest. Their crime: preaching the Gospel.

However, during their first night in prison, the Apostles were set free by an Angel of the Lord who instructed them to "go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life".

Details are found in Acts 5:17-20.

Answer: True

It might come as a surprise to some, but Timothy, a young and timid worker in the early church, was also a jailbird.

Exact details are not given, but Hebrews 13:23 makes mention of "our brother Timothy being set free" from prison.

Timothy was from Lystra and his mother was Eunice and his grandmother was Lois.

Timothy was a favorite of Paul as he described him a number of times in Scripture as his "son".

Answer: Barabbas

Barabbas was the name of the prisoner who was released instead of Jesus, according to Scripture. His release is reported in all four Gospels.

At the time, there was a custom that one prisoner be released to coincide with the Passover. With Jesus appearing before him on false charges, Pilate apparently thought an easy way out of his dilemma would be to release Jesus as part of the Passover tradition.

However, the crowd would have none of it.

John 18:39-40 explains things this way in the NKJV: "'But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?' Then they all cried again, saying, 'Not this Man, but Barabbas!' Now Barabbas was a robber."

Scripture goes on to tell of Jesus being savagely beaten, tortured and forced to carry His cross to Calvary where He would be crucified. However, three days later He would triumphantly rise from the dead and after appearing to a large number of people over a 40-day period, Christ would ascend to Heaven.