60 Fun Facts About Women in the Bible

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

Her name is usually read as meaning 'living one' or 'source of life'.

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

Cain and Abel came first; Seth was born after Abel's murder.

What was Sarah called before God gave her a new name?

Her husband was renamed from Abram to Abraham at the same time.

Sarah laughed when told she would have a son in old age; what does her son Isaac's name mean?

Abraham was a hundred years old when he was born.

At what age did Sarah die, according to Genesis?

She was buried in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, the first plot of land Abraham owned in Canaan.

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

Islamic tradition has her searching for water between the hills of Safa and Marwah until the Zamzam well appeared.

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

She was the daughter of Bethuel and sister of Laban, from Paddan Aram.

Which of her twin sons did Rebecca help to obtain Isaac's blessing by deception?

She overheard Isaac's plan and dressed Jacob in goatskins to fool the blind old man.

Which sister did Laban trick Jacob into marrying instead of the one he had worked seven years for?

Jacob had worked seven years for the younger sister and got the elder under the wedding veil.

How many sons did Leah bear to Jacob?

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, plus a daughter, Dinah.

Rachel died giving birth to which son?

Her tomb on the road to Bethlehem is still a pilgrimage site.

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

She hid the teraphim in her camel's saddle cushion and sat on them while he searched.

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

Genesis never names her; Joseph left his garment in her hand and fled.

Lot's wife is unnamed in Genesis but is called what in some Jewish traditions?

She looked back at Sodom and became a pillar of salt; Jesus told his followers to 'remember Lot's wife'.

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

She met Moses at a well and later circumcised their son with a flint, calling him a 'husband of blood'.

Miriam, the sister of Moses, is called a prophetess when she leads the women in song after which event?

She was later struck with a skin disease for criticising Moses, and rabbinic legend gives her a travelling well.

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

She hung a red cord from her window and her family was spared; Matthew lists her among the ancestors of Jesus.

Rahab married Salmon of Judah and became the mother of which man, who later married Ruth?

That makes her a great-great-grandmother of King David.

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

She summoned the general Barak to fight Sisera and Jabin of Hazor.

Jael killed the Canaanite commander Sisera with what?

She had first given him milk to drink; the Song of Deborah calls her 'most blessed of women in the tent'.

How many pieces of silver did each Philistine lord offer Delilah for Samson's secret?

She is the only woman in Samson's whole story who is given a name.

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

Hers is one of only two books of the Bible named after a woman; the other is Esther.

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

He was a wealthy relative of her dead husband and later married her.

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

She returned to Bethlehem with Ruth and ended up nursing Ruth's son Obed.

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

She was praying for a child, and later dedicated her son Samuel to God at the sanctuary.

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

Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion at the yearly sacrifice 'because he loved her'.

Abigail averted the future king's revenge on her husband Nabal by doing what?

When Nabal heard what she had done he collapsed and died, and Abigail became David's wife.

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

David had him placed on the front line at Rabbah, and the prophet Nathan condemned the king for it.

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

Their first child died in infancy after Nathan's rebuke.

Modern historians place the Queen of Sheba's kingdom in which country?

Ethiopian tradition nonetheless names her Makeda and makes her son by Solomon, Menelik I, the founder of its royal line.

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

In Arabic sources she is Bilqis.

Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, was the daughter of the king of which Phoenician city?

She promoted the worship of Baal and was thrown from a window at Jezreel, where dogs ate her, as Elijah had foretold.

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

Her name became a byword for false prophets and scheming women.

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

She appears in only nine verses but was trusted over male prophets of the day.

What was Queen Esther's Hebrew birth name?

Her cousin Mordecai raised her, and her courage before King Ahasuerus is celebrated at Purim.

Which queen did Esther replace after she refused to appear at the king's banquet?

Vashti was banished or executed for the refusal, depending on the reading.

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

The Book of Esther is unusual in that it never once mentions God.

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

That is one reason it was the last book admitted to the Hebrew canon.

Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was described as being descended from whom?

She was already old when she conceived, and her baby leaped when Mary greeted her.

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

Luke has the angel Gabriel announce the birth in Nazareth in Galilee.

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

She is mentioned many times in the Quran, which has a chapter named after her.

Anna the prophetess, who recognised the infant Jesus in the Temple, was a widow of what age?

She was of the tribe of Asher and 'never left the temple'.

The Samaritan woman Jesus met at Jacob's well had had how many husbands?

Eastern Orthodox tradition venerates her as Saint Photini, 'the enlightened one'.

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

Jesus told her she was 'worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed'.

According to Luke, how many demons had gone out of Mary Magdalene?

Her reputation as a repentant prostitute has no basis in the gospels; it dates from a sermon by Pope Gregory I in 591.

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

John's Gospel makes her the first witness of the resurrection, the 'apostle to the apostles'.

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

Wilde's 1891 play and Strauss's 1905 opera gave her the Dance of the Seven Veils.

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

Her Aramaic name Tabitha means 'gazelle'.

Lydia, the first documented Christian convert in Europe, traded in what?

Paul met her by a river at Philippi, and her whole household was baptised.

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

They had left Rome when Claudius expelled the Jews, and Priscilla's name is usually listed first.

Phoebe, the deacon of Cenchreae whom Paul commends, is thought by some scholars to have done what?

Paul calls her a benefactor 'of many people, including me'.

How many small coins did the poor widow put in the Temple treasury in the story praised by Jesus?

A lepton was the least valuable coin in Judea, worth about six minutes of a day's wage.

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

The deuterocanonical book tells of a widow who saves her besieged city of Bethulia; most scholars now regard it as a parable or novel.

Which daughter of Ahab and Jezebel seized the throne of Judah and reigned as queen in her own right?

She ruled c. 841-835 BC after killing rival claimants; her grandson Jehoash was hidden and raised by the priest Jehoiada.

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

David killed 200 Philistines and brought a double bride price; Michal later saved him by lowering him from a window.

In Genesis 38, Tamar secures which items from Judah as a pledge for a promised goat?

When Judah ordered her burned for pregnancy, Tamar produced the pledges to prove he was the father of her twins Perez and Zerah.

How many daughters of Zelophehad petitioned Moses for the right to inherit their father's land?

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah raised the case at the Tent of Meeting, and Moses took it to God.

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

Genesis 34 tells of her rape by Shechem and the revenge taken by her brothers Simeon and Levi.

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

Her only biblical mention pairs her with her daughter Eunice as the source of the faith that now dwells in Timothy.

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

In that tradition the heroine fills the antagonist with cheese and wine before cutting off his head.