100 Fun Facts About Women in the Bible

According to Genesis, from what part of Adam was Eve created?

A rib: Genesis says Adam was put into a deep sleep while one was taken from his side, and on seeing the woman he called her 'bone of my bones'.

Eve's third son, from whom Noah and all humanity are descended, was named what?

Seth: Eve gave him the name saying she had been granted another child in place of Abel, whom Cain had killed.

What was Abraham's wife called before her name was changed along with his?

Sarai became Sarah when God promised Abraham a son by her at ninety, with nations and kings to descend from her; Abram was renamed Abraham in the same encounter.

What does the name of Isaac, the son Sarah bore in old age, mean in Hebrew?

Laughter: the Hebrew name is read as 'he laughs', recalling how Sarah laughed to herself when she overheard that she would bear a son in old age.

In which city did Abraham buy a burial cave for Sarah?

Hebron: Abraham refused the cave as a gift and insisted on paying its owner Ephron 400 shekels of silver, so the family tomb was his by purchase.

Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, was a handmaid from which country?

Egypt: Genesis calls Hagar the Egyptian servant of Abraham's childless wife, who gave her to him so that she could bear a child in her place.

Rebecca was chosen as Isaac's wife after doing what for Abraham's servant at a well?

Watering all his camels was the sign the servant had prayed for: the woman who offered a drink to him and to his animals would be the wife chosen for Isaac.

Rebecca covered Jacob's hands and neck with what so that blind Isaac would take him for hairy Esau?

Goatskins: Rebecca had overheard Isaac promise his blessing to Esau, so she cooked the meal herself and disguised her younger twin, and the old man blessed the wrong son.

After Laban tricked Jacob with the wrong bride, what did Jacob give to marry Rachel as well?

Seven more years of work: Laban swapped in his elder daughter on the wedding night, saying the firstborn must marry first, and Jacob served a second term for Rachel.

Which of Leah's sons gave his name to Israel's priestly tribe?

Levi: his descendants, the Levites, were given no tribal territory of their own; the tithes they received for serving the sanctuary were their inheritance instead.

Rachel died giving birth to which son?

Benjamin: with her last breath Rachel called him Ben-Oni, usually read as 'son of my sorrow', but Jacob renamed him, and she was buried on the road to Bethlehem.

What did Rachel steal from her father Laban when Jacob's family fled?

His household idols: Rachel hid them in her camel's saddle and sat on it, telling her father she could not stand up because she was having her period.

What name do later Jewish and Islamic traditions give Potiphar's wife?

Zuleikha: Genesis leaves her nameless, saying only that she accused Joseph of assault after he fled her advances and left his cloak in her hand.

Lot's wife looked back at burning Sodom and became a pillar of what?

Salt: the angels had warned Lot's family to flee without looking behind them, and Jesus later told his followers to 'remember Lot's wife'.

Zipporah, wife of Moses, was the daughter of which Midianite priest?

Jethro: Moses met Zipporah after driving off shepherds who were harassing the priest's seven daughters at a well, and was given her in marriage.

Moses's sister Miriam led Israel's women in song and dance after which event?

The crossing of the Red Sea: Miriam took up a tambourine and the women followed her dancing, singing that horse and rider had been hurled into the sea.

Rahab of Jericho hid Joshua's two spies under what on her roof?

Bundles of flax: Rahab had laid the stalks out on her roof, and while the spies lay under them she sent the king's men off on a false trail toward the Jordan.

Rahab marked her house for Joshua's army by hanging what from her window?

A scarlet cord: the spies she had sheltered told Rahab to tie it in the window they had escaped through, and everyone inside her house was spared when Jericho fell.

Deborah, the only female judge of Israel, gave her judgments sitting under what?

A palm tree: the Palm of Deborah stood in the hill country of Ephraim, and from it she summoned the general Barak and sent him against Sisera's chariots.

Jael killed the Canaanite commander Sisera with what?

A tent peg: Jael welcomed the fleeing Sisera, gave him milk and covered him with a rug, then hammered the peg through his temple as he slept.

Delilah betrayed Samson by having what cut off as he slept?

His hair: Samson's strength hung on a Nazirite vow never to cut it, and each Philistine lord had promised Delilah 1,100 pieces of silver for the secret.

Ruth, the great-grandmother of David, came from which people?

The Moabites: when her Israelite husband died, Ruth refused to go back to her own people and followed her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, vowing 'your people will be my people'.

In whose fields did Ruth glean grain after returning to Bethlehem with Naomi?

Boaz's fields: he was a wealthy relative of Naomi's late husband, and he told his reapers to pull out extra stalks for Ruth to find; he later married her.

After losing her husband and both sons, Naomi asked to be called what name, meaning 'bitter'?

Mara: Naomi told the women of Bethlehem that she had gone away full and come home empty, so her old name, which means 'pleasant', no longer fit.

The priest Eli mistook Hannah's silent prayer at Shiloh for what?

Drunkenness: Eli saw Hannah's lips moving without a sound and told her to put away her wine, then blessed her when she said she was pouring out her grief.

Hannah's rival, the other wife of Elkanah who had borne him children, was named what?

Peninnah: she taunted the childless Hannah year after year on the family's pilgrimage to Shiloh, until Hannah wept and would not eat.

Abigail averted David's revenge on her husband Nabal by doing what?

Bringing him food and pleading: Abigail loaded donkeys with bread, wine and meat and met David on the road; Nabal died days after hearing of it, and she became David's wife.

Bathsheba was the wife of which soldier before David took her?

Uriah the Hittite: David ordered him into the fiercest fighting so that he would fall, and the prophet Nathan then exposed the king with a parable about a stolen lamb.

Bathsheba's son who succeeded David as king was famous above all for what quality?

Wisdom: offered anything he wished in a dream, Solomon asked for an understanding mind rather than riches or long life; Bathsheba had won him the throne by holding David to his oath.

The ancient kingdom of Saba, often identified with the Queen of Sheba's realm, lay in which modern country?

Yemen: Saba, with its capital at Marib, grew rich on the incense and spice caravans, which fits the camel train of spices and gold the queen brought to Solomon.

In Ethiopian tradition, which dynasty founder was the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba?

Menelik I: the Kebra Nagast has him visit his father in Jerusalem and return with the Ark of the Covenant in his caravan, which is why Ethiopian tradition places the Ark in Ethiopia.

Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab, promoted the cult of which deity in Israel?

Baal: Ahab built him a temple in Samaria after marrying her, and Jezebel's killing of Israel's own prophets set up Elijah's showdown with Baal's on Mount Carmel.

Who ordered Jezebel's servants to throw her from the window to her death?

Jehu: newly anointed to destroy Ahab's house, he rode into Jezreel, where Jezebel painted her eyes and taunted him from the window before her own eunuchs threw her down.

Huldah the prophetess was consulted under which king of Judah after the Law was found?

Josiah: when a scroll of the Law turned up during Temple repairs he tore his robes and sent his officials to Huldah, who confirmed its warnings of disaster.

What was Queen Esther's Hebrew birth name?

Hadassah: her cousin Mordecai adopted the orphan as his own daughter and told her to keep her Jewish identity secret when she was taken into the Persian king's palace.

Which Persian queen was deposed for refusing to appear at the king's banquet, making way for Esther?

Vashti refused to be shown off before the king's drunken guests, and his advisers had her deposed for fear that every wife in the empire would copy her.

Which official's plot to kill the Jews did Esther expose to King Ahasuerus?

Haman's plot ended on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, after Esther risked death by going to the king unsummoned and revealed that she was Jewish.

The Book of Esther is unusual among Bible books because it never mentions what?

God is never named in the book of Esther, and no one is shown praying: the queen and her people fast for three days before she risks her life, and the rescue turns on timing and nerve.

Luke describes Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, as a descendant of which Old Testament figure?

Aaron: Luke gives Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah priestly roots, and says her unborn child leaped when the pregnant Mary arrived to greet her.

Mary's hymn of praise, spoken when she visited Elizabeth, is known by what Latin name?

The Magnificat takes its name from the first word of the hymn in Latin, meaning 'magnifies', and it is sung at evening prayer in Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches.

Mary prompted Jesus's first miracle at a wedding in which town?

Cana: when the wine ran out Mary told Jesus, then told the servants to do whatever he said, and six stone jars of water became wine.

Which elderly prophetess, a widow who never left the Temple, recognised the infant Jesus there?

Anna: Luke says she worshipped there night and day with fasting and prayer, and on seeing the child she began telling everyone who was waiting for Jerusalem's redemption.

The woman Jesus met at a well, who had had five husbands, came from which people?

Samaritans: she was startled that a Jewish man would ask her for water, since the two peoples shunned each other, and she then brought her townspeople out to hear him.

What did Martha of Bethany busy herself with while her sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet?

Serving and housework: when Martha complained that Mary had left her to do it all alone, Jesus replied that Mary had chosen the better part.

Luke says Mary Magdalene followed Jesus after being healed of what?

Seven demons: Luke names her first among the women healed by Jesus who then travelled with him and paid for the group's needs out of their own means.

Which pope's 591 sermon merged Mary Magdalene with the unnamed 'sinful woman'?

Gregory I: his sermon fixed her in Western preaching and art as a repentant prostitute for centuries, although no gospel describes her that way.

Where does the name Salome come from, since the gospels leave Herodias's daughter unnamed?

The historian Josephus names her in his Jewish Antiquities but mentions no dance; the Dance of the Seven Veils comes from a stage direction in Oscar Wilde's 1890s play.

Dorcas, whom Peter raised from the dead in Joppa, was known for making what for the poor?

Clothes: when Peter arrived, the widows of Joppa stood weeping and showed him the tunics and cloaks Dorcas had sewn for them.

Lydia of Thyatira, baptised with her household after hearing Paul at Philippi, traded in what?

Purple cloth: Paul met Lydia at a riverside prayer meeting outside the city, and she then pressed his whole party to come and stay in her home.

Priscilla and her husband Aquila shared what trade with the apostle Paul?

Tentmaking: Paul lodged and worked with the couple in Corinth after Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, and the pair later took the preacher Apollos aside to correct him.

Phoebe, a deacon of Cenchreae commended by Paul, is thought by scholars to have done what?

Carried his letter to Rome: Paul's commendation of Phoebe at the end of Romans reads like an introduction for its bearer, asking the church to welcome her and give her any help she needs.

Jesus said a widow's two coins outweighed the gifts of the rich because they were what?

All she had: her two lepta were the smallest coins in circulation, together worth one Roman quadrans, yet Jesus said the rich had only given from their surplus.

In the Book of Judith, which Assyrian general does Judith behead?

Holofernes: Judith charmed her way into his camp outside besieged Bethulia, waited until he had drunk himself senseless, and carried his head home in her maid's food bag.

Which queen from King Ahab's family seized the throne of Judah and ruled it in her own right?

Athaliah had the royal heirs killed when her son the king died, but her infant grandson Joash was hidden in the Temple for six years and crowned in the coup that ended her life.

What did Saul demand from David as the bride price for his daughter Michal?

A hundred Philistine foreskins: Saul hoped David would die collecting them, but David came back with the price paid in full and married Michal.

Tamar took which items from her father-in-law Judah as a pledge of later payment?

His staff, seal and cord: when Judah ordered the pregnant Tamar burned, she sent the pledges back to show whose child it was, and he admitted she was more righteous than he.

Zelophehad's daughters, whose father left no sons, petitioned Moses for what right?

Inheriting his land: the five sisters argued that their father's name should not vanish for want of a son, and their case became a standing law in Israel.

Dinah, Jacob's only named daughter, was born to which of his wives?

Leah: Dinah was born after her six sons, and when a local prince seized the girl, two of her full brothers sacked his city in revenge, to Jacob's dismay.

Lois, praised by Paul for her sincere faith, was the grandmother of which of his companions?

Timothy: the letter says his faith lived first in Lois and his mother Eunice; Acts adds that his father was Greek, so Paul had him circumcised before taking him on the road.

A midrash of Judith feeding her enemy cheese and wine underlies a dairy custom at which festival?

Hanukkah: medieval retellings set Judith's story in the time of the Maccabees, so cheese dishes joined the festival's fried foods in honour of her trick.

Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back at the destruction of which city?

Sodom was burning under a rain of fire and sulphur when she glanced back. A salt column on Mount Sodom, beside the Dead Sea, is still nicknamed Lot's wife.

Outside the empty tomb, whom did Mary Magdalene at first mistake the risen Jesus for?

The gardener was her first guess, until Jesus spoke her name and she recognised him. She went to tell the disciples, earning the later title 'apostle to the apostles'.

During the trial of Jesus, the wife of which ruler sent him a warning prompted by a troubling dream?

Pontius Pilate received her warning while he sat on the judgment seat. Matthew never names her, but Eastern churches honour her as a saint called Procla.

Which brother of Martha and Mary did Jesus raise from the dead after four days in the tomb?

Lazarus came out still bound hand and foot in his burial wrappings. Martha had objected to opening the tomb, warning that there would be a smell.

Which Jewish festival of costumes and noisemakers celebrates Queen Esther saving her people?

Purim means 'lots', after the lots cast to pick the day of the killing. In synagogue the villain's name is drowned out with noise each time it is read aloud.

Michal, the daughter of King Saul, despised her husband David for doing what before the Ark?

Dancing with all his might in a linen ephod, David led the Ark into Jerusalem. Michal watched from a window and told him it was undignified for a king.

What did Adam and Eve sew together to cover themselves after eating the forbidden fruit?

Fig leaves from this story became art's shorthand for modesty: later, more prudish ages added them to nude statues and paintings.

Which angel was sent to Nazareth to tell Mary that she would give birth to Jesus?

Gabriel's visit is known as the Annunciation, and many churches celebrate it on 25 March, nine months before Christmas.

Shiphrah and Puah defied Pharaoh's order to kill newborn Israelite boys while working in which role?

Midwives Shiphrah and Puah let the boys live, then told Pharaoh that the mothers were so vigorous they gave birth before help could arrive.

Which cousin adopted the orphaned Esther and raised her as his own daughter in Persia?

Mordecai later saved the king's life by exposing a plot by two palace officials to assassinate him, a deed the king got round to rewarding only much later.

The 'woman of valor' poem sung at Jewish Sabbath dinners closes which Old Testament book?

Proverbs ends with this 22-verse acrostic, which works through the Hebrew alphabet line by line in praise of a capable and hard-working wife.

Which priest, the husband of Elizabeth, was struck mute after doubting an angel's promise of a son?

Zechariah got his voice back only when he spelled out the baby's name on a tablet, overruling relatives who wanted the boy named after his father.

When a woman accused of adultery was brought before Jesus in the Temple, he bent down and did what?

He wrote on the ground with his finger, the only scene in the Gospels that shows Jesus writing. What he wrote is never revealed.

A bleeding woman touched Jesus's cloak as he hurried to the dying daughter of which synagogue leader?

Jairus's daughter was twelve, the same number of years the woman had been ill. The delay meant the girl died before Jesus arrived, and he raised her.

Mary Magdalene's name probably refers to Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of what?

The Sea of Galilee town of Magdala was known for its fishing, though some scholars read 'Magdalene' as an honorific nickname meaning 'tower' instead.

Which Israelite commander refused to fight Sisera unless the prophetess Deborah went with him?

Barak got his victory, but Deborah warned him the glory would not be his: the enemy general was destined to fall by a woman's hand.

Which young maid was so overjoyed to hear Peter's voice at the gate that she forgot to let him in?

Rhoda ran to tell the believers praying inside, who said she was out of her mind, while the newly escaped Peter stood in the street and kept knocking.

Which wife of Ananias fell dead at Peter's feet after repeating a lie about the price of their land?

Sapphira arrived about three hours after her husband had died for the same lie. Unaware of his fate, she gave Peter the same false figure.

Dorcas, the disciple Peter raised from the dead, also went by which Aramaic name meaning gazelle?

Tabitha and Dorcas are the same name in Aramaic and Greek. Acts gives both, perhaps because she lived in a port where many people spoke Greek.

Abigail told David that her husband Nabal lived up to his own name, which means what in Hebrew?

Fool is the usual translation of Nabal, and the rich landowner earned it by insulting David's men after they had guarded his flocks. He died about ten days after learning how near he had come to being killed.

Which daughter-in-law of Naomi kissed her goodbye and went home to her own people while Ruth stayed?

Orpah is the name on Oprah Winfrey's birth certificate, chosen after this very figure. People mispronounced it so regularly that the spelling Oprah stuck.

Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem just as the harvest of which grain was beginning?

Barley ripened first, and Ruth went on gathering through the later wheat harvest as well. Jewish communities chant her story each year at the festival of Shavuot.

When the fleeing Sisera asked Jael for a little water, which drink did she give him instead?

Milk from a skin was what she poured him, before covering him up to rest. The victory song in the next chapter adds that she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.

Mary of Bethany poured a pound of which costly perfume over the feet of Jesus?

Nard was so costly that Judas protested: it could have been sold for 300 denarii, roughly a labourer's pay for a year, and the money given to the poor.

A captive Israelite girl told the wife of which Syrian commander that a prophet could cure his leprosy?

Naaman nearly stormed off when told simply to wash in the Jordan, until his own attendants talked him into trying it and he came up healed.

A woman of Shunem built a rooftop guest room for which prophet, who later revived her dead son?

Elisha passed her house so often that she talked her husband into building it, with a bed, table, chair and lamp. In return he promised the childless couple a son.

During a long drought, Elijah was fed by a widow in which town, whose jar of flour never ran out?

Zarephath lay outside Israel, in Sidon's territory, and when Jesus pointed that out in the Nazareth synagogue the angry congregation tried to throw him off a cliff.

Queen Esther risked death by approaching King Ahasuerus uninvited, until he held out what?

His golden sceptre was the only reprieve from a law that put uninvited visitors to death, and Esther had not been summoned for thirty days.

In Revelation, which creature waits to devour the child of a woman crowned with twelve stars?

A dragon, huge and red, waits for the birth, but the child is snatched to safety. One of the designers who proposed Europe's flag suggested its twelve stars came from her crown.

Rachel gave up a night with her husband in exchange for which plants found by young Reuben?

Mandrakes were prized as a fertility aid, and Rachel had no children yet. The bargain backfired: it was her rival who went on to conceive another son.

Which man gave his daughters Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-Happuch an inheritance alongside their brothers?

Job fathered them after his fortunes were restored. The book calls them the most beautiful women in the land, and it gives all three names while never naming their brothers.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna travelled with Jesus and the Twelve doing what for them?

Paying their way came out of the women's own means, Luke says. Joanna could afford it: her husband Chuza was steward to the ruler Herod Antipas.

The Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon gold, precious stones and a never-equalled quantity of what?

Spices in such abundance never came to Jerusalem again, the Book of Kings says. She had travelled there to test Solomon with riddles.

Priscilla and Aquila took aside which eloquent Alexandrian preacher to teach him more accurately?

Apollos knew only the baptism of John when the couple heard him in the synagogue at Ephesus. Most modern translations name Priscilla before her husband in four of their six mentions.

The prophet Hosea was told to marry which adulterous woman as a picture of Israel's unfaithfulness?

Gomer bore three children whose names were warnings to the nation: one daughter was called Lo-Ruhamah, a sign of the kingdom's coming ruin.

King Saul disguised himself to visit a medium in which village on the eve of his final battle?

Endor's medium feared a trap, because Saul himself had driven every medium out of the land. He had to swear that she would not be punished.

A woman of Thebez mortally wounded which short-lived king of Shechem by dropping a millstone on his head?

Abimelech, dying, ordered his armour-bearer to run him through so that nobody could say a woman had killed him. The Book of Judges recorded it anyway.

In which small town did Jesus stop a funeral procession and raise a widow's only son to life?

Nain enters the Gospels only for this miracle, which Luke alone records. Jesus told the grieving mother not to weep, touched the bier and told the young man to get up.

Philip the Evangelist, who hosted Paul at Caesarea, had four unmarried daughters known for doing what?

Prophesying made the sisters famous well beyond Caesarea: the early bishop Papias is said to have met them and collected their stories.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham married which woman, who bore him more sons including Midian?

Keturah's sons were given gifts and sent away to the east, while Abraham left everything else he owned to Isaac. Her name may mean 'incense'.