Women Characters In the Bible

A

Abigail
**Abigail** (Hebrew: אֲבִיגַיִל‎, Modern: *ʾAvīgayīl*, Tiberian: *ʾAḇīḡayīl*) was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel 25). Abigail was David's third wife, after Ahinoam and Saul's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to Palti, son of Laish, when David went into hiding.

Abigail became the mother of one of David's sons, who is listed in the Book of Chronicles under the name *Daniel*, in the Masoretic Text of the Books of Samuel as *Chileab,* and in the Septuagint text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Δαλουια, *Dalouia*. Her name is spelled **Abigal** in 2 Samuel 17:25 in the American Standard Version.

Abishag
In the Hebrew Bible, **Abishag** (Hebrew: אבישג ***Avishag***) was a beautiful young woman of Shunem chosen to be a helper and servant to King David in his old age. Among Abishag's duties was to lie next to David and pass along her body heat and vigor because "they put covers on him, but he could not get warm". 1 Kings 1:4 notes that David did not engage in sexual intercourse with her. When brought to David, she was a *na'arah*, which indicates youth or virginity but not necessarily both.

link=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bathsheba\_solomon\_david.jpg|thumb|Abisag, Bathsheba, Solomon, and Nathan tend to the aging David, c. 1435

After David's death, Adonijah (David's fourth and eldest surviving son) persuaded Bathsheba, King Solomon's mother, to entreat the king to permit him to marry Abishag. Solomon suspected in this request an aspiration to the throne, since Abishag was considered David's concubine, and so ordered Adonijah's assassination (1 Kings 2:17–25). In the earlier story of Absalom's rebellion, it is noted that having sexual relations with the former king's concubine is a way of proclaiming oneself to be the new king. Adonijah may have asked to marry her at the suggestion of his mother.

Adah (Esau's Wife)
Esau’s three wives are given more context and background by the rabbis than in the Torah. Esau’s first two wives, Adah and Judith, are described as adulterous and idolatrous. Adah (also called Basemath) is linked with harlotry, as her name is linked with jewelry and perfume. Judith (also called Ohlibamah) is similarly linked by her name to idolatry and is also described as adulterous. However, the rabbis disagree as to the nature of Esau’s third wife, Mahalat. Again through the interpretation of her name, the rabbis link her both to Esau’s repentance and alternatively to his fall further into evil.
Adah and Zillah
Zillah is named as one of the wives of Lamech, an ancestor of the Israelites. Zillah is significant because her children and those of her co-wife Adah are, according to the story of Genesis, in the seventh generation of naturally born human beings, representing the beginning of a “fully launched” human civilization. Her and her co-wife’s children are said to have created the civilized arts; Zillah thus constitutes an early link in the chain of musical Israelite women in the Bible.
Ahinoam
**Ahinoam** (Hebrew: אֲחִינֹעַם‎ *ʾăḥīnōʿam*) is a Hebrew name literally meaning *brother of pleasantness*, or *my brother is pleasant*, thus meaning *pleasant*. There are two references in the Bible to people; who bear that name;
1. A daughter of Ahimaaz; who became a wife of Saul and the mother of his four sons and two daughters, one of whom is Michal, David's first wife.
2. A woman from Jezreel, who became David's second wife, after he fled from Saul, leaving Michal, his first wife, behind, and the mother of Amnon, David's first-born.

Anna
**Anna** (Hebrew: חַנָּה, Ancient Greek: Ἄννα) or **Anna the Prophetess** is a woman mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. According to that Gospel, she was an elderly woman of the Tribe of Asher who prophesied about Jesus at the Temple of Jerusalem. She appears in Luke 2:36–38 during the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
Asenath
**Asenath** (/ˈæsɪnæθ/, Hebrew: אָסְנַת‎, Modern: *ʾŎsnát*, Tiberian: *ʾĀsnaṯ*; Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, *Asenéth*) is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman. She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. There are two Rabbinic approaches to Asenath. One holds that she was an Egyptian woman that converted to marry Joseph. This view has her accepting God before marriage and then raising her two sons in the tenets of Judaism. This presents her as a positive example of conversion to Judaism and places her among the devout women converts. The other approach argues she was not Egyptian by descent, but was from the family of Jacob. Traditions that trace her to the family of Jacob relate that she was born as the daughter of Dinah. Dinah was raped by Shechem and gave birth to Asenath, whom Jacob left on the wall of Egypt, where she was later found by Potiphar. She was then raised by Potiphar's wife and eventually married Joseph.
Asenath's importance is related to the birth of her two sons, who later become forefathers of two of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Athaliah
**Athaliah** (Hebrew: עֲתַלְיָה‎, Modern: *ʻAtalya*, Tiberian: *ʿĂṯalyā,* Greek: Γοθολία *Gotholía*; Latin: *Athalia*) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later queen regnant c. 841–835 BCE.
B

Bathsheba
C

Candace
D

Deborah
Deborah (Rebekah's Nurse)
Delilah
Dinah
Dorcas
E

Elizabeth
Esther
Euodia
Eve
Ezekiel's Wife
H

Hagar
Hannah
Herodias
J

Jarius' Daughter
Jehosheba
Jephthah's Daughter
Jezebel
Joanna
Job's Wife
Judith
Junia
K

Keturah
L

Leah
Lot's Daughters

Lot's Wife
Lydia
M

Mahalath
Martha
Mary
Mary Magdalene
Mary of Cleopas
Mary the Mother of James and Salome
Mary the Mother of Jesus
Mary the Mother of John Mark
Mary the Mother of Joses
Merab
Michal
Milcah
Miriam
Moses's Mother
N

Naaman's Maid
Naaman's Wife
Naomi
Noah's Wife
O

Oholah and Oholibah
Orpah
P

Peninnah
Perscilla
Peter's Mother-in-Law
Pharaoh's Daughter
Phoebe
Pilate's Wife
Potiphar's Wife
R

Rachel
Rahab
Rebekah
Reumah
Rhoda
Ruth
S

Samson's Mother
Samson's Wife
Sapphira
Sarah
Shiphrah and Puah
Susanna
T

Tamar
Tamar (From 2 Samuel)
The Adultress
The Daughter of Herodias
The Demon-Possessed Girl
The Egyptian Princess
The Foolish and Wise Virgins
The Girl in the Gateway
The Queen of Sheba
The Samaritan Woman
The Servant Girl
The Shepherdess in the Song of Solomon
The Shunammite Woman
The Two Women who Sought Solomon's Wisdom
The Whore of Babylon
The Widow of Nain
The Widow of Zaraphath
The Widow with the Mites
The Widow with the Oil
The Wives of Shem, Ham, and Japheth
The Woman (Revolation)
The Woman of Canaan
The Woman of Tekoah
The Woman with the Flow of Blood
V

Vashti
**Vashti** (Hebrew: וַשְׁתִּי‎, romanized: *Vaštī*; Koinē Greek: Ἀστίν, romanized: *Astín*; Modern Persian: واشتی‎, romanized: *Vâšti*) was a queen of Persia and the first wife of Persian king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included within the Tanakh and the Old Testament which is read on the Jewish holiday of Purim. She was either executed or banished for her refusal to appear at the king's banquet to show her beauty as Ahasuerus wished, and was succeeded as queen by Esther, a Jew. That refusal might be better understood via the Jewish tradition that she was ordered to appear naked. In the Midrash, Vashti is described as wicked and vain; she is viewed as an independent-minded heroine in feminist theological interpretations of the Purim story.

Attempts to identify her as one of the Persian royal consorts mentioned in extra-biblical records remain speculative.

W

Women in the Bible
**Women in the Bible** are wives, mothers and daughters, servants, slaves and prostitutes. As both victors and victims, some women in the Bible change the course of important events while others are powerless to affect even their own destinies. The majority of women in the Bible are anonymous and unnamed. Individual portraits of various women in the Bible show women in a variety of roles. The New Testament refers to a number of women in Jesus' inner circle, and he is generally seen by scholars as dealing with women with respect and even equality.
Z

Zeresh
**Zeresh** (Hebrew: זֶרֶשׁ) was the wife of Haman the Agagite who is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Esther.

Zeresh advised her husband to prepare a high gallows (50 cubits) and to hang Mordecai on it (Esther 5:14). However, she later advised Haman that he would not be able to win against Mordecai (Esther 6:12-13). Their plans were soon reversed when King Ahasuerus ordered Haman to be hanged on the same gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:9-10).

Ten sons of Haman (and possibly of Zeresh) were later killed in fighting, and Ahasuerus had their bodies hanged on the same gallows that their father was hanged on (Esther 9:7-14). Zeresh's fate is not recorded.

Zibiah
**Zibiah**, or **Sibia**, (Hebrew: צִבְיָה; *Ṣīḇəyā*, "gazelle") was the consort of King Ahaziah of Judah, and the mother of King Jehoash of Judah. She was from Beersheba. She is mentioned only in 2 Kings 12:1 and 2 Chronicles 24:1, both references to her son's accession. The biblical references give no information about her other than her association with Beersheba and Joash.
Zipporah
**Zipporah**, or **Tzipora** (/ˈzɪpərə, zɪˈpɔːrə/; Hebrew: צִפּוֹרָה, *Ṣīppōrā*, "bird"), is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Reuel/Jethro, the priest and prince of Midian.

She is the mother of Moses' two sons: Eliezer, and Gershom.

In the Book of Chronicles, two of her grandsons are mentioned: Shebuel, son of Gershom; and Rehabiah, son of Eliezer (1 Chronicles 23:16–17).