Questions People Ask God
Every question people put to God in the Bible, who asked them, and how they begin.
BibleVerse research
Questions people ask God, questions people ask Jesus
Set side by side, the questions people put to God and the questions they put to Jesus differ in how they begin, who asks them, whom they are about, and the words they use. They also echo each other.
The counts remain based on the Berean Standard Bible. The switcher changes the displayed verses, not the analysis; when an edition lacks a book or verse, the BSB text remains visible.
The short answer
90.7%of the questions to God are asked by one person, against 48.0% of those to Jesus
2×people ask God “why” twice as often: 19.9% of their questions, against 9.8% to Jesus
0questions put to both in the same words
The page counts 235 questions addressed to God and 136 addressed to Jesus, including repeated tellings. Most questions in the God set occur within an individual's prayer and often ask why or how long. Most questions in the Jesus set occur in conversation and ask what to do, what Jesus means or who he is. Many are asked by groups, including the disciples, Pharisees and crowds.
This page reads the two collections built on Questions people ask God and Questions people ask Jesus. Both are counted once per distinct question, 226 to God and 102 to Jesus, where a question is told more than once.
GodJesus
- Questions they ask
- Questions people put to them
How the questions begin
People ask God “why” in 19.9% of their questions, and Jesus in 9.8%. “How long” begins 7.1% of the questions to God and 1.0% of those to Jesus, a single question: “How long will You keep us in suspense?” (John 10:24). Questions to Jesus more often begin with “what” (16.7% against 8.4%) and “where” (7.8% against 2.7%): “What must we do to perform the works of God?”, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”. Questions that can be answered yes or no are the largest group on both sides, 37.2% to God and 30.4% to Jesus.
To GodTo Jesus
- A yes-or-no question
- Why
- What
- Who, whom or whose
- How
- Where
- How long
- When
- Which
Counted once each: 226 questions to God, 102 to Jesus.
Who asks, and about whom
90.7% of the questions to God are asked by one person: a psalmist, Job, Moses, Jeremiah. Of the questions to Jesus, 48.0% are; the rest come from his disciples together, from Pharisees and scribes, and from crowds.
People speak of themselves more to God: 35.0% of the questions to God say I, me or my, against 16.7% of those to Jesus. Questions to Jesus more often say we, us or our, 25.5% against 16.8%. And 68.1% of the questions to God address him as You or Your, against 56.9% of those to Jesus.
To GodTo Jesus
- Refer to the asker: I, me, my
- Refer to the askers: we, us, our
- Refer to the one asked: You, Your
- Asked by one person
Words that appear more often in each set
After common grammatical words are removed, God (as in “my God”), long, forever, hand, anger and face occur more often in questions addressed to God. Many of these questions occur in laments. Going, authority, rabbi, know, sign, teacher and lawful occur more often in questions addressed to Jesus, many of which arise in teaching conversations. Questions addressed to God are also longer on average: 11.5 words against 9.2.
- 1god 30 to 1
- 2long 19 to 1
- 3forever 9 to 0
- 4hand 8 to 0
- 5people 16 to 2
- 6anger 6 to 0
- 7angry 6 to 0
- 8bring 6 to 0
- 9brought 6 to 0
- 10earth 6 to 0
- 11face 6 to 0
- 12found 6 to 0
- 1going 6 to 0
- 2authority 5 to 0
- 3rabbi 5 to 0
- 4know 5 to 2
- 5sign 4 to 0
- 6teacher 4 to 0
- 7things 4 to 0
- 8say 5 to 3
- 9born 3 to 0
- 10father 3 to 0
- 11lawful 3 to 0
- 12wife 3 to 1
The number beside each bar is a z-score for how far the word leans to one side; the pair of counts is the number of times in questions to that side and to the other. With question sets this small, the scores are modest: they rank the words, and a score near 1 is a lean, not a certainty.
Echoes
No question is put to both in exactly the same words. Some echo each other in what they ask. The pairs below are an editor's choice, not a measurement, set side by side for reading.
Asked of one who seems to sleep while his people are in danger.
At a calling: Moses asks who he is, and Saul asks who is speaking.
To God
Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?
Exodus 3:11 MosesWho may come near: the psalm's question of who may dwell with God, and the rich man's of eternal life.
Nowhere else to go.
Asking for Israel to be restored.
A servant left with the whole burden.
To God
Why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid upon me the burden of all these people?
Numbers 11:11 Moses
How this was made
The two sets. Both were built the same way, from Faith Comes By Hearing's verse-by-verse speaker data and the Berean Standard Bible, with stated rules and written hand decisions; their methods and full lists are on Questions people ask God and Questions people ask Jesus. The totals of questions God and Jesus ask come from Questions God asks and Questions Jesus asks.
The measures. How they begin: the first word of each question after any name it is addressed to. Asker and one asked: whether the question contains I, me, my, mine or myself; we, us, our, ours or ourselves; and you, your, yours or yourself. One person: a hand list sorts every asker into one person (a psalmist, Pilate) or more than one (the disciples, a crowd). Words: a weighted log-odds ratio with an informative prior (Monroe, Colaresi and Quinn, 2008), after the grammatical words listed on the map of meaning's word page, twelve words a side. Every measure counts each distinct question once. This page was made with AI assistance and human review.
The data. Every figure on this page is in asked-compared.json, built from the question files.
Corrections are welcome through the contact page.
Questions people ask
Do people ask God or Jesus more questions in the Bible?
God, 235 questions against 136 put to Jesus, counting every telling. Both ask more than they are asked: God asks 401 questions and Jesus 310.
How are the questions people ask God different from those they ask Jesus?
People ask God "why" twice as often, 19.9% of their questions against 9.8%, and "how long" far more often. They speak of themselves more: 35.0% of the questions to God say I, me or my, against 16.7% of those to Jesus. Questions to Jesus more often begin with "what" and ask for teaching, a sign or an answer about who he is.
Does anyone ask God and Jesus the same question?
Not in the same words. Some echo each other: "Why are You sleeping?" in Psalm 44 and the disciples' "Teacher, don't You care that we are perishing?" in the storm, and this page sets a few side by side.
Why does this page compare questions addressed to God and Jesus?
It separates two sets of speech for textual analysis, not to make a theological claim. Most Christian traditions teach that Jesus is divine, while Christian communities differ in how they describe his relationship to God.
Explore related research
Questions People Ask Jesus
Every question people put to Jesus, who asked them, and how he replies.
Questions God and Jesus Ask, Compared
How often each asks, how the questions begin, who they are put to, and where they echo each other.