The Ultimate Bible Women Quiz!

Answer: Eve

Genesis 2:22-25, New American Standard Bible:
"The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said,
'This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.'
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."

These are some of my favorite Bible verses. I think they are very romantic.

Genesis 3:20 explains that Adam renamed her "Eve" because she was "the mother of all the living" (New American Standard Bible). Even though "Adam" means "man", "Eve" means "life".

Answer: Hagar

Sarah had been married to Abraham for many years, but she never had children, because she was barren. One day, she asked Abraham to have a child with her maid, Hagar, but Sarah quickly regretted that choice. It appears that Hagar became proud after she conceived, so she began to disrespect Sarah. In turn, Sarah began to treat Hagar cruelly, so Hagar ran away into the desert. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar and commanded her to return to her mistress and to submit to Sarah's authority.

The Angel of the Lord was a figure who only appeared in the Old Testament. He was like the Lord Himself appearing in the form of a man. Many Christians believe that He was the pre-incarnate Jesus. "Pre-incarnate" means that Jesus existed before His earthly birth to His mother.

Answer: Sarah

Sarah laughed because she was 90 years old. She could never have children when she was young, so how could she, she thought, have them when she was so old? God, of course, wasn't happy that she laughed at Him.

Sarah was the first barren woman to miracously conceive. I imagine that later women, such as Rebekah and Samson's nameless mother, didn't dare laugh at God telling them that they would have babies. If anybody had a right to laugh at the Lord's word, it should had been the virgin mother of Jesus, but even she didn't laugh.

Answer: Rebekah

Genesis 24:67, New American Standard Bible:
"Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."

It's somewhat surprising considering the ancient Middle Eastern culture that the Bible was written in, but the Good Book is full of romantic marriages (with some exceptions). There was (of course) Adam and Eve, and Abraham and Sarah seemed to love one another. Then we have Jacob and Rachel and Ruth and Boaz, etc. Isaac and Rebekah appear especially romantic, because according to Genesis 24:58, Rebekah chose to marry him.

Answer: Tamar

See Genesis 38 for the disturbing details. Judah committed so many sins here! In addition to fornication and incest, he was guilty of dishonesty and hypocrisy. He lied to Tamar when he promised to let her marry his son and then never let her do it. He was a hypocrite because he demanded that Tamar be burned for being a prostitute, when he himself visited a prostitute (not knowing at the time that she was Tamar).

In Genesis 39, we see Judah's sexually pure half-brother, Joseph, refusing to sin with Potiphar's wife. One might think that Jesus should have descended from righteous Joseph, but Jesus descended from sinful Judah and Tamar. That shows MERCY.

Answer: Bilhah

Although Jacob was in love with Rachel, he ended up having, basically, three additional wives: Leah, who was Reuben's mother and Rachel's older sister, and Bilhah and Zilpah. Bilhah was Rachel's maid and Zilphah was Leah's maid. These maids became Jacob's concubines/wives for the same reason Hagar was Abraham's--to have children. Specifically, Bilhah was supposed to have children so that the then-barren Rachel could adopt Bilhah's children.

Bilhah was the mother of Dan and Naphtali. In other words, Reuben sinned with the mother of his half-brothers, his stepmother. The consequences of his action were severe. In Genesis 49:4, Jacob cursed Reuben because he defiled his father's bed. Jacob took Reuben's firstborn blessing (Reuben was the firstborn of all Jacob's children) and gave it to Joseph (Rachel's firstborn).

Answer: Asenath

Of Jacob's twelve sons, the Bible only provides names for two of the sons' wives: Asenath was Joseph's wife and Bath-shua was Judah's wife (see 1 Chronicles 3:5). Like Judah, Simeon also married a Canaanite woman (see Genesis 46:10), but it doesn't give her name.

The pharaoh gave Asenath to Joseph to reward him for interpreting his dream. She became the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Jacob (of course!) took much delight in, because they were the sons of his favorite son.

Answer: Jochebed

Jochebed was the mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. Moses was, of course, the one placed inside the basket.

According to Exodus 2:10, the Egyptian princess named the child "Moses". Therefore, we don't know what Jochebed actually named him!

Answer: Zipporah

Exodus 4 states that God was going to kill Moses because he had not fulfilled the covenant's rule that his son needed to be circumcised. It seems like Zipporah didn't want him circumcised, but when she realized that Moses was going to die, she circumcised their son by herself.

She then boldly threw the skin at Moses's feet, exclaiming that he was a groom of blood to her. I always interpreted this to mean that Zipporah didn't believe in Yahweh (God) and she disapproved of circumcision. Remember Zipporah was a Midianite, not an Israelite.

While she saved his life, she probably was the reason why he almost died to begin with.

Answer: Ruth

Ruth (from the book that bears her name) was one of the sweetest and least wicked women. She dedicated her life to her mother-in-law and fellow widow, Naomi. Despite the Hebrew name "Ruth" and the English word "ruthless" not being etymologically related, it fits that Ruth was so compassionate and a ruthless person is one who lacks compassion.

We might say that the other three were ruthless and then some. Jezebel is usually considered the most wicked woman of the Bible. She hated God's prophets and was Elijah's enemy. Her daughter was the wicked Athaliah, whom murdered her own grandchildren (Jezebel's great-grandchildren). Delilah betrayed her lover, Samson.

Answer: It wasn't a woman

Many websites include "Moriah" as a feminine name, but it originally referred to a mountain, not a woman. Mount Moriah was where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac (Genesis 22) and also where Solomon built the Temple (2 Chronicles 3:1).

I thought "Moriah" sounded like a feminine name even before I looked it up, simply because it is similar to "Mariah", which is a variation of the biblical name "Mary". The original form of "Mary" was actually "Miriam", which was the name of Moses's sister. Yet another similar name is "Mara", which Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, temporarily called herself.

Answer: Hannah

Eli thought Hannah was drunk because her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear her voice. Eli told her to stop getting drunk, but Hannah explained to him that she had not drunk any alcohol. She was simply pouring her soul out to God.

Hannah was one of several Bible women who were barren for a long time and then became miraculously pregnant. God gave Samuel to Hannah because she promised to consecrate him to Him.

Answer: Michal

Michal, Saul's daughter and Jonathan's sister, was in love with David. She was David's first wife and, in my opinion, his only true wife based upon Jesus's teachings in the New Testament. Unfortuntely, their relationship went sour. David became a polygamist, which I'm sure Michal was against. 2 Samuel 6 says that Michal thought her husband was dancing for female slaves, so she "despised him in her heart" (verse 16, New American Standard Bible). I think David divorced her, because 2 Samuel 6 ends by calling her "the daughter of Saul" instead of "David's wife", which 1 Samuel called her.

Answer: True

Yes, it's true. David had a wife and a sister both named Abigail.

Abigail was the wife of Jether and mother of Amasa.

Zeruiah was the mother of Abshai, Joab, and Asahel. The Bible never includes her husband's name and it always calls her sons HER sons, which is unique. The Old Testament almost always identified children by their fathers, so the fact that it calls them "the sons of Zeruiah" shows that Zeruiah must had been considered a very important woman.

Answer: Haman's wife

Is she lesser-known or simply ignored? I'm not sure, but I know that when I used to hear people talk about the Esther story, I never heard anything about Zeresh/Haman's wife. However, she's in there. In fact, the Book of Esther mentions her more than once.

Zeresh initially gave Haman the idea to hang Mordecai on the gallows, but she later repented when she told him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him" (Esther 6:12, New American Standard Bible). She was right--Haman and their ten sons were hung on the gallows instead of Mordecai.

Answer: Mary

She was blessed because she was the mother of Jesus, God in the flesh and her Savior. She was also blessed because she miraculously conceived while she was a virgin.

Answer: Elizabeth

According to Luke 1:41, John the Baptist leaped inside Elizabeth's womb when Elizabeth heard the voice of Mary, her relative, who was pregnant with Jesus.

Elizabeth, like the Old Testament Sarah, was an elderly lady who had been barren when she was young. Unlike Sarah, though, she didn't laugh at God's promise that she would have a son.

Answer: False

Anna was the prophetess. Joanna was one of Jesus's followers, mentioned alongside Mary Magdalene in Luke 8.

According to Luke 2, Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple. Anna was there and she thanked God for Him.

Answer: A follower of Jesus

According to Luke 8, Susanna was one of the many women who contributed to Jesus's ministry after He healed them from sicknesses and/or demons. Susanna, along with Mary Magdalene and Joanna, probably took care of Him and the disciples and gave them money.

Answer: Martha

Martha, along with her brother Lazarus and her sister Mary, were friends of Jesus. According to Luke 10:41, Jesus told Martha that she was ". . . worried and bothered about so many things . . ." (New American Standard Bible).

Some Christian theologians have suggested that Martha was a daughter or the widow of Simon the Leper (see Matthew 26 or Mark 14).

Answer: Mary (Lazarus's sister)

Did you think she was Mary Magdalene? If so, surprise! Roman Catholics taught for centuries that Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, and Mary Magdalene were the same person, until they changed their liturgy in 1969. The Orthodox Church and many Protestants always considered the women to be different. For the record, the Gospel writers distinguish Mary Magdalene from the other Marys by her title "Magdalene", a title never applied to the sister of Lazarus (not in John 12 or elsewhere).

Answer: Magdalene

The New Testament includes six women who bore the name "Mary":

1) The mother of Jesus
2) The woman from Magdala/Magdalene/Magdalen
3) The sister of Lazarus and Martha
4) The wife of Clopas and mother of James
5) The mother of Mark
6) A woman in the Roman church, whom Paul mentions.

Mary Magdalene was no doubt Jesus's most loyal follower. Her zeal for Him has contributed to highly controversial rumors that she was His wife.

Answer: Sapphira

See Acts 5 for more details. Sapphira and her husband, Ananias, lied to the Holy Spirit, so He took their lives.

Ruby and Esmerelda actually don't appear anywhere in the Bible. Diana/Artemis appears as a false idol in Acts 19.

Answer: Tabitha

Her Aramaic name is "Tabitha". The Greek version is "Dorcas". According to their encyclopedia on christiananswers.net, she was known by both names because she was a Hellenistic Jew.

Answer: Phoebe

Depending on the translation that you use, she is called either a deacon or a servant. Yes, she was a female minister, but still not a pastor. In Romans 16:2, Paul wrote that she helped a lot of people and that she had helped him too. She apparently gave much charity.