Entity index

People of the Bible

Every person here has a page with their place in the story, the verses that name them, and the journeys, moments and threads they belong to. Names highlighted while you read link straight through to these pages.

All people

AaronFirst high priestAaron speaks for Moses before Pharaoh and becomes Israel's first high priest, with the priesthood passing to his sons. He also makes the golden calf, so the office of priest begins with a man who has already needed atonement himself.
AbelShepherd, first victimAbel brings the firstborn of his flock and is commended for it. His death at his brother's hand makes him the Bible's first martyr, and Hebrews holds him up as an early example of faith whose blood 'still speaks'.
AbigailNabal's wife, then David'sWith David riding to kill her household, Abigail loads provisions and meets him on the road, talking him out of bloodshed in one of the shrewdest speeches in Scripture. Nabal dies ten days later and David sends for her.
AbnerCommander of Saul's armySaul's cousin and general, Abner keeps Ish-bosheth on the throne after Saul's death, then negotiates to bring Israel over to David. Joab murders him at the gate of Hebron in revenge, and David mourns him publicly.
AbrahamFather of the covenant peopleAbraham leaves Ur and Haran for a land he has never seen, on nothing more than a promise of land, offspring and blessing for all nations. His long wait for Isaac, the covenant of circumcision, and the near-sacrifice on Moriah make him the model of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
AbsalomSon of DavidAbsalom kills his half-brother Amnon, wins the hearts of Israel at the gate, and drives his father from Jerusalem. He dies caught in an oak against Joab's orders, and David's cry over him is one of Scripture's rawest lines of grief.
AdamThe first manAdam is the first human being in the biblical account, formed from the ground and placed in Eden to work and keep it. His disobedience introduces death and exile into the story, and Paul later reads him as the head of the old humanity that Christ reverses.
AgrippaHerod Agrippa IIBrought in by Festus to help frame a charge, Agrippa hears Paul's defence and answers, "almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian". His verdict — this man might have been freed if he had not appealed to Caesar — is what sends Paul to Rome.
AhabKing of IsraelAhab marries Jezebel of Sidon and gives Baal worship royal backing. His seizure of Naboth's vineyard draws Elijah's sharpest judgement, and he dies from a stray arrow at Ramoth Gilead.
AmosShepherd-prophet of TekoaA herdsman from Judah sent north to a prosperous Israel, Amos indicts a religion of full festivals and crushed poor: "let judgment run down as waters". He is told to go home, and answers that he was no prophet by trade.
AndrewApostle, Peter's brotherA disciple of John the Baptist first, Andrew hears "Behold the Lamb of God" and immediately fetches his brother. He is the one who finds the boy with five loaves, and who brings the enquiring Greeks to Jesus.
ApollosAlexandrian teacher at Ephesus and CorinthEloquent and mighty in the Scriptures but knowing only John's baptism, Apollos is taken aside by Priscilla and Aquila and taught more accurately. At Corinth his followers form a faction he never asked for.
AthaliahQueen of JudahDaughter of Ahab and Jezebel, Athaliah destroys the royal family of Judah and rules six years. One infant, Joash, is hidden in the temple by his aunt, and produced by the priest Jehoiada in a coup that costs Athaliah her life.
BalaamProphet hired to curse IsraelBalak pays Balaam to curse Israel; every attempt comes out as blessing, including a promise of a star out of Jacob. His donkey sees what he does not. Later Scripture treats him as a warning: he could not curse Israel, so he taught Balak how to corrupt them.
BarabbasThe prisoner released instead of JesusA rebel held for insurrection and murder, Barabbas is the name the crowd shouts when Pilate offers the Passover release. The substitution is exact enough that the Gospels simply let it stand.
BarakCommander under DeborahBarak will go to war only if Deborah goes with him, and is told the honour of the victory will go to a woman. Sisera's chariots bog down at the Kishon; Barak's name stands in Hebrews among those who conquered kingdoms by faith.
BarnabasApostle and encouragerBarnabas sells a field for the church, vouches for the newly converted Saul when no one else will, and fetches him from Tarsus to Antioch. Their split over John Mark sends two missions out instead of one.
BathshebaWife of David, mother of SolomonBathsheba is taken by David while her husband Uriah is at the front, and Uriah is killed to hide it. She later secures the succession for Solomon and is named, obliquely, in Matthew's genealogy.
BelshazzarCo-regent of BabylonDrinking from the vessels taken from the temple, Belshazzar sees a hand writing on the plaster. Daniel reads it: numbered, weighed, divided. The city falls that night. Cuneiform texts name him as son of Nabonidus, ruling in his father's absence — which explains the offer of third place in the kingdom.
BoazKinsman-redeemerBoaz protects Ruth in his fields and settles the redemption of Elimelech's land at the town gate. His role as kinsman-redeemer becomes a standing picture of redemption in later Christian reading.
CaiaphasHigh priest at the trial of JesusCaiaphas reasons that it is expedient for one man to die for the people, and John reads the sentence as unintended prophecy. He presides at the night hearing and later warns Peter and John to stop speaking in the name.
CainFirst-born of Adam and EveCain is a farmer whose offering is not accepted, and whose jealousy ends in the first murder. Sent east as a restless wanderer, he builds the first city named in Scripture, so human culture and human violence begin in the same chapter.
CalebFaithful spyCaleb brings back a minority report from Canaan and is promised the land he walked on. Forty-five years later, at eighty-five, he asks for the hill country of Hebron and takes it.
CorneliusRoman centurionA God-fearing officer at Caesarea, Cornelius sends for Peter after a vision. The Spirit falling on his Gentile household settles, in practice, the question the Jerusalem council later settles in principle.
CyrusKing of Persia who ended the exileCyrus takes Babylon and issues the decree that sends Judah home with the temple vessels. Isaiah names him as God's shepherd and anointed; the Cyrus Cylinder records the same imperial policy of restoring deported peoples and their sanctuaries.
DanielExile and statesman in BabylonTaken to Babylon as a youth, Daniel serves under Babylonian and Persian kings while refusing to compromise. The court tales — the furnace, the writing on the wall, the lions' den — sit beside visions of successive empires and one 'like a son of man'.
DariusKing over Babylon in DanielTricked by his own officials into a decree he cannot revoke, Darius spends a sleepless night at the mouth of the lions' den. A later Darius orders the search of the archives that lets the temple be finished.
DavidShepherd, poet, kingDavid is anointed as a shepherd boy, kills Goliath, spends years as a fugitive from Saul, and unites the tribes with his capital at Jerusalem. The covenant promising him an everlasting throne, and the psalms attributed to him, make his name the one the New Testament reaches for when it calls Jesus 'son of David'.
DeborahJudge and prophetessDeborah judges Israel from beneath a palm in the hill country and summons Barak to face Sisera's chariots. The victory song in Judges 5 is among the oldest poetry in the Bible.
DelilahThe woman who betrayed SamsonPaid by the Philistine lords, Delilah asks Samson four times where his strength lies. He lies three times and tells the truth the fourth. The strength was never in the hair; it was in the vow the hair stood for.
EliHigh priest at ShilohEli mistakes Hannah's silent prayer for drunkenness, then blesses her, and raises the son she gives back to God. He cannot restrain his own sons, and dies falling backwards when he hears the ark has been captured.
ElijahProphetElijah announces a drought to Ahab, is fed by ravens, defeats the prophets of Baal on Carmel, and then collapses under a broom tree asking to die. He hears God not in wind, earthquake or fire but in a low whisper, and leaves in a chariot of fire.
ElishaProphet, successor to ElijahElisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit and spends his ministry among ordinary people: a widow's oil, a Shunammite's son, a floating axe head, and Naaman washing in the Jordan.
ElizabethMother of John the BaptistOld, childless and of the priestly line, Elizabeth conceives after Gabriel's word to Zechariah. When Mary arrives, the child leaps in her womb and she is the first to call Mary the mother of her Lord.
EsauJacob's twin, ancestor of EdomEsau sells his birthright for a bowl of stew and loses his father's blessing to Jacob. Their reunion twenty years later is one of the most generous scenes in Genesis, though his descendants in Edom remain Israel's long-running rivals.
EstherQueen of PersiaEsther conceals her Jewish identity until Haman's decree threatens her people, then risks an uninvited approach to the king. The book never names God, but its turn of events founds the feast of Purim.
EveThe first womanEve is made as a companion answering to Adam and is named 'mother of all living' after the fall. Her conversation with the serpent and the promise about her offspring set up the long conflict that runs through the rest of Scripture.
EzekielPriest-prophet in BabylonEzekiel prophesies among the exiles by the Chebar canal, using sign-acts and vast visions: the wheels and living creatures, the glory leaving the temple, the valley of dry bones, and a new temple with a river flowing from it.
EzraPriest and scribeEzra returns from Babylon with a commission to teach the law, and reads it aloud from a wooden platform while Levites explain it to the crowd. His reform work centres on Scripture being understood, not merely recited.
FelixRoman governor of JudeaFelix keeps Paul in custody at Caesarea for two years, sends for him often hoping for a bribe, and trembles when the talk turns to righteousness and judgment to come — then sends him away for a convenient season that never arrives.
GamalielPharisee and teacher of the lawWith the council ready to kill the apostles, Gamaliel advises restraint: if this work is of men it will collapse, and if it is of God they cannot overthrow it. Paul later names him as the teacher he was trained under.
GideonJudgeGideon is threshing wheat in a winepress when he is called a mighty man of valour. He tears down his father's altar, tests God with a fleece, and routs Midian with three hundred men — then makes an ephod that Israel treats as an idol.
GoliathPhilistine championGoliath of Gath taunts Israel's army for forty days before being killed by a shepherd with a sling. The encounter in the Valley of Elah became the Bible's standard image of an impossible fight won by faith.
HagarMother of IshmaelHagar is Sarah's Egyptian servant, given to Abraham and then driven into the wilderness. She is the first person in Scripture to give God a name — 'the God who sees me' — and is promised that her son too will become a great nation.
HaggaiProphet of the rebuildingIn four dated messages across a single autumn, Haggai asks why the people live in panelled houses while the temple lies waste, and promises that the glory of this latter house will be greater than the former. Building resumes within a month.
HamanThe enemy of the JewsEnraged by one man who will not bow, Haman buys a decree to destroy every Jew in the empire and builds a gallows for Mordecai. He is hanged on it. Purim keeps the reversal in the calendar.
HannahMother of SamuelHannah prays at Shiloh so intently that Eli takes her for drunk, then gives the son she is granted back to the sanctuary. Her song of reversal is echoed centuries later in Mary's Magnificat.
HerodRuling dynasty of JudeaThe Herods run through the New Testament: Herod the Great orders the killing at Bethlehem, Antipas beheads John and questions Jesus, Agrippa I executes James, and Agrippa II hears Paul's defence.
HezekiahKing of JudahHezekiah removes the high places, cuts a tunnel to secure Jerusalem's water, and survives Sennacherib's siege after taking the Assyrian letter into the temple and spreading it before God. His fifteen added years and the display of his treasury to Babylon's envoys close his reign on a warning.
HoseaProphet to the northern kingdomHosea is told to marry a wife who will be unfaithful, and to take her back when she is. The marriage is the message: Israel's idolatry read as adultery, and God's refusal to let go read as a husband buying back his own wife.
IsaacSon of promiseIsaac is the child born to Abraham and Sarah long past hope, and the son carried up Moriah. His own life is quieter than his father's or his son's: he redigs Abraham's wells, prospers in Gerar, and passes the covenant blessing on to Jacob.
IsaiahProphetIsaiah's call comes in a vision of the Lord high and lifted up in the temple. He counsels kings through the Assyrian crisis, and his book holds both the harshest judgement oracles and the servant songs the New Testament reads as pointing to Christ.
IshmaelAbraham's firstborn sonBorn to Hagar when the promise seemed slow in coming, Ishmael is circumcised in Abraham's household and then sent away with his mother. God's promise to make him a great nation is kept; he and Isaac bury their father together.
JacobFather of the twelve tribesJacob takes his brother's blessing by deception, meets God on a stairway at Bethel, works fourteen years for Rachel, and wrestles through the night at the Jabbok until he is renamed Israel. His twelve sons become the tribes that carry the nation's name.
JaelThe woman who killed SiseraSisera flees on foot to a tent he believes is friendly. Jael gives him milk, covers him, and drives a tent peg through his temple while he sleeps. Deborah's song calls her blessed among women.
JamesApostle, son of ZebedeeOne of the three taken up the mountain and into Gethsemane, James asks for fire on a Samaritan village and for a throne at Jesus' side. He is the first apostle martyred, killed with the sword by Herod Agrippa.
JehuKing of IsraelAnointed by one of Elisha's men, Jehu drives to Jezreel "furiously", kills two kings and Jezebel, and wipes out Baal worship with a violence Hosea later names as guilt. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III shows a king labelled Jehu bowing to Assyria.
JephthahJudge of GileadDriven out as the son of a prostitute, Jephthah is called back when Ammon attacks. He wins, and is met at the door by his only daughter — the consequence of a vow the text records without approving.
JeremiahProphet of the fall of JerusalemJeremiah is called young and told he will be opposed by everyone, and he is: beaten, put in stocks, lowered into a cistern. He watches Jerusalem fall, buys a field as a sign that the land will be lived in again, and promises a new covenant written on the heart.
JeroboamFirst king of the northern kingdomJeroboam leads the northern secession and sets up golden calves at Bethel and Dan so his people will not travel to Jerusalem. 'The sin of Jeroboam' becomes the standard charge against every later northern king.
JesusThe ChristJesus of Nazareth is the centre of the New Testament: born in Bethlehem, raised in Galilee, teaching in parables, healing, crucified under Pontius Pilate and, the Gospels insist, raised on the third day. Every earlier thread in Bible Atlas — covenant, exodus, temple, kingship, prophecy — is read by the New Testament as arriving at him.
JethroPriest of Midian, Moses' father-in-lawMoses spends forty years keeping Jethro's flocks before the burning bush. After the Exodus, Jethro brings Zipporah and the boys back to him, worships with Israel's elders, and tells Moses plainly that judging every dispute alone will wear him out — the first delegation of authority in Israel.
JezebelQueen of IsraelJezebel imports the prophets of Baal and Asherah, hunts down the prophets of the Lord, and arranges Naboth's judicial murder. Her name became a byword long before the letter to Thyatira used it that way.
JoabDavid's commanderRuthless, effective and impossible to control, Joab takes Jerusalem, wins David's wars, arranges Uriah's death on orders, and kills Absalom against them. Solomon has him executed at the altar he clings to.
JobThe suffering righteous manJob loses his children, wealth and health, and refuses both his friends' tidy explanations and his wife's advice to curse God. The answer he finally receives from the whirlwind is not an argument but a tour of creation.
JohnApostleJohn and his brother James are called from their nets and nicknamed 'sons of thunder'. Christian tradition connects him with the fourth Gospel, three letters on love and truth, and the visions of Revelation received on Patmos.
John the BaptistForerunnerJohn preaches repentance in the Judean wilderness and baptises in the Jordan, including Jesus himself. Imprisoned by Herod Antipas for confronting his marriage, he sends from his cell the honest question 'are you the one who is to come?'
JonahReluctant prophetJonah is sent to Nineveh and sails the opposite way. Swallowed by a great fish and delivered, he preaches, the city repents, and he sulks under a withered plant — the book's real subject is the prophet's anger at mercy, not the fish.
JonathanSon of SaulJonathan attacks a Philistine garrison with only his armour-bearer and later shields David from his own father, knowing it costs him the throne. He dies with Saul at Gilboa, and David's lament for him is one of the Bible's great elegies.
JosephVizier of EgyptJoseph is sold into Egypt by his brothers, imprisoned on a false charge, and raised to govern the country after interpreting Pharaoh's dreams. His verdict on the whole affair — 'you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good' — is one of Scripture's clearest statements about providence.
Joseph of ArimatheaCouncillor who buried JesusA rich member of the council who had not consented to its decision, Joseph goes in boldly to Pilate for the body and gives up his own new tomb. The Roman grant of the corpse is what makes the empty tomb a public fact three days later.
JoshuaSuccessor to MosesJoshua is one of only two spies who urge Israel to go up into Canaan, and he leads the nation across the Jordan a generation later. The book bearing his name records the fall of Jericho, the division of the land, and his closing charge at Shechem to choose whom to serve.
JosiahReforming king of JudahJosiah is eight when he becomes king, and the book of the law found during temple repairs triggers the deepest reform in Judah's history. He dies at Megiddo confronting Pharaoh Neco, and the reform does not outlive him.
JudahFourth son of JacobJudah proposes selling Joseph, is confronted by Tamar over his own failure, and later offers himself in Benjamin's place. Jacob's blessing gives his tribe the sceptre, and both David and Jesus are reckoned in his line.
Judas IscariotThe disciple who betrayed JesusTrusted with the money bag and stealing from it, Judas objects to the waste of ointment at Bethany and sells his information for thirty pieces of silver. He returns the money, and hangs himself. The field bought with it was still known by the story when Acts was written.
KorahLevite who led a rebellionKorah gathers 250 leaders against Moses and Aaron, arguing that the whole congregation is holy. The ground opens. His sons do not die with him, and the psalms of the sons of Korah are still sung.
LazarusRaised from the dead at BethanyJesus deliberately waits until Lazarus has been in the tomb four days, weeps at it anyway, and calls him out by name. The raising fills Bethany with witnesses and hardens the council's decision to kill Jesus — and Lazarus with him.
LeahJacob's first wifeMarried to Jacob by her father's deception and never the wife he chose, Leah bears six of the twelve tribes, including Levi and Judah — the priestly line and the royal one. She is buried in the cave at Machpelah with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah.
LotAbraham's nephewGiven first choice of land, Lot picks the well-watered plain and ends up inside Sodom. Angels drag him out the night the city falls; his wife looks back, and his daughters' desperate scheme produces Moab and Ammon, nations Israel meets again and again.
LukePhysician, Gospel writer and travelling companion"The beloved physician" writes a Gospel for Theophilus and then its sequel, and quietly joins the story in Acts when the narrative switches to "we". He is with Paul to the last letter, when everyone else has gone.
LydiaMerchant of PhilippiA dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira, Lydia hears Paul at a riverside prayer meeting and is baptised with her household. Her home becomes the first church in Europe.
MalachiThe last Old Testament prophetMalachi argues with a tired people in a series of questions and answers: blemished offerings, broken marriages, withheld tithes. He closes the Old Testament promising a messenger to prepare the way and Elijah before the day of the LORD.
MarkGospel writer, once the one who turned backMark abandons the first journey at Perga and becomes the reason Paul and Barnabas part company. Years later Paul asks for him: profitable to me for the ministry. His Gospel moves at a run, and tradition ties it to Peter's preaching.
MarthaSister of Mary and LazarusMartha runs the house at Bethany and says so. She is also the one who meets Jesus on the road when her brother is four days dead and makes the clearest confession in John's Gospel outside Peter's.
MaryMother of JesusMary receives Gabriel's announcement with a question and then a consent, and answers with the Magnificat's song of reversal. She appears at Cana, at the cross, and among the disciples praying before Pentecost.
Mary MagdaleneDisciple, first witness of the resurrectionDelivered of seven demons, Mary Magdalene follows Jesus from Galilee and stays at the cross when most have gone. She is the first person the risen Jesus speaks to, and the first sent to tell the others.
MatthewTax collector and apostleCalled from the customs post at Capernaum, Matthew throws a feast for his colleagues that draws the first complaint about the company Jesus keeps. The Gospel bearing his name is the one most concerned with showing Scripture fulfilled.
MelchizedekPriest-king of SalemHe appears in three verses, brings out bread and wine, blesses Abram and receives a tenth of the spoil — and then disappears. Psalm 110 and Hebrews make that abruptness the point: a priesthood with no recorded beginning or end, older than Levi.
MicahProphet of JudahMicah names Bethlehem as the place a ruler will come from, seven centuries early, and sums up religion in one line: do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. Jeremiah's defenders cite him a century later as the prophet Hezekiah listened to.
MichalSaul's daughter, David's first wifeMichal loves David, lowers him through a window to save his life, and is given to another man while he is a fugitive. When she sees him dancing before the ark, something between them is finished.
MiriamProphetess, sister of MosesMiriam watches over the basket in the reeds and later leads Israel's women in song after the sea crossing. Her challenge to Moses' authority at Hazeroth and the leprosy that follows show even leadership close to Moses under judgement.
MordecaiEsther's cousin and guardianMordecai uncovers a plot against the king, refuses to bow to Haman, and tells Esther she may have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. He ends the book second only to the king.
MosesProphet and lawgiverRescued from the Nile and raised in Pharaoh's household, Moses flees to Midian and is called back at the burning bush to lead Israel out of Egypt. He receives the law at Sinai, intercedes for a people who repeatedly turn away, and dies in sight of a land he never enters.
NaamanSyrian commander healed of leprosyA captive Israelite girl sends her master to a prophet. Naaman, insulted by being told to wash seven times in the muddy Jordan, is talked into obedience by his servants and comes up clean. Jesus cites him in Nazareth, and the congregation tries to throw him off a cliff.
NaomiMother-in-law of RuthNaomi loses her husband and both sons in Moab and returns to Bethlehem asking to be called Mara, 'bitter'. The book ends with a grandson in her lap and the neighbours declaring her restored.
NathanCourt prophetNathan brings David the promise of an enduring house, and later the parable of the ewe lamb that traps the king into condemning himself. He also acts decisively to have Solomon crowned.
NebuchadnezzarKing of BabylonHe takes Jerusalem three times, burns the temple, deports Judah, and dominates the book of Daniel: the dream of the statue, the furnace, and seven years living like an animal before he acknowledges that heaven rules. Babylonian records confirm the campaigns and the capture of the city.
NehemiahGovernor, rebuilder of Jerusalem's wallCupbearer to Artaxerxes, Nehemiah returns to a city with broken walls and rebuilds them in fifty-two days against constant obstruction. He then tackles debt-slavery, sabbath trading and mixed loyalties among the returned community.
NicodemusPharisee and member of the councilHe comes at night with a compliment and is told he must be born again. He later reminds the council that the law hears a man first, and finally brings a hundredweight of myrrh and aloes to a burial that ends his cover.
NoahBuilder of the arkNoah is the one righteous man of his generation, told to build a vessel that carries his household and the animals through the flood. The covenant God makes with him afterwards — never again to destroy the earth by water — is the first covenant in Scripture with all creation as its partner.
PaulApostle to the GentilesTrained under Gamaliel and a persecutor of the church, Paul is stopped on the road to Damascus and spends the rest of his life planting congregations across Asia Minor and Greece. Thirteen New Testament letters carry his name, and Acts ends with him under house arrest in Rome, still teaching.
PeterApostleA Galilean fisherman renamed Cephas, Peter walks on water and sinks, confesses Jesus as the Christ and is rebuked minutes later, denies him three times and is restored on the shore. At Pentecost he preaches the sermon that starts the church, and at Caesarea he is the one sent to a Gentile household.
PharaohTitle of the kings of Egypt"Pharaoh" is a title rather than a personal name: it renders an Egyptian phrase meaning "great house", the palace standing for the king who lived in it. Scripture uses it for a whole sequence of rulers across roughly a thousand years — the king who takes Sarai, the king who raises Joseph, the king who enslaves Israel, and later kings named outright, such as Shishak and Neco. In Egypt the pharaoh was held to be divine, which is why the contest of the plagues reads as a contest between gods.
Pharaoh NecoKing of Egypt named in ScriptureMarching north to the Euphrates, Neco is intercepted by Josiah at Megiddo and kills him there. He then deposes Jehoahaz, sets Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah and taxes the land, until Babylon breaks Egyptian power at Carchemish.
Pharaoh of JosephThe king who raised JosephTroubled by two dreams no one can read, this Pharaoh brings a Hebrew prisoner out of the dungeon, hears him credit the interpretation to God, and hands him the administration of Egypt. He settles Jacob's family in Goshen and gives Joseph leave to bury his father in Canaan.
Pharaoh of the ExodusThe king who opposed MosesThe Pharaoh of Exodus meets Moses' demand with contempt, doubles Israel's workload, and endures ten plagues aimed squarely at the gods of Egypt. The text says both that he hardened his own heart and that God hardened it. He releases Israel after the death of the firstborn, then pursues them to the sea.
PhilipApostle from BethsaidaPhilip finds Nathanael and answers his scepticism with "come and see". Tested before the feeding of the five thousand, he does the arithmetic and gives up; at the last supper he asks to be shown the Father.
PhoebeDeacon of the church at CenchreaPaul commends her as a servant of the church and a helper of many, including himself. Romans is addressed from Corinth and she is the one going to Rome — in all likelihood the carrier of the letter itself.
Pontius PilateRoman prefect of JudeaPilate finds no fault in Jesus, tries repeatedly to release him, and hands him over anyway. His question 'what is truth?' and the washing of his hands have outlived every other act of his governorship.
PriscillaTeacher and tentmakerPriscilla and her husband Aquila work alongside Paul in Corinth and Ephesus and host a church in their house. Together they take the eloquent Apollos aside and explain the way of God more accurately.
RachelJacob's beloved wifeJacob works fourteen years for Rachel. She is long childless before Joseph is born, and dies giving birth to Benjamin on the road to Bethlehem. Jeremiah later hears her weeping for exiled children, a line Matthew takes up after the killing at Bethlehem.
RahabInnkeeper of JerichoRahab hides Israel's spies in Jericho and hangs a scarlet cord from her window. A Canaanite outsider, she is spared with her household and appears in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus and in Hebrews' roll of faith.
RebekahWife of IsaacRebekah is found at a well in Haran and chooses to leave for a marriage she has never seen. Told before their birth that the elder of her twins would serve the younger, she engineers the blessing that sends Jacob into exile and Esau into fury.
RehoboamKing of JudahRehoboam answers the northern tribes' plea for lighter burdens with a threat, and ten tribes walk away. His reign begins the two-kingdom era that dominates the rest of Israel's history.
RuthMoabite ancestor of DavidRuth refuses to leave Naomi and gleans in the fields of Boaz, who redeems the family land and marries her. A foreigner from Moab, she becomes the great-grandmother of David.
SamsonNazirite judgeSamson's strength is tied to a Nazirite vow he treats carelessly. Betrayed by Delilah, blinded and set to grind at Gaza, he brings down the temple of Dagon in a final act that kills more Philistines than his whole life had.
SamuelLast judge, first of the prophetsGiven to the sanctuary at Shiloh as a boy, Samuel hears God speak when 'the word of the Lord was rare'. He anoints both Saul and David and warns Israel what a king will cost them.
SarahWife of Abraham, mother of IsaacSarah waits decades for the child she was promised, laughs at the announcement, and gives birth to Isaac in old age. Her insistence that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away shapes the family conflict that follows the covenant line.
SaulIsrael's first kingSaul is anointed as the king Israel demanded and begins well, but his impatience at Gilgal and disobedience over Amalek cost him the dynasty. His decline into jealousy of David and the night visit to the medium at Endor end at Gilboa.
ShishakKing of Egypt named in ScriptureShishak shelters Jeroboam from Solomon, and five years into Rehoboam's reign marches on Jerusalem and strips the treasures of the temple and palace, including Solomon's gold shields. Rehoboam replaces them with bronze.
SilasPaul's companion on the second journeyChosen after the split with Barnabas, Silas is beaten and jailed with Paul at Philippi and sings at midnight. As a Roman citizen he is owed the same apology Paul demands, and he carries the Jerusalem letter to the churches.
SolomonKing and temple builderSolomon asks for wisdom rather than long life or wealth and receives all three. He builds the first temple in Jerusalem and presides over Israel's widest borders, but his foreign alliances and their shrines set up the split that follows his death.
StephenFirst Christian martyrChosen to serve the neglected widows, Stephen argues Israel's whole history before the council and is stoned for it. Saul of Tarsus stands guarding the coats.
ThomasApostleThomas offers to go and die with Jesus in Judea, asks the question that draws out 'I am the way', and refuses second-hand testimony about the resurrection. A week later he gives the Gospel's fullest confession: 'my Lord and my God'.
TimothyPaul's coworkerTimothy joins Paul at Lystra, the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father, and becomes his most trusted delegate. Two letters address him as a young leader facing older opponents.
TitusGreek co-worker of PaulAn uncircumcised Gentile Paul deliberately does not circumcise, Titus becomes the test case at Jerusalem. He carries the hard letter to Corinth and returns with good news, and is left in Crete to appoint elders.
UriahHittite soldier in David's armyLoyal enough to refuse the comfort of his own house while the ark and the army are in tents, Uriah carries the letter ordering his own death. Matthew's genealogy will not let the story go: Solomon is born "of her that had been the wife of Urias".
ZacchaeusChief tax collector of JerichoShort, rich and widely despised, Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore to see over the crowd and is called down by name to host the visitor. Half his goods go to the poor and fourfold restitution to anyone he has cheated.
ZechariahProphet of the second templeZechariah urges the returned exiles to finish the temple through eight night visions, and looks beyond them: a king coming lowly on a donkey, thirty pieces of silver, one they pierced, a fountain opened for sin. The Gospels quote him repeatedly in Passion week.
ZerubbabelGovernor who rebuilt the templeA descendant of David leading the first return from Babylon, Zerubbabel lays the foundation of the second temple amid weeping from those who remember the first, and finishes it under prophetic pressure — "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit".

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