These 21 Joel Bible trivia questions cover the locust invasion, the "day of the LORD," and the famous promise about God pouring out his Spirit -- with answers and verse references after every question. They're sorted into easy, medium, and hard rounds so the whole family can play at once.
Joel is only three chapters, but it punches far above its weight: it contains the prophecy Peter quoted to launch the church at Pentecost and the verse Paul used to explain salvation ("everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved," Joel 2:32). Don't be surprised if the adults lose the hard round.
What Is the Book of Joel About?
Joel is a short prophecy that turns a devastating locust plague into a wake-up call: if an insect army can strip the land bare, imagine "the day of the LORD" -- and it ends with God promising to repay the loss and pour out his Spirit on all people. The book was written by Joel son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1) to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Unusually for a prophet, Joel names no kings and gives no dates, so scholars honestly don't know exactly when he lived.
The heart of the book is Joel 2:13 -- "Rend your heart and not your garments" -- a call to real repentance, not a performance of it. And its most famous lines were fulfilled on Pentecost morning, which is why this tiny book matters so much to the New Testament; the story of that fulfillment is in the day of Pentecost for kids.
Easy Joel Trivia Questions (Ages 5-8)
- What kind of insect army invades the land in the book of Joel? Locusts (Joel 1:4)
- What did the locusts destroy? The crops -- grain, vines, and fig trees were stripped bare (Joel 1:7, 10-12)
- Who was Joel's father? Pethuel (Joel 1:1)
- What does God promise to pour out on all people? His Spirit (Joel 2:28)
- Finish the promise: "Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be..." "...saved" (Joel 2:32)
- How many chapters does Joel have? Three (Joel 1-3)
- What does the name Joel mean? "The LORD is God"
Medium Joel Trivia Questions (Ages 9-12)
- Complete Joel 2:13: "Rend your ___ and not your garments." Heart (Joel 2:13)
- How does Joel 2:13 describe God's character? Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love (Joel 2:13)
- What does God promise to repay his people for? "The years the locusts have eaten" (Joel 2:25)
- Which apostle quoted Joel's prophecy to the crowd at Pentecost? Peter (Acts 2:16-21)
- When God pours out his Spirit, what will sons and daughters do? Prophesy (Joel 2:28)
- What great and dreadful "day" is the book's central theme? The day of the LORD (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 31)
- What instrument is blown in Zion to sound the alarm? A trumpet (Joel 2:1, 15)
Hard Joel Trivia Questions (Teens and Adults)
- According to Joel 2:28, what will old men and young men experience? Old men will dream dreams, and young men will see visions (Joel 2:28)
- In which valley does God gather the nations for judgment? The Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2, 12)
- Joel 3:10 famously reverses which well-known prophecy? "Beat your plowshares into swords" -- the reverse of Isaiah's and Micah's "swords into plowshares" (Joel 3:10; Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3)
- What happens to the sun and moon before the great day of the LORD? The sun turns to darkness and the moon to blood (Joel 2:31)
- Complete Joel 3:14: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of..." "...decision" (Joel 3:14)
- Which New Testament letter quotes Joel 2:32 to explain how anyone can be saved? Romans (10:13) (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13)
- What key fact about Joel does the book never tell us? When he lived -- it names no kings or dates, so its era is genuinely uncertain
▶
Watch This Story Come Alive
See Joel Bible Trivia in a 60-second narrated video lesson your child will love. Followed by a fun quiz to check what they learned.
Watch Free for 7 DaysWhy Does Joel Matter for Kids?
Because it's the Old Testament book that explodes into the New. When the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost and the crowd assumed the disciples were drunk, Peter's answer was essentially "No -- this is Joel" (Acts 2:16). A kid who knows these three little chapters will recognize the birthday of the church on sight, and will understand why "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved" shows up again when Paul explains the gospel in Romans 10:13.
Joel is also wonderfully concrete for children: bugs eat everything, people are hungry and scared, and God says "return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12) and promises to restore what was lost. Our video lessons at Faithful Kids pair Bible stories like Pentecost with short animated episodes and quizzes, which makes connections like Joel-to-Acts click for kids.
How Does Joel Connect to the Rest of the Bible?
Joel punches above its weight because two of its verses became load-bearing walls in the New Testament. Joel 2:28-32 is the passage Peter stood up and quoted on Pentecost morning -- "this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16) -- which means the church's very first sermon opened with this book. And Joel 2:32, "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved," reappears in Romans 10:13 as Paul's plainest statement of how salvation works. A family that learns Joel's three chapters has quietly learned the backbone of Acts 2 and Romans 10.
Joel also sits second among the twelve Minor Prophets, between Hosea and Amos -- the short books at the end of the Old Testament that most kids never meet. If your children can't yet find them, a quick session with the books of the Bible for kids turns "the twelve" from a blur into a map, and Joel makes the best first stop because it's the shortest path from an Old Testament prophet to a New Testament fulfillment.
One teaching angle parents love: Joel shows kids that God speaks through disasters without wasting them. The locusts weren't the end of the story -- they were the doorway to "return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12) and, ultimately, to the promise of the Spirit for "all people" (Joel 2:28), young and old, sons and daughters alike. Kids are explicitly in that promise.
How to Use These Questions
Read Joel aloud first -- the whole book takes about ten minutes -- then play the rounds; it's one of the only prophets a family can finish in one sitting. The easy round works for Sunday school openers, the medium round fits car rides, and the hard round makes a strong teen challenge since three of its answers require knowing the New Testament too. For scorekeeping and team ideas, see our family Bible trivia night guide.
For more material afterward, run the Old Testament trivia for kids or the full 100 Bible trivia questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote the book of Joel?
The prophet Joel, son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1). That single verse is everything the Bible tells us about him personally -- no hometown, no king, no date -- which makes Joel one of the most anonymous authors in Scripture.
How many chapters does Joel have?
Joel has 3 chapters in English Bibles (Hebrew Bibles divide the same material into 4). The flow is simple: chapter 1 describes the locust disaster, chapter 2 calls for repentance and promises restoration and the Spirit, and chapter 3 looks ahead to God's judgment of the nations and blessing of his people.
What is the most famous verse in Joel?
Joel 2:28 -- "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." Peter declared it fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:16-17), making it one of the most important Old Testament quotes in the New Testament.
What is "the day of the LORD" in Joel?
It's the time when God steps in openly -- to judge sin and to rescue his people, and Joel presents both sides. The locust plague was a small preview (Joel 1:15), and the book points to a greater day that is "dreadful" for God's enemies but salvation "for everyone who calls on the name of the LORD" (Joel 2:31-32).
What age can kids start learning Joel?
Ages 6-8 can grasp the storyline -- locusts ate everything, the people said sorry and turned back, and God promised to restore -- while the day-of-the-LORD themes suit ages 10 and up. Joel 2:13 ("he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love") is a great first memory verse from the book.
Did God really repay "the years the locusts have eaten"?
Joel 2:25 is God's promise to restore what the plague destroyed, and verses 23-26 describe the answer: rains, threshing floors filled with grain, and plenty to eat. Many families treasure the verse today as a picture of how God can redeem wasted or painful years -- while remembering its first meaning was literal crops for a hungry Judah.
