98 Fun Facts About Women of the Bible

Before God renamed her in Genesis 17, Abraham's wife was known by what name?

Sarai became Sarah in the same chapter where Abram became Abraham, as God promised the couple a son of their own.

After an angel found her by a spring, Hagar called God by which name, often rendered 'the God who sees me'?

El Roi was her name for him after the angel sent her back to her mistress and promised her descendants too many to count.

Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, came from which nation?

Egypt was her homeland, and after Abraham sent her and Ishmael away she found her son an Egyptian wife in the wilderness of Paran.

How did Abraham's servant recognise Rebekah as the right wife for Isaac at the well?

She offered to water his camels, the very sign he had prayed for, and kept drawing water until every one of his ten camels had finished.

Rachel died giving birth to which son of Jacob?

Benjamin was Jacob's name for him; with her dying breath Rachel had named the boy Ben-Oni, 'son of my mourning'.

Who tricked Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel?

Laban, the sisters' father, sent Leah in on the wedding night, saying the younger could not marry before the elder, and Jacob worked seven more years for Rachel.

Leah traded what to Rachel in exchange for a night with Jacob?

Mandrakes were prized as a fertility aid, yet it was Leah, who handed them over, who conceived next and bore Issachar.

Deborah delivered her judgments while sitting beneath what kind of tree?

The Palm of Deborah was where Israelites came for judgment, and from there she summoned their commander and told him God had ordered an attack on Sisera's army.

Which Israelite commander refused to march against Sisera unless Deborah went with him?

Barak got his escort, but Deborah warned the glory would go to a woman, and it was Jael who killed the fleeing Sisera.

Jael killed the fleeing general Sisera with what?

A tent peg, hammered through his temple as he slept; the Song of Deborah then hailed Jael as 'blessed above women'.

When Sisera asked Jael for water, what did she give him instead?

Milk, when he had asked only for water; she covered him with a mantle, and once he fell asleep she killed him.

Jael is traditionally described as the wife of which Kenite?

Heber had split from the other Kenites, and his household was at peace with King Jabin, so the fleeing Sisera expected to be safe with his wife.

Ruth, the great-grandmother of David, belonged to which people?

Moabites were barred from Israel's assembly by Deuteronomy, yet Ruth left Moab for Bethlehem after her Israelite husband Mahlon died.

Which of Naomi's daughters-in-law turned back to her own people rather than go to Bethlehem?

Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye and went home, and the Talmud later made her the mother of Goliath, whose giant kin fell to Ruth's descendants.

Returning widowed to Bethlehem, Naomi told the townspeople to call her by what name instead?

Mara means 'bitter': she had gone out full, she said, and come home empty, her husband and both sons dead.

When Hannah prayed silently at the sanctuary in Shiloh, the priest Eli assumed she was what?

Drunk, because her lips moved but no sound came out; once she explained, Eli blessed her, and she later bore Samuel.

Before David, Bathsheba was married to which soldier?

Uriah the Hittite carried David's own letter to Joab, which ordered him placed in the fiercest fighting at the siege of Rabbah so he would be killed.

Which wealthy husband of Abigail, whose name means 'fool', insulted David?

Nabal died about ten days after Abigail told him she had fed David's men behind his back, and David then married her.

David's wife Abigail gave her name to an English word for which kind of woman?

A lady's maid, after a waiting-woman called Abigail in the 1616 play The Scornful Lady; the Bible's Abigail perhaps inspired it by calling herself a 'handmaid'.

Which Hebrew name, meaning 'myrtle tree', does the Book of Esther give its heroine when she is first introduced?

Hadassah is her name in Esther 2:7, and on her cousin's orders she kept her Jewish identity secret when she was taken into the king's palace.

Esther was raised by which cousin, whose refusal to bow to Haman set the plot in motion?

Mordecai had also exposed a plot against the king, and when the king read of it in the chronicles, Haman had to lead him through the city in honour.

Esther's rescue of the Jews of Persia is celebrated on which holiday?

Purim is named after pur, the lot Haman had cast before him day after day to fix the date for destroying the Jews.

Which queen was deposed for refusing King Ahasuerus's order to appear before his guests?

Vashti refused to be shown off to the king's drinking guests, and his adviser Memucan warned that every wife in Persia would follow her lead.

Jezebel was a princess of which Phoenician city before she married King Ahab?

Tyre was ruled by her father Ithobaal I, and after the marriage Ahab served Baal and built him an altar in Samaria.

Jezebel had which man executed on false blasphemy charges so Ahab could take his vineyard?

Naboth was stoned on the word of two lying witnesses, and Elijah told Ahab that dogs would lick his blood where they had licked Naboth's.

After Jezebel was thrown from a window, what did the dogs leave of her body?

Her skull, feet and palms were all that was found; moments before, she had painted her face and adorned her hair to taunt Jehu from the window.

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

Bundles of flax on her roof hid them, and she later let the spies down by a cord through her window, since her house was built into the town wall.

Matthew's genealogy of Jesus names Rahab as the mother of which man, by Salmon?

Boaz, who later married Ruth.

Delilah is described as a woman from which valley?

Sorek was her valley, and once Samson admitted a razor would sap his strength, she lulled him to sleep on her knees and had his seven locks shaved.

On her third failed attempt to bind Samson, what did Delilah do with his hair?

She wove it into a loom, pinning his seven locks, but he woke and walked off with the pin; each Philistine lord had offered her 1,100 pieces of silver.

The prophetess Huldah was consulted about a newly found book of the Law under which king?

Josiah consulted Huldah, who said the disaster the book foretold would come, but not in his lifetime, because he had humbled himself.

Which sister of Moses led the Israelite women with a timbrel after the Red Sea crossing?

Miriam later spoke against Moses over the Ethiopian woman he had married and was struck with leprosy, shut out of the camp for seven days.

Mary's song of praise after Elizabeth's greeting is known by what Latin name?

Magnificat is the first word of its Latin text, 'My soul magnifies the Lord', and the song echoes Hannah's thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2.

Luke says Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was descended from which priestly ancestor?

Aaron was her ancestor, and her husband Zechariah, a priest, was struck mute for doubting the angel until he wrote that the boy's name was John.

Luke says Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna did what for Jesus and his disciples?

They supported them financially, and Luke adds that seven devils had gone out of Mary Magdalene.

Which pope's sermon in 591 portrayed Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute?

Gregory I fused her with Luke's sinful woman and with Mary of Bethany, while the Greek Fathers kept the three women apart.

In John's gospel, whom did Mary Magdalene mistake the risen Jesus for outside the tomb?

The gardener was her guess until Jesus said her name, and she turned and answered 'Rabboni', meaning teacher.

Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus' feet with about a pint of which costly perfume?

Nard, so costly that Judas protested it could have been sold for the poor, though John says he was a thief who helped himself from the money bag.

Lydia of Thyatira, whom Paul baptised at Philippi, earned her money selling what?

Purple cloth was her trade, and after her whole household was baptised she persuaded Paul and his companions to stay at her house.

Priscilla and her husband Aquila shared what trade with Paul?

Tentmaking was the trade that led Paul to lodge and work with them in Corinth, after Claudius had ordered all Jews out of Rome.

Priscilla and Aquila took aside which eloquent preacher and 'explained the way of God more accurately'?

Apollos knew only the baptism of John until the couple set him right, and he went on to Achaia to preach that Jesus was the Christ.

Dorcas, the charitable seamstress raised from the dead by Peter, was also known by which Aramaic name?

Tabitha was mourned by weeping widows, who showed Peter the coats and garments she had made.

Paul commends Phoebe as a deacon of the church in which port town near Corinth?

Cenchreae was her church, and Paul asks the Romans to receive her and help in any business she has; some scholars think she carried his letter to Rome.

The Hebrew name of Eve is most commonly understood to mean what?

Living one fits the reason Adam gave for the name, that she was 'the mother of all living'.

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

Jethro, called Reuel when Moses first met his seven daughters, gave Moses Zipporah after he drove off the shepherds who kept them from the well.

At an inn on the road, Zipporah saved Moses' life by circumcising their son with what?

A sharp stone did the cutting, and she then called Moses 'a husband of blood', words whose meaning scholars still debate.

Saul set a bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins for David to marry which of his daughters?

Michal loved David, and he came back with 200; later she saved him from her father's men by letting him down through a window.

Whom does Paul greet as 'outstanding among the apostles', a woman later masculinised as 'Junias'?

The first named author to call her a man was Giles of Rome in the 13th century.

Which king of Israel exposed a baby's true mother by ordering the child cut in two with a sword?

Solomon was bluffing: the real mother begged him to give her baby away rather than see it die. The story ends with all Israel in awe of his wisdom.

Which prophet was the long-awaited son Hannah gave to serve at the Shiloh sanctuary once he was weaned?

Samuel grew up to anoint Israel's first two kings. Hannah visited him every year, each time bringing a new little robe she had made.

Which angel told Mary of Nazareth that she would give birth to a son called the Son of the Most High?

Gabriel also appears in the Book of Daniel, where he explains the prophet's visions. Luke has him greet Mary as highly favoured, a welcome that troubled her at first.

Rebekah helped her younger son Jacob win the blessing that the blind Isaac meant for which elder twin?

Esau had already sold his birthright to Jacob for bread and lentil stew. Robbed of the blessing too, he swore to kill his brother, so Rebekah sent Jacob away.

Who drew the infant Moses from the reeds of the Nile and later raised him as her own son?

Pharaoh's daughter then paid a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby: his own mother, fetched by his watching sister. She named him Moses because she drew him out of the water.

What did Sarah do on overhearing visitors tell Abraham that she would bear a son in old age?

Laughed to herself is how Genesis puts it, and when challenged she denied it out of fear. The boy born a year later was named Isaac, meaning 'he will laugh'.

At a wedding in which Galilean village did Mary tell Jesus that the hosts had run out of wine?

Cana is where John's gospel sets the first of Jesus's signs, water turned into wine. His mother simply told the servants to do whatever he said.

An angel told the wife of Manoah that which item must never touch the head of her son Samson?

A razor was forbidden because Samson was to be a Nazirite from the womb, set apart for God. His mother was also told to give up wine while she carried him.

Lamenting over Jerusalem, Jesus compared himself to which mother bird gathering her young under her wings?

A hen gathering her chicks is the picture he chose for his own protective care of the city. Deuteronomy uses an eagle fluttering over her nest in much the same way.

After years of childlessness, Rachel finally bore which son, later sold into slavery by his brothers?

Joseph became Jacob's favourite, the boy given the famous ornate coat. Rachel chose a name that echoes the Hebrew for 'may he add', hoping for one more son.

After three anxious days, where in Jerusalem did Mary find her twelve-year-old son Jesus talking with the teachers?

In the Temple, he asked his anxious mother why she had not known he would be in his Father's house. It is the only story the four gospels tell of his later childhood.

Which son did Eve name as a replacement granted by God after Cain murdered his brother Abel?

Seth carries the family line onward: Genesis traces Noah, and through him everyone after the flood, back to this third son.

Paul praised the sincere faith of a grandmother named Lois and a mother named Eunice in writing to which protégé?

Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father, and Paul recruited him at Lystra. The same letter reminds him that he has known the scriptures since infancy.

Which Levite mother hid her newborn son Moses for three months before setting him afloat in a papyrus basket?

Jochebed is never named in the basket story itself; her name turns up only in later family lists. Those lists make her the wife of Amram and a daughter of Levi.

The mother who asked Jesus to seat her sons James and John at his right and left was married to which fisherman?

Zebedee ran a boat on the Sea of Galilee with hired men, and his sons left him sitting in it to follow Jesus. Their mother later watched the crucifixion from a distance.

Which priest, the husband of Elizabeth, was unable to speak from an angel's visit until their son was named?

Zechariah doubted the promise of a child in old age and lost his voice for it. Speech returned the moment he wrote the baby's name on a writing tablet.

Outside the gate of which town did Jesus stop a funeral procession and raise a widow's only son?

Nain survives as the village of Nein, on a hillside south of Nazareth. Luke says Jesus was moved by the mother's grief, told her not to cry, and gave the young man back to her.

When Elisha revived the dead son of the Shunammite woman, what did the boy do seven times before opening his eyes?

Sneezed seven times, says the Book of Kings, after the prophet lay on the child until his body grew warm. The boy had collapsed among the reapers complaining of his head.

Ruth's baby, whom Naomi nursed and the neighbours named, became grandfather of King David under which name?

Obed was hailed by the women of Bethlehem as a son born to Naomi, who had buried both of her own. His son Jesse became the father of David.

When her unborn twins struggled inside her, Rebekah was told that two of what were in her womb?

Nations, she was told, and the elder would serve the younger. Jacob's descendants became Israel, while his brother's became the neighbouring people of Edom.

Rebekah covered Jacob's hands and neck with what, so that his blind father would take him for his hairy brother?

Goatskins did the trick, though the old man puzzled that the voice was Jacob's while the hands felt like his brother's. The skins came from the two kids she had just cooked.

When the water ran out for Hagar and her son in the wilderness of Beersheba, God opened her eyes to what?

A well appeared just after she had sat down a bowshot away so as not to watch her child die. The boy survived, grew up in the wilderness and became an archer.

Which mother told her dancing daughter to ask Herod Antipas for the head of John the Baptist on a platter?

Herodias held a grudge because John had condemned her marriage to Herod, her former husband's brother. The gospels leave the daughter unnamed; the historian Josephus calls her Salome.

A Canaanite mother won healing for her daughter by telling Jesus that even the dogs eat what?

Crumbs from the table was her quick reply when Jesus said the children's bread should not go to the dogs. He praised her great faith, and her daughter recovered that same hour.

Which prophet urged Bathsheba to go to the dying King David and secure the throne for her son?

Nathan warned her that a rival prince, Adonijah, had already proclaimed himself king, then backed up her story before David in person. Her son was anointed that same day.

Which wife of Elkanah, who had children of her own, taunted the childless Hannah year after year?

Peninnah provoked her rival to tears until she would not eat, even on the family's yearly trip to Shiloh. Elkanah's answer was to give his favourite a double portion.

Dying in childbirth after the Philistines captured the Ark, the wife of Phinehas gave her son which name?

Ichabod is usually read as 'the glory has departed', her verdict on a day that also cost her husband and her father-in-law, the priest Eli, their lives.

Proverbs 31, with its portrait of the capable wife, is presented as advice taught to which king by his mother?

Lemuel is otherwise unknown, and his mother's lesson opens by warning him off wine and women. Its poem in praise of a capable wife is traditionally sung at Jewish Sabbath dinners.

Leah bore Jacob six sons and which daughter, whose brothers Simeon and Levi took bloody revenge at Shechem?

Dinah is the only daughter of Jacob whom Genesis names. After a local prince seized her, two of her brothers killed every man in his city, to their father's alarm.

Which prophet raised the son of a widow at Zarephath, whose jars of flour and oil had never run empty?

Elijah had asked the widow for bread when she was down to one last meal for herself and her boy. Jesus later held her up as an outsider who took a prophet in.

The shortest verse in the King James Bible records which reaction of Christ to the death of Martha's brother Lazarus?

He wept, just two words in English, though he was moments away from calling the dead man out. Onlookers took the tears as proof of how much he had loved his friend.

In Luke's gospel, what was Mary of Bethany doing when her sister Martha complained to Jesus about her?

Listening at his feet, she had chosen the good part, Jesus said, and it would not be taken away from her. The whole scene takes up just five verses of Luke.

In Luke's gospel, a flustered Martha asked Jesus to tell her sister Mary to do what?

Help her serve was the request, since she had been left to do all the preparations alone. Jesus answered by saying her name twice and telling her she was anxious about many things.

After anointing the feet of Jesus at a dinner in Bethany, Mary wiped them with what?

Her hair served as the towel, and John adds that the scent of the ointment filled the whole house. Lazarus, newly raised, was among those reclining at the meal.

In John's gospel, which disciple protested that Mary of Bethany's costly perfume should have been sold to help the poor?

Judas kept the group's money box and, John says, used to help himself from it, so his concern for the poor was a pose. Jesus told him to leave her alone.

John sets the Bethany dinner at which Mary anointed the feet of Jesus six days before which Jewish festival?

Passover that year was the one at which Jesus was crucified, so the dinner opens his final week. He rode into Jerusalem to cheering crowds the very next day.

Meeting the grieving Martha outside Bethany, Jesus declared that he was the resurrection and what else?

The life completes the saying, one of seven 'I am' titles Jesus gives himself in John's gospel. Martha answered that she believed he was the Christ, the Son of God.

Before setting out for Bethany, Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus had only done what, which they took literally?

Fallen asleep was his gentle way of putting it, and the disciples replied that rest would help a sick man recover. He then told them plainly that Lazarus was dead.

Bethany, the home village of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, sat on the slope of which hill beside Jerusalem?

Mount of Olives is the ridge east of the city, and the village lay on its far slope, under two miles from Jerusalem. Its Arabic name, al-Eizariya, means the place of Lazarus.

Martha objected to opening the tomb of Lazarus because, after four days, she expected what?

A bad smell was her blunt worry, rendered in the King James Bible as 'he stinketh'. Jesus had the stone moved anyway and called her brother out alive.

Jesus defended Mary of Bethany's costly anointing by saying she had kept the perfume for which occasion?

His burial was only days away, and he added that the poor would always be around while he would not. In Mark's telling, her deed will be retold wherever the gospel is preached.

Matthew and Mark say the woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany carried her perfume in a jar made of what?

Alabaster it was, and Mark says she broke the jar open, so the whole costly contents were spent at once. Neither of the two gospels gives the woman's name.

John values the perfume Mary of Bethany poured out at 300 denarii, roughly what in a labourer's pay?

A year's wages is the usual reckoning, since one denarius was a day's hire for a field hand. That price is why some at the table called the gesture a waste.

When Jesus chose to return to Judea for Lazarus, which disciple said the others should go and die with him?

Thomas, better remembered for doubting the resurrection, shows grim courage here. The disciples had just reminded Jesus that people in Judea had tried to stone him.

The name Martha, borne by the sister who plays host in Luke's gospel, comes from an Aramaic word meaning what?

Lady, or mistress of the house, is the sense, from the feminine of the Aramaic word for master. The name turns up in inscriptions older than the gospels.

Matthew and Mark set the anointing of Jesus at Bethany in the house of which host?

Simon the Leper is mentioned only for hosting this meal. Luke tells of a similar anointing at the table of a Pharisee also named Simon, which has long tangled the stories together.

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary is the largest surviving painting by which Dutch master of quiet interiors?

Johannes Vermeer painted it around 1655, early in his career, and it is one of very few of his works with an overt religious subject. It hangs in Edinburgh.

John describes the tomb of Lazarus, which Martha was reluctant to open, as what kind of place sealed by a stone?

A cave with a stone laid against it held the body, and Jesus prayed aloud before it for the sake of the crowd. The dead man walked out with his hands, feet and face bound in cloth.

The medieval Golden Legend has Martha settle in which region of France, where she tames a dragon at Tarascon?

Provence claims all three siblings in the legend, which brings them to southern France after the resurrection. Martha is said to have doused the beast with holy water and led it by her sash.

In Luke's gospel, the visit of Jesus to Martha and Mary comes straight after which famous parable?

The Good Samaritan ends with the command to go and do likewise, and the very next verses show Jesus as a guest in the sisters' home. Only Luke records either story.