Old Testament: Women

Abigail

Name meaning: "My father's joy"
Approximately 19 references

Wise and beautiful wife of the foolish Nabal. When David resolved to destroy Nabal's household, Abigail rode out to meet him with provisions and words shrewd enough to turn an army — preventing bloodshed and leaving David in her debt (1 Samuel 25). After Nabal's death, she became David's wife.

Key references: 1 Chronicles 2:16, 1 Chronicles 2:17, 1 Chronicles 3:1, 1 Samuel 25:3, 1 Samuel 25:14, 1 Samuel 25:18, 1 Samuel 25:23, 1 Samuel 25:32, 1 Samuel 25:36, 1 Samuel 25:39 (and 7 more)

Bathsheba

Also known as: Bath-shua
Name meaning: "Daughter of the oath" or "seventh daughter"
Approximately 3 references

Wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David seduced while her husband was at war. Their first child died; their second was Solomon, through whom the messianic line ran. Years later, Bathsheba secured Solomon's succession against the rival claim of Adonijah (1 Kings 1). Matthew lists her in Jesus' genealogy — pointedly — as "the wife of Uriah."

Key references: 1 Kings 1:15, 1 Kings 1:28, Psalms 51:2

Dinah

Name meaning: "Vindicated" or "judged"
Approximately 8 references

Daughter of Jacob and Leah. When Shechem the Hivite violated her, her brothers Simeon and Levi answered with calculated treachery — luring the men of Shechem into a covenant, then massacring them while they were still incapacitated (Genesis 34). Jacob condemned the act on his deathbed (Genesis 49:5).

Key references: Genesis 30:21, Genesis 34:1, Genesis 34:3, Genesis 34:5, Genesis 34:13, Genesis 34:25, Genesis 34:26, Genesis 46:15

Esther

Also known as: Hadassah
Name meaning: "Star" (Persian); "Myrtle" (Hebrew: Hadassah)
Approximately 55 references

Jewish queen of Persia who risked her life to expose Haman's plot to annihilate her people. Orphaned and raised by her cousin Mordecai, she rose to the highest position available to a woman in the empire — and used it. "If I perish, I perish," she said (Esther 4:16), and went in to the king. The festival of Purim commemorates the deliverance that followed. Notably, the book never once names God, yet his providence saturates every page.

Key references: Esther 2:7, Esther 2:8, Esther 2:10, Esther 2:11, Esther 2:15, Esther 2:16, Esther 2:17, Esther 2:18, Esther 2:20, Esther 2:22 (and 35 more)

Hagar

Name meaning: "Flight" or "stranger"
Approximately 12 references

Egyptian servant of Sarah who bore Ishmael to Abraham. She was driven away twice — once while pregnant, once with her young son — and both times God met her in the wilderness, heard her cries, and promised to make Ishmael a great nation (Genesis 16, Genesis 21). Paul later reads her story as an allegory for the Sinai covenant and its children (Galatians 4:21).

Key references: Genesis 16:1, Genesis 16:3, Genesis 16:4, Genesis 16:8, Genesis 16:15, Genesis 16:16, Genesis 21:9, Genesis 21:14, Genesis 21:17, Genesis 25:12

Jezebel

Name meaning: "Where is the prince?" or "un-exalted"
Approximately 22 references

Phoenician princess who married King Ahab and made the suppression of YHWH's prophets state policy, installing hundreds of Baal's priests in their place. When a commoner named Naboth refused to sell his ancestral vineyard, she fabricated charges of blasphemy and had him stoned — then handed the land to Ahab (1 Kings 21). She died as Elijah had promised: thrown from a window, her body devoured by dogs in the street (2 Kings 9:30). Her name endured as a byword for spiritual corruption; Revelation invokes it for a false prophetess in the church at Thyatira.

Key references: 1 Kings 16:31, 1 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 18:13, 1 Kings 18:19, 1 Kings 19:1, 1 Kings 19:2, 1 Kings 21:5, 1 Kings 21:7, 1 Kings 21:11, 1 Kings 21:14 (and 9 more)

Naarah

Name meaning: "Girl"
Approximately 3 references

One of the two wives of Ashhur, father of Tekoa (1 Chronicles 4:5). She appears only in the genealogies of Judah, her sons listed without further story.

Key references: 1 Chronicles 4:5, 1 Chronicles 4:6

7 entries. Reference counts are approximate, based on morphological analysis of the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Hebrew) and Open Greek New Testament.