Bible word search
Twelve words from the best-known pages of Scripture are hidden in this grid, from Moses to the manger in Bethlehem. All eight directions are in play, so bring patience as well as faith.
Curated by 
Esme Rook
·
Updated September 2026
Play it right here
Drag across the letters to select a word. Words hide across, down and diagonally, forwards and backwards. Works with mouse and touch.
What words are in this Bible word search?
Twelve, in a 12x12 grid: Moses, Noah, David, Jonah, angel, faith, psalm, Genesis, Bethlehem, shepherd, manger and prophet. BETHLEHEM is the nine letter anchor and the sensible first find, because a word that long has very few places it can sit. FAITH, five common letters, usually holds out the longest, which feels about right.
How hard is it, and who is it for?
Every one of the eight directions is in play, so words hide diagonally and backwards as well as across and down. That makes it a fair hunt from about age 8 upward and a pleasant few minutes for an adult. It suits a Sunday school table, a church bulletin or a quiet solve at home, and nothing in it needs chapter-and-verse memory, only the stories themselves.
Print it or play it
Play it on this page or print the free PDF; the separate solution sheet marks all twelve words on the same grid, so the class set can go out while the answers stay on your desk. If your table prefers clues to hidden words, the Bible crossword puzzle draws on the same stories. For the centuries that came after the stories, the history word search runs seven boards of its own, from the pharaohs to the twentieth century.
Seven Bible word searches to print, one for each shelf of the book
The board on this page is the general one. Six more print from here, and each takes one part of the Bible and gives it a whole grid: the Old Testament, the New Testament, the parables, the map, the objects and the shelf of books itself. Every sheet has its own word list, its own size and its own solution page, and no word appears on two of them. The nativity is deliberately missing, because the Christmas word search has a whole board for it. Two word terms run together the way word searches have always set them: the good Samaritan is GOODSAMARITAN, the lost sheep is LOSTSHEEP, the wedding banquet is WEDDINGBANQUET.
The 12x12 board on this page
The playable board above, printed exactly as it stands: twelve names and words from the stories themselves, with BETHLEHEM as the nine letter anchor and FAITH holding out the longest.
The Old Testament: twelve more names
Twelve figures on a 13x13 board in all eight directions, and none of the four on the page above: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the start, then Joshua, Samson, Gideon, Elijah, Daniel and the two women the books are named after.
The New Testament: the four gospels and after
A 12x12 board that runs from the four gospel writers to the road to Damascus: Peter, Matthew, Mark and Luke, then the disciples, the apostle, the epistle, the baptism and the Pentecost that starts the church.
The parables: the stories inside the stories
The biggest sheet here, 14x14, because GOODSAMARITAN is thirteen letters on its own: the sower, the prodigal, the talents, the mustard seed, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the vineyard and the fig tree.
The places: the map behind the stories
Twelve place names in a 12x12 grid, arranged over the whole book: Eden at the very start, Egypt and Sinai in the desert, Canaan and Jericho at the crossing, Galilee and Samaria in the gospels, and Babylon and Nineveh out east.
The objects: twelve things you could hold
Nouns you could pick up, on a 12x12 board: the tablets, the sceptre, the chalice, the censer, the menorah, the shofar blown at Jericho, the slingshot David used and the manna that fell overnight.
The books: reading the contents page
The hardest board on this page, 13x13 with two twelve letter entries: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Acts, Hebrews and Revelation at the end.
Same theme, different puzzle: Bible crossword puzzle
