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
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
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
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.
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.”
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
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
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Concerning the Old Testament question:
I quickly blurted out, “Lamentations!” Couldn’t that also be an answer, since we get the word “lament” from it. Kinda’ close, I think. Especially since both are attributed to the prophet Jeremiah.
Hi Marlene — the clue specified the answer had to be the longest book in the Old Testament. That rules out Lamentations.
Are the Thursday and Friday episodes which have been preempted by Hearing in Washington and School Shooting going to be shown. If so when?
@Pat, that was Wednesday and Friday. I would assume that any station that ran Wednesday’s episode at a later time has already done so.
I know Thursday’s show in Houston got cut into at a certain point with breaking news coverage but if that station ever reruns an interrupted episode, I’ve never seen it.
You should check with your local station to see if and when they will air Friday’s show.
I think the winner may be James Holzhauer, the second runner up may be Emma Boettcher, and the third runner up may be Francois Barcomb.
I’d like to see more difficult Daily Doubles tomorrow. They are all obviously up to the task. How about two killer $2,000 Daily Doubles to make things really interesting?
We watch every time James is playing!! I really want him to win! He is so much fun to watch! James is always nice, not snarky like some of the players, or even commenters! LOVE JAMES, WIN IT ALL!!
Looks like Emma has made a gutsy move so far as this isn’t a runaway. I just hope she will beat james tomorrow. I have a lot of admiration and respect for her. She could possibly turn her score around and bet aggressively. This game is in her favor
I agree with you.
Who the hell roots against James? Such people exist?
Keep dreaming. James will win easily.
The game is not in her favor what so ever. What planet do you live on?
Wow… and the rout is on!
I truly have no horse in this race – all three players have proven that are worthy participants – but you can’t spot James Holzhauer as $23K lead & realistically think that he’s going to blow it. If there’s a player out there that can take him down, it’s Emma, as she’s proven before, however, when she beat him back in the day, they both started at “0”.
I agree with you, JP, but the possibility is still there that tomorrow, Emma or Francois will beat him to the DDs and bet aggressively; or, that James will bet big and miss a DD. That DD he missed today was an easy one for me. (The year and jail converts to Ballad of Reading Gaol to me).
James was undeniably in top form. In the first round, Emma wasn’t able to get on the board until the 12th clue and Francois didn’t get one till the 20th clue.
LINK: 13 more clues on page 2
I say Emma will win tomorrow.
I say you are incorrect.
Gutsy move by Emma to risk it all in FJ. She has kept herself in the game. Much admiration and respect, and I hope she pulls off a surprise win tomorrow just like she did in the regular game when she broke James’ streak.
I hope so too.
Oh hell no. JAMES all the way.
Game on!
So far this is not a runaway tournament.