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Summary
- The women the Bible tells us most about include Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Miriam, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, Abigail and Esther in the Old Testament.
- In the New Testament they include Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth, Anna, Mary Magdalene, Martha and Mary of Bethany, Lydia, Priscilla and Phoebe.
- One count of the NRSV, counting the Apocrypha, finds 93 women who speak in the Bible, only 49 of them named, saying about 1.1 percent of its words.
- Hagar, a slave woman in the wilderness, gave God the name “Thou God seest me,” and Leah and Hannah spoke of the same God who looks on affliction.
- Rahab and Ruth are both named in the family line of Jesus that Matthew gives, and Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David.
- Jesus let women follow him and support his work, spoke with the woman of Samaria, and asked a Pharisee, “Seest thou this woman?”
- Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Jesus and was sent to tell the apostles, which is why she is called the apostle to the apostles.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version (public domain), and for Esther 14:3 the Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 American edition, public domain), both read on BibleGateway. KJV passages: Genesis 1:27; 2:18–23; 3:6, 15–20; 16:1–13; 17:1, 15–17; 18:9–15; 21:1–7, 14–19; 29:31–32; Exodus 15:20–21; Joshua 2:8–14; 6:25; Judges 4:4–9, 17–22; 5:7; Ruth 1:16–17, 22; 4:13–17; 1 Samuel 1:10–20; 2:1–2; 25:3, 10–13, 18, 32–35; 2 Kings 22:8–20; Esther 1–10; Psalm 33:20; 70:5; Micah 6:4; Matthew 1:1–16; Mark 5:25–34; 15:40–41; Luke 1:7, 13, 36, 38–45; 2:19, 36–38; 7:36–50; 8:1–3; 10:38–42; 24:1–11; John 4:25–30, 39; 11:5, 21–27; 19:25–27; 20:11–18; Acts 1:14; 2:14–18; 16:9–15, 40; 18:1–3, 18–26; 21:9; Romans 16:1–7; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Galatians 3:28; 1 Timothy 2:11–12; 3:8 (the word “deacons”, via the Strong’s concordance below); 2 Timothy 4:19; Hebrews 11:11, 31. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/
- Strong’s Concordance H5828, ‘ezer (“help”), with its King James concordance of 21 verses, Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5828/kjv/wlc/0-1/
- Strong’s Concordance G1249, diakonos (“minister, servant, deacon”), with its King James concordance, Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1249/kjv/tr/0-1/
- Antonia Blumberg, “This Is How Many Words Are Spoken By Women In The Bible,” HuffPost, 4 February 2015, on Lindsay Hardin Freeman’s count in Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter (Forward Movement, 2014). https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bible-women-words_n_6608282
- “Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter” (review), Evangelical & Ecumenical Women’s Caucus (the 93 women include those in the Apocrypha). https://eewc.com/bible-women-words-matter/
- “Q&A: Lindsay Hardin Freeman, author of Bible Women,” Forward Movement, February 2023 (93 women who speak in the Bible). https://forwardmovement.org/2023/02/qa-lindsay-hardin-freeman-author-of-bible-women/
- Holy See Press Office, “Mary Magdalene, apostle of the apostles,” 10 June 2016, with Archbishop Arthur Roche’s explanation of the decree. https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/06/10/160610c.html
- Holy See Press Office, “The liturgical memory of Mary Magdalene becomes a feast, like that of the other apostles,” 10 June 2016. https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/06/10/160610b.html
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, introduction to the Book of Esther, New American Bible Revised Edition (Greek additions A–F; received whole by the Council of Trent). https://bible.usccb.org/bible/esther/0
- “Who was St. Mary Magdalene?”, OrthoChristian.com, 3 August 2013 (the Eastern Church did not accept Gregory the Great’s identification). https://orthochristian.com/63238.html
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