25 Women in the Bible: From Eve to Mary Magdalene (LIST)

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

From the earliest chapters of Genesis to the final visions of Revelation, women in the Bible appear throughout the text not as passive bystanders, but as vital participants in the unfolding story of God and God's people. Whether as matriarchs, prophets, warriors, queens, or early church leaders, they played significant—and sometimes surprising—roles in shaping the spiritual and historical journey of Israel and early Christianity.

In this article, I’ll provide a list of 25 names of significant females, surveying some of the most influential, courageous, complex, and even controversial characters found within biblical chapters. While ancient social norms often marginalized them, the Bible preserves many women in the bible stories that highlight their agency, leadership, and lasting impact. Together, they reveal a more nuanced and expansive understanding of the roles women have played in the foundational texts of Judaism and Christianity.

5 Women in the Israelite Origin Story

# 1 – Eve

In the book of Genesis, Eve is said to be the first woman created by God. In the first creation story, found in Genesis 1, God simply creates both a man and a woman. However, in Genesis 2, the second creation story, Adam is created first and then, while he sleeps, God removes one of his ribs, using it to create the woman Eve. While some forms of Christian theology have viewed Eve as responsible for the Fall which resulted in expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Mary Fairchild writes that her real significance in the Genesis story is that she is the first woman created, and thus, the mother of all humanity.

#2 – Sarah

Sarah is listed as the wife of Abraham in Genesis and has one of the most enduring women in the Bible names still used in modern times. We are first introduced to her as Sarai, while her husband’s name is Abram in Genesis 11. After making a covenant with God, however, Abram’s name is changed from Abram (meaning “exalted father”) to Abraham (meaning “father of many nations”). Likewise, his wife’s name is changed from Sarai (“my princess”) to Sarah (“princess”), signifying the broader meaning of one who rules the nations rather than just ruling her household. As Abraham is called the father of the Jews, Sarah is the mother of the Jews.

#3 – Hagar

When Abram and Sarai are unable to have children, Sarai tells Abram to conceive a son with her Egyptian slave, a woman named Hagar. Hagar does conceive and bear a son whom an angel tells her to name Ishmael (“God hears”). However, in Genesis 21, Abraham and Sarah have a child together, after which Sarah expels Hagar and Ishmael from their camp so that Ishmael won’t inherit from Abraham. Hagar and Ishmael are forced into the wilderness and almost die of thirst until God takes pity on them, guiding them to a well. God then promises Ishmael will be the father of a great nation and, indeed, he is understood by both Jews and Arabs as the father of the Arabs.

#4 – Miriam

We first encounter Miriam, Moses’ older sister, in the story of Moses’ birth in Egypt from Exodus 2. Because the Pharoah has ordered all male Israeli infants killed, Moses’ mother puts Moses in a basket and sends him down the river. When the Pharoah’s daughter finds him, Miriam comes along and offers to find someone to nurse the child, subsequently bringing Moses’ mother to do the job while Moses is then raised by the princess in the Egyptian palace. Later, Miriam helps her brother lead the Israelites out of Egypt. After the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, Miriam commemorates the event with a song, leading other women in worship (Genesis 15:20-21).

#5 – Rahab

In Joshua 2, the Israelites are planning to attack and conquer the city of Jericho. First, however, Joshua sends in two spies to do some reconnaissance. We are told that they spend the night in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. When the king of Jericho comes for the men, Rahab hides them and denies knowing them. She then helps them escape the city after extracting a promise from them that when they conquer the city, she and her family will be spared. This is indeed what happens to Rahab, in recognition that the conquest could not have happened without her help.

8 Prophetic Women in the Bible

#6 – Huldah

The story of Huldah takes place in 2 Kings 22:8-20 as well as 2 Chronicles 34:1-28. In the story, the young Israelite king Josiah has just learned of the existence of a scroll of the law which has been lost for years. He is troubled after hearing what it says, and sends his five best men to ask God about this scroll. In order to communicate with God, the men go directly to the prophet Huldah, which indicates that she must have been well-known and respected. Her words confirm the scroll as valid and although her message is not encouraging, it’s clearly believed that Huldah is a powerful and authoritative woman who speaks for God. In Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography, Herschel Shanks notes that The Huldah Gates in one wall of the Temple Mount are named after her.

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#7 – Noadiah

In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah is a governor of Israel on behalf of the Persian Empire. As such, he wants to build a wall around Jerusalem but several prophets oppose the plan. In the Hebrew Bible, they often tell powerful people what they don’t want to hear. This is clearly the case with Noadiah, a woman then mentioned in Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 6:14:

This is the only mention of Noadiah in the Hebrew Bible, but the context indicates that she was indeed a powerful and intimidating prophet.

#8 – Anna

In Luke 2, Joseph and Mary take the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer a purifying sacrifice. At the Temple, they meet Anna, a prophet who was married for only seven years before becoming a widow and never remarrying. At the time of the story, she is 84 years old and, according to Luke 2:37, “never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” When she sees the infant Jesus, she “began to praise God and speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38).”

#9-12 – Philip’s Four Daughters

Although they are unnamed in the Bible, there are several women in the book of Acts who are said to be prophets. In this case, they are the daughters of a man known as Philip the Evangelist, a deacon in the early church living in the city of Caesarea. Acts 21:9 tells us that Philip “had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.” While this is not a lot of information, the fact that they remained unmarried in the ancient Mediterranean world likely meant that their prophetic utterances were given real respect since they lived outside of the norms of women in their time and place.

#13 – Jezebel (from Revelation)

In fact, the woman that John of Patmos writes about (Rev 2:20-21) was almost certainly not named Jezebel. Instead, John gave this infamous name to her to indicate that she was wicked, a reference to Jezebel the Canaanite wife of King Ahab of Israel, who convinced her husband to worship Canaanite gods. John, dictating the words of Jesus, writes that this woman “calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and eat food sacrificed to idols.” As David Aune writes in the HarperCollins Study Bible, “Since the weapons of ancient slander routinely included charges of immorality, it is difficult to know what the real situation was.” However, there can be little doubt that she was considered a prophet in her own Christian community.

5 Women in the Bible in Leadership Positions

#14 – Deborah

After the death of Joshua but before the establishment of an Israelite monarchy, leaders known as judges ruled the 12 tribes of Israel, according to the Bible. In a time and culture in which men controlled virtually everything, it is striking to learn that one of these judges was a woman named Deborah (who was also a prophet!). According to Judges 4:5, Deborah “used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.” She even has the authority to command a general to go to war and accompanies him to the battlefield!

#15 – Esther

In the book of Esther, the Jews are living under the Persian Empire. A Jewish woman named Esther marries the Persian king, thus becoming the queen of Persia. Her cousin Mordecai uncovers a nefarious plot to exterminate all the Jews. He tells Esther of this plot, prompting her to risk her life to reveal the plot to the King, thus saving her people.

#16 – Phoebe

Despite the generally low status of women in the Roman Empire, it’s clear that they played significant roles in the early church. One of those women was Phoebe, whom Paul calls “a deacon of the church at Cenchreae” and his benefactor in Romans 16:1-2. She was clearly a woman of authority in Paul’s eyes.

#17 – Priscilla

In Acts 18:26, we are introduced to an enthusiastic and eloquent Christian teacher named Apollos. While teaching in Ephesus, he gets some things wrong about baptism. However, we are told that a married couple named Priscilla and Aquila “took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.” This indicates that Priscilla was considered a teacher. Paul sends the couple greetings in Romans 16:3-4, saying that they “risked their necks for my life” and that all the gentile churches owe them thanks. Priscilla clearly carried some authoritative weight in the early church.

#18 – Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is known for being a close follower of Jesus, witnessing not only his ministry but also his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Luke 8:2 says that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. Since she is either the first or one of the first (depending on which Gospel you read) to see the risen Jesus and follows his orders to tell the disciples, some have called her the first Christian. Most importantly, the many mentions of her name associated with Jesus and the early church indicate that she was a prominent and powerful leader.

5 Infamous Women of the Bible

#19 – Delilah

During the period of the judges in Israel, Samson was both a judge and a kind of action hero of immense physical strength. He met a woman named Delilah, who was a Philistine, one of Israel’s enemies. Samson fell in love with her, and the Philistines bribed Delilah to discover the secret of his strength. She failed three times but Samson finally relented, telling her that his long hair was the source of his strength. She had it cut while Samson was sleeping, thus sapping his power and allowing the Philistines to take him prisoner. Samson had the last laugh, though, in Judges 16:28-30 when he dies, taking many Philistines down with him.

#20 – Jezebel

As I mentioned above, Jezebel was the Canaanite wife of the Israelite king Ahab in 1 Kings 18 and 19 and is most infamous for persuading Ahab to abandon Israel’s God for the gods of Canaan. In fact, 1 Kings 18:4 says that she was “killing off the prophets of the Lord,” prompting the prophet Obadiah to spirit away 50 such prophets to a hiding place in a cave. After Elijah defeats her god’s prophets (and kills them), Jezebel swears to do the same to him, prompting him to flee.

#21 – Potiphar’s Wife

In Genesis 37, an adolescent named Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers due to envy. He is taken to Egypt and becomes the slave of a military man named Potiphar. With God’s help, Joseph works his way up until he is in charge of Potiphar’s entire household. At this point, Potiphar’s wife, who remains unnamed, tries to seduce Joseph. Joseph refuses, but she is insistent. She then accuses Joseph of attempting to rape her, at which point, her husband throws Joseph into prison.

#22 – Herodias

Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, the king of Israel from 37-4 BCE. In Mark 6:14-29, we read the story of her involvement in the death of John the Baptist. Herodias was first married to Herod the Great’s son Philip but later left him for his brother Herod Antipas. When John the Baptist calls him out publicly for this, Herod Antipas has him arrested and imprisoned. According to Mark’s story, when Herod has a banquet, Herodias’ daughter dances for the party, pleasing Herod so much that he promises to grant her anything she wants. She asks Herodias what she should ask for, and Herodias says “the head of John the Baptist.” John’s head is then brought to Herodias’ daughter who gives it to her mother.

#23 – Athaliah

Athaliah is the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in 2 Kings 8:16-11:16. She is given in marriage to Jehoram of Judah who becomes king of Judah by killing all six of his brothers. After Jehoram’s death, his and Athaliah’s son Ahaziah becomes king. That event makes Athaliah the queen mother, a position of great power and influence. However, Ahaziah is killed one year later. In response, Athaliah kills any possible heirs to the throne, including her grandchildren. However, one potential claimant to the throne, an infant named Joash, is saved from the massacre. Joash eventually becomes king, leading to Athaliah’s downfall.

6 Other Influential Women of the Bible

#24 – Mary

Mary is one of the most honored women in the history of Christianity. She was a 1st-century Jewish woman from the village of Nazareth. However, according to biblical accounts in Matthew and Luke, she was either visited by an angel who told her she would give birth to the Son of God or she became pregnant unexpectedly as a virgin and then discovered that the child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. Either way, as the mother of the central figure of Christianity, Mary has long been reverenced by Christians. Greek-speaking Christians call her the Theotokos, or “God-bearer,” and both Orthodox Christians and Catholics pray for her intercession.

#25 – Elizabeth

According to the Gospel of Luke — the only Gospel that speaks of her — Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist and a relative of Mary the mother of Jesus. An angel visits her husband Zechariah, a priest, and tells him that, despite her previous barrenness and their advanced ages, Elizabeth will conceive and bear a son. Their son, the angel says, will “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.” This turns out to be the case, of course, as their son, John the Baptist, becomes a revered prophet, admired by Jews and Christians alike.

Now, let's do 4 bonus names...

#26 – Junia

At the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he sends greetings to many of his fellow Christians. One of those greetings says “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Israelites who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” This tells us two important things about the woman Junia. First, Paul calls her an apostle, an exalted title in the early church and one rarely granted to women in the earliest Christian writings. Second, Paul says that she was a Christian before he was. This could indicate that she was among the earliest followers of Jesus since scholars agree that Paul converted just a few years after the death of Jesus. Paul clearly has a great respect for her.

#27 and #28 – Euodia and Syntyche

Both these women were members of the church at Philippi to whom Paul writes in the letter to the Philippians. In 4:2-3, Paul writes “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel…” We don’t know what the disagreement between Euodia and Synteche was about (Doctrine? Methods of ministry?), but we do know that, as with Junia and other members of the church who were women, Paul has great respect for both of them as important and influential members of the church who have suffered beside him in trying to spread the gospel.

#29 – Ruth

Ruth is not an Israelite but rather a Moabite. However, in the book that bears her name, she marries an Israelite named Mahlon and, as tradition dictated, moved in with his family. However, after the death of Mahlon as well as her father-in-law and brother-in-law, Ruth decides to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi. For this reason, Ruth has for centuries been viewed as a model of familial loyalty. More significant to the biblical narratives, however, Ruth and Naomi move to Judah where Ruth marries another Israelite, Boaz, and together they have a son named Obed who will be the father of David. As such, she features prominently in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1.

Conclusion

According to Cassandra Gill, women in ancient Israel and the Roman Empire were excluded from many social, political, and religious institutions. Despite this, many Jewish and Christian women played leading roles in their societies. This included control over the household finances as well as some authority in the medical realm, especially midwifery.

Given how excluded females often were from power, however, it is all the more impressive that so many women in the Bible were leading characters. They include numerous prophets, political and religious leaders, and even villains. These parties appear as victims and victors, as well as apostles and queens. This only goes to show that the Bible does not have one view of women, but rather a diverse set of examples and opinions of what it meant to be a woman in the ancient Mediterranean world.