Final Jeopardy: Old Testament Books (11-14-19)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (11/14/2019) in the category “Old Testament Books” was:

By Hebrew word count, the longest book bears this name that led to a word for a long complaint or rant

It’s the first of two final games in the 2019 Tournament of Champions. This year’s finalists are: Francois Barcomb, (SF #3); James Holzhauer, (SF #2); and Emma Boettcher, (SF #1).

Each player’s score today will be carried forward and added to his score tomorrow to determine who takes home the $250,000 grand prize. Second place wins $100,000. Third place: $50,000 (minimums). Before reading the Final Jeopardy! clue, Alex thanked Consumer Cellular for their help in putting the tournament together.

Round 1 Categories: A Writer’s Life for Me – Synonyms for Black – The New News – Transportation Terms – British History – Movie Monsters

James found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “A Writer’s Life for Me” under the $800 clue on the 6th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,000. No one else had rung in yet. He went “all in” and got Dumas in after the buzzer. That was WRONG anyhow.

Echoing the title character of a book by his great uncle, he assumed the surname Melmoth after leaving prison in 1897. show

WHO IS OSCAR WILDE?

James finished in the lead with $7,400. Emma was second with $3,200 and Francois was last with $1,000.

Round 2 Categories: House Painting – Lawyers, Law & Legality – Physics – Tony-Winning Roles – Beastly North American Geography – Teen-Letter Words

James found the first Daily Double in “Beastly North American Geography” under the $1,200 clue on the 4th pick. He was in the lead with $10,600 now, $5,800 more than Emma in second place. Undeterred, he went all in again. This time, he was RIGHT.

This river is the largest tributary of the Columbia which it joins near Pasco, Washington. show

WHAT IS THE SNAKE RIVER?

James found the last Daily Double in “Lawyer, Law & Legality” under the $1,200 clue on the 10th pick. In the lead with $24,800, he now had $18,800 more than Emma in second place. He bet $9,812 and he was RIGHT.

At the Scopes trial, this politician said he’d seen nothing to accept the word of scientists against the inspired Word of God. show

WHO IS WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN?

James finished in the lead with $37,412. Emma was next with $13,200 and Francois was in third place with $7,800.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS JEREMIAH?

We had a Final Jeopardy! clue on 9/18/2017 that was about the shortest book in the Old Testament and I linked to an article on BibleOverview.com, in which Jeffrey Krantz made 2 infographics on the shortest and longest by word count. You can see on there that Jeremiah is the longest, followed by Exodus.

The word they are referring to is “jeremiad.” Thought.co says: “The term is derived from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, author of the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations. The Book of Jeremiah details the prophesied downfall of the Kingdom of Judah as a consequence of breaking the covenant with God. Historically, the kingdom did fall to Babylon between 589 and 586 BCE, and the Book of Lamentations mourns the fall and what it describes as the reasons for it. Jeremiads are not solely tied to religion, although they often are.”

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Francois went with the Book of Ruth. He lost his $6,000 bet and finished with $1,800.

Emma got it right. She bet it all and doubled her score to $26,400.

James got it too. He bet $11,914 so that brought him up to $49,326. Click here if you want to see James’ highest one-day totals in his regular games.

A triple stumper from each round:

A WRITER’S LIFE FOR ME ($1000) This tough guy detective writer also wrote a novel for children called “The Day the Sea Rolled Back”

PHYSICS ($2000) A 1976 paper has one of the first mentions of this “model” that accounts for 3 of the universe’s 4 fundamental forces

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Inventions” in the first final of the 2017 ToC.

When Time Magazine named it Invention of the Year in 2007, it was described as too slow, too big, pretty & touchy-feely. show

WHAT IS THE iPHONE?

Click here to leave well wishes and prayers for Alex Trebek for continuing success in his battle against cancer. There’s also a link to where you can make a donation to pancreatic cancer research in his honor.