Representative passages on women from the Bible

compiled, with notes and headings, by Adam Kotsko

Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)........................................................................................................2
Genesis 1:26-31 (The creation of humanity in the image of God)..............................................2
Genesis 2:15-3:24 (The creation of woman and the first sin)......................................................2
Genesis 6:1-7 (Angels sleep around with human women; God gets mad)..................................4
Genesis 16 (Hagar the surrogate mother)....................................................................................5
Genesis 19 (Attempted gang-rape; successful incest).................................................................5
Genesis 21:1-21 (Hagar sent away for good)..............................................................................7
Exodus 15:20-21 (The song of Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron)..........................................8
Numbers 12 (Miriam punished for trash-talking Moses)............................................................8
Leviticus 18 (Laws about sexual defilement)..............................................................................9
Deuteronomy 22:13-30 (Laws about sex, marriage, and rape)..................................................10
Joshua 2 (Rahab the prostitute saves the Israelite spies)...........................................................11
Joshua 6:22-25 (Follow-up on Rahab).......................................................................................12
Judges 4 (Deborah, a woman “judge” of Israel)........................................................................13
Judges 11:29-39 (Jephthah’s rash vow).....................................................................................14
Judges 19 (Another woman offered up for gang-rape)..............................................................15
Proverbs 1:20-2:22 (Lady Wisdom)..........................................................................................16
Ezekiel 23 (The parable of two promiscuous women)..............................................................18
Gospels...........................................................................................................................................20
Matthew 1:1-16 (The genealogy of Jesus, including four Gentile women)..............................20
Matthew 15:21-28 (The Canaanite woman)..............................................................................21
Matthew 26:26-29 (Institution of the Lord’s supper)................................................................22
Matthew 27:55-28:10 (Women stay with Jesus during crucifixion, witness resurrection).......22
Mark 3:31-35 (Jesus’s true family)............................................................................................23
Mark 14:3-9 (A woman anoints Jesus)......................................................................................23
Mark 16:1-8 (The resurrected Jesus appears to the women).....................................................24
Luke 1:26-56 (The story of the Virgin Mary)............................................................................24
Luke 7:26-8:3 (The woman anoints Jesus; women then follow him)........................................25
John 4:5-42 (The Samaritan woman).........................................................................................26
John 8:2-11 (The woman caught in adultery)............................................................................27
John 20:1-18 (Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene).............................................................28
St. Paul (authentic).........................................................................................................................28
Galatians 3:23-28 (No more male and female)..........................................................................29
Galatians 4:21-31 (Paul’s interpretation of the Hagar story).....................................................29
1 Corinthians 11:2-16 (Gender and hairstyle)...........................................................................30
1 Corinthians 14:33b-37 (Women be silent)..............................................................................30
St. Paul (pseudonymous) & Other New Testament Texts.............................................................30
Colossians 3:18-25 (The Christian household)..........................................................................30
Ephesians 5:21-33 (The Christian household again).................................................................31
1 Timothy 2:8-15 (Women be silent and don’t dress like sluts)................................................31
1 Timothy 5:3-16 (How to manage the widows of the church).................................................32
Titus 2:3-5 (How to handle women, broken down by age).......................................................32
Hebrews 11:31 (The one woman in a catalogue of heroes of faith)..........................................32
Revelation 17:1-6 (The Whore of Babylon)..............................................................................33

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Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
Genesis 1:26-31 (The creation of humanity in the image of God)

In what is known as the first creation account, God creates the world piece by piece over the
course of six days. On the sixth day, he creates land animals and then turns to humankind. He is
said to create humankind in the “image of God,” which will become one of the most important
concepts of Christian theology. One of the major points of debate among theologians is whether
“male and female” counts as part of the “image of God.”

26 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
27
So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28
God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every
living thing that moves upon the earth.’ 29God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding
seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have
them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything
that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for
food.’ And it was so. 31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And
there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 2:15-3:24 (The creation of woman and the first sin)

The second creation story has God creating the male human first, only arriving at the idea of a
female partner through trial and error. Unfortunately, the woman is beguiled by a snake and
breaks God’s command, leading to humanity’s expulsion from paradise.

ch. 2

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16And the
Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall
die.’

18 Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper
as his partner.’ 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every
bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the
man called each living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the
birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as
his partner. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he
took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken

2
from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.’
24
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one
flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

ch. 3

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He
said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ 2The woman
said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, “You shall
not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you
shall die.” ’ 4But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; 5for God knows that when you
eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 6So when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the
tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to
her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew
that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze,
and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of
the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ 10He said, ‘I
heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’
11
He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I
commanded you not to eat?’ 12The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she
gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that
you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ 14The Lord God said to the
serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.’
16
To the woman he said,
‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.’
17
And to the man he said,

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‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
“You shall not eat of it”,
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.’

20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all who live. 21And the Lord
God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil;
and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever’— 23therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from
which he was taken. 24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the
cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 6:1-7 (Angels sleep around with human women; God gets mad)

This passage is often ignored in retellings of the story of Noah and the flood, perhaps because
it’s so strange. Clearly the interbreeding between angels (sons of God) and humans is a problem
for God, and the root problem seems to be the attractiveness of human women (either there are
no female angels or else the female angels found human men unappealing, because such unions
are not mentioned).

1When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
2
the sons of God [usually considered to be angels] saw that they were fair; and they took wives
for themselves of all that they chose. 3Then the Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not abide in mortals
for ever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ 4The Nephilim
[presumably half-breed human/angels] were on the earth in those days—and also afterwards—
when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These
were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6And the Lord was sorry that
he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the Lord said, ‘I will
blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and
creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’

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Genesis 16 (Hagar the surrogate mother)

By this point, God had promised Abraham a son who would make him the father of many nations
several times, but nothing seemed to have happened yet. Since both Abraham and his wife were
getting old, they decided to take matters into their own hands by using the slave woman Hagar
as a surrogate mother. The story of Hagar plays a central role in one of the key works of
womanist theology, Delores Williams’ Sisters in the Wilderness.

1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name
was Hagar, 2and Sarai said to Abram, ‘You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing
children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram
listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived for ten years in the land of Canaan,
Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram
as a wife. 4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to
me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!’ 6But Abram said to
Sarai, ‘Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with
her, and she ran away from her.

7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to
Shur. 8And he said, ‘Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you
going?’ She said, ‘I am running away from my mistress Sarai.’ 9The angel of the Lord said to
her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit to her.’ 10The angel of the Lord also said to her, ‘I will
so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.’ 11And the angel of
the Lord said to her,
‘Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;
you shall call him Ishmael,
for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
12
He shall be a wild ass of a man,
with his hand against everyone,
and everyone’s hand against him;
and he shall live at odds with all his kin.’
13
So she named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi’; for she said, ‘Have I really seen
God and remained alive after seeing him?’ 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies
between Kadesh and Bered.

15 Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram
was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Genesis 19 (Attempted gang-rape; successful incest)

After reiterating his promise to give Abraham a son, God (represented by three angels) shares
his plans to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah for their excessive pride and inhospitality. Through
a lengthy process of negotiation, Abraham is able to convince God to spare the city if ten
righteous men can be found. Two of the three angels go to Sodom to do some reconnaissance

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work, and the Sodomites’ inhospitality is on graphic display when they demand that Lot,
Abraham’s cousin, hand over the angels so that they may “know” them (in the Biblical sense).
Lot offers up his virgin daughters in place of the angels, a gesture that is repeated with
variations in the book of Judges. As a kind of postscript to the story, Lot’s daughters seduce him
in order to make sure they will have progeny.

1The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom.
When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2He
said, ‘Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your
feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.’ They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the
square.’ 3But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he
made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4But before they lay down, the
men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,
surrounded the house; 5and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight?
Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.’ 6Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the
door after him, 7and said, ‘I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8Look, I have two
daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you
please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.’ 9But they
replied, ‘Stand back!’ And they said, ‘This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the
judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.’ Then they pressed hard against the
man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. 10But the men inside reached out their hands
and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11And they struck with blindness the
men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the
door.

12 Then the men said to Lot, ‘Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or
anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place. 13For we are about to destroy this
place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has
sent us to destroy it.’ 14So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his
daughters, ‘Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.’ But he seemed to
his sons-in-law to be jesting.

15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Get up, take your wife and your two
daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.’ 16But he
lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being
merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. 17When they had brought
them outside, they said, ‘Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee
to the hills, or else you will be consumed.’ 18And Lot said to them, ‘Oh, no, my lords; 19your
servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I
cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. 20Look, that city is near
enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life
will be saved!’ 21He said to him, ‘Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow
the city of which you have spoken. 22Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive
there.’ Therefore the city was called Zoar. 23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to
Zoar.

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24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
25
and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what
grew on the ground. 26But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord; 28and he
looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and towards all the land of the Plain, and saw the
smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and
sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.

30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid
to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31And the firstborn said to the
younger, ‘Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of
all the world. 32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we
may preserve offspring through our father.’ 33So they made their father drink wine that night; and
the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she
rose. 34On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, ‘Look, I lay last night with my father;
let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may
preserve offspring through our father.’ 35So they made their father drink wine that night also; and
the younger rose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.
36
Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn bore a son, and
named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 38The younger also bore a son
and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

Genesis 21:1-21 (Hagar sent away for good)

When we last saw Hagar, she and her son had been instructed to return to Abraham’s camp.
When Sarah has a son of her own, however, she will not put up with the slave woman’s son
teasing him and orders that both be sent away; Abraham complies.

1The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 2Sarah
conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.
3
Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4And Abraham circumcised his
son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred
years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for
me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ 7And she said, ‘Who would ever have said to
Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’

8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was
weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham,
playing with her son Isaac. 10So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son;
for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ 11The matter was very
distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed
because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells
you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. 13As for the son of the slave

7
woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ 14So Abraham rose early
in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her
shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the
wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she
went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said,
‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her
voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from
heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the
voice of the boy where he is. 18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will
make a great nation of him.’ 19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went,
and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with
the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of
Egypt.

Exodus 15:20-21 (The song of Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron)

After the famous crossing of the Red Sea, in which the army of Pharaoh is drowned once Moses
stops parting the waters, the Israelites celebrated with a long song, which is followed by this
brief number from Moses’s sister, Miriam. Along with other female biblical figures, a later
“Miriam” (Hebrew for Mary), the mother of Jesus, will offer up a similar, though much longer,
song.

Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went
out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’

Numbers 12 (Miriam punished for trash-talking Moses)

A few decades of wandering in the wilderness, however, strains relations among Moses and his
siblings Aaron and Miriam, leading the latter two to start criticizing Moses for having a foreign
wife and to wonder aloud whether Moses should be the sole authority for Israel. God becomes
very angry at their presumption and punishes Miriam with leprosy; curiously, Aaron is left
untouched. Ultimately, Miriam dies before reaching the promised land—but so do Moses and
Aaron.

1While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite
woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman); 2and they said, ‘Has
the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?’ And the Lord heard
it. 3Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.
4
Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘Come out, you three, to the tent of
meeting.’ So the three of them came out. 5Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and

8
stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.
6
And he said, ‘Hear my words:
When there are prophets among you,
I the Lord make myself known to them in visions;
I speak to them in dreams.
7
Not so with my servant Moses;
he is entrusted with all my house.
8
With him I speak face to face—clearly, not in riddles;
and he beholds the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’ 9And the anger of the Lord
was kindled against them, and he departed.

10 When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow.
And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous. 11Then Aaron said to Moses,
‘Oh, my lord, do not punish us for a sin that we have so foolishly committed. 12Do not let her be
like one stillborn, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.’ 13And
Moses cried to the Lord, ‘O God, please heal her.’ 14But the Lord said to Moses, ‘If her father
had but spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of the
camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.’ 15So Miriam was shut out of
the camp for seven days; and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam had been
brought in again. 16After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of
Paran.

Leviticus 18 (Laws about sexual defilement)

These sexual regulations are strange to modern readers in many ways—but the overarching
point to notice is that all the commands, even those touching on women’s behavior, are directed
toward men.

1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: I am the Lord your God. 3You shall not do as
they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of
Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes. 4My ordinances you
shall observe and my statutes you shall keep, following them: I am the Lord your God. 5You
shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord.

6 None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness: I am the Lord. 7You
shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is
your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8You shall not uncover the nakedness of your
father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father. 9You shall not uncover the nakedness of your
sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad.
10
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for
their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s
wife’s daughter, begotten by your father, since she is your sister. 12You shall not uncover the
nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. 13You shall not uncover the

9
nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s flesh. 14You shall not uncover the
nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
15
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall
not uncover her nakedness. 16You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is
your brother’s nakedness. 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter,
and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness;
they are your flesh; it is depravity. 18And you shall not take a woman as a rival to her sister,
uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

19 You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual
uncleanness. 20You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman’s wife, and defile yourself
with her. 21You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane
the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an
abomination. 23You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it,
nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion.

24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am
casting out before you have defiled themselves. 25Thus the land became defiled; and I punished it
for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26But you shall keep my statutes and my
ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the citizen or the alien who resides
among you 27(for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these
abominations, and the land became defiled); 28otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling
it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29For whoever commits any of these
abominations shall be cut off from their people. 30So keep my charge not to commit any of these
abominations that were done before you, and not to defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord
your God.

Deuteronomy 22:13-30 (Laws about sex, marriage, and rape)

These laws provide a vivid reminder that women were treated as property in the early biblical
period—first as property of the father, then the husband. If something happened to disrupt this
pattern, restitution had to be made, but not the kind we might expect.

13 Suppose a man marries a woman, but after going in to her, he dislikes her 14and makes up
charges against her, slandering her by saying, ‘I married this woman; but when I lay with her, I
did not find evidence of her virginity.’ 15The father of the young woman and her mother shall
then submit the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.
16
The father of the young woman shall say to the elders: ‘I gave my daughter in marriage to this
man but he dislikes her; 17now he has made up charges against her, saying, “I did not find
evidence of your daughter’s virginity.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’
Then they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the town. 18The elders of that town shall
take the man and punish him; 19they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver (which they
shall give to the young woman’s father) because he has slandered a virgin of Israel. She shall
remain his wife; he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

10
20 If, however, this charge is true, that evidence of the young woman’s virginity was not found,
21
then they shall bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house and the men of
her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a disgraceful act in Israel by
prostituting herself in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

22 If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay
with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

23 If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the
town and lies with her, 24you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to
death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he
violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

25 But if the man meets the engaged woman in the open country, and the man seizes her and lies
with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26You shall do nothing to the young
woman; the young woman has not committed an offence punishable by death, because this case
is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor. 27Since he found her in the open
country, the engaged woman may have cried for help, but there was no one to rescue her.

28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are
caught in the act, 29the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young
woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted
to divorce her as long as he lives.

30 A man shall not marry his father’s wife, thereby violating his father’s rights.

Joshua 2 (Rahab the prostitute saves the Israelite spies)

Before starting the invasion of the Promised Land, the Israelites’ leader, Joshua, sends spies to
do some recon. They find themselves in trouble and take refuge in the home of Rahab, a
prostitute, who is promised her own safety in return.

1Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the
land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was
Rahab, and spent the night there. 2The king of Jericho was told, ‘Some Israelites have come here
tonight to search out the land.’ 3Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the
men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the
whole land.’ 4But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, ‘True, the men
came to me, but I did not know where they came from. 5And when it was time to close the gate at
dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can
overtake them.’ 6She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks
of flax that she had laid out on the roof. 7So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as
far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

8 Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof 9and said to the men: ‘I know that
the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the

11
inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. 10For we have heard how the Lord dried up the
water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings
of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11As
soon as we heard it, our hearts failed, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you.
The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. 12Now then, since I have
dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family.
Give me a sign of good faith 13that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters,
and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ 14The men said to her, ‘Our life for
yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you
when the Lord gives us the land.’

15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the outer side of
the city wall and she resided within the wall itself. 16She said to them, ‘Go towards the hill
country, so that the pursuers may not come upon you. Hide yourselves there for three days, until
the pursuers have returned; then afterwards you may go on your way.’ 17The men said to her,
‘We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear to you 18if we invade the land
and you do not tie this crimson cord in the window through which you let us down, and you do
not gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your family. 19If any of
you go out of the doors of your house into the street, they shall be responsible for their own
death, and we shall be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon any who are with you in the house, we
shall bear the responsibility for their death. 20But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be
released from this oath that you made us swear to you.’ 21She said, ‘According to your words, so
be it.’ She sent them away and they departed. Then she tied the crimson cord in the window.

22 They departed and went into the hill country and stayed there for three days, until the pursuers
returned. The pursuers had searched all along the way and found nothing. 23Then the two men
came down again from the hill country. They crossed over, came to Joshua son of Nun, and told
him all that had happened to them. 24They said to Joshua, ‘Truly the Lord has given all the land
into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us.’

Joshua 6:22-25 (Follow-up on Rahab)

After God destroys the walls of Jericho due to the Israelites walking around them several times,
Joshua’s army sets about completely destroying the city with all its inhabitants—but keeps the
promise the spies made to Rahab. She will later figure in the genealogy of King David and of
Jesus, and she will be the only woman in a famous catalogue of heroes of faith in the New
Testament.

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house, and
bring the woman out of it and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.’ 23So the young men
who had been spies went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her
brothers, and all who belonged to her—they brought all her kindred out—and set them outside
the camp of Israel. 24They burned down the city, and everything in it; only the silver and gold,
and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 25But
Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, Joshua spared. Her family has
lived in Israel ever since. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

12
Judges 4 (Deborah, a woman “judge” of Israel)

The book of Judges tells of the time between the death of Joshua and the installation of the first
king of Israel, a period where the Israelites fail to conquer the Promised Land and clear-cut it as
the Lord had commanded and as a result often find themselves subjected to local kingdoms. A
series of “judges” arise periodically to set the people free, one of whom, Deborah, was a
woman.

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud [a previous judge] died.
2
So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the
commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3Then the Israelites cried
out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the
Israelites cruelly for twenty years.

4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5She 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 judgement. 6She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from
Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, “Go, take
position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of
Zebulun. 7I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon
with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.” ’ 8Barak said to her, ‘If you
will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’ 9And she said, ‘I will
surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for
the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to
Kedesh. 10Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up
behind him; and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, that is, the descendants of Hobab
the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near
Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13Sisera called
out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from
Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. 14Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day
on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you.’ So
Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. 15And the Lord
threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from
his chariot and fled away on foot, 16while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-
ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.

17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was
peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. 18Jael came out to meet
Sisera, and said to him, ‘Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.’ So he turned aside
to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19Then he said to her, ‘Please give me a little
water to drink; for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered
him. 20He said to her, ‘Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, “Is

13
anyone here?” say, “No.” ’ 21But Jael wife of Heber took a tent-peg, and took a hammer in her
hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the
ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. 22Then, as Barak came in pursuit
of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, ‘Come, and I will show you the man whom
you are seeking.’ So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent-peg in
his temple.

23 So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24Then the hand of the
Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of
Canaan.

In Judges 5, Deborah sings a lengthy song similar in spirit to Miriam’s.

Judges 11:29-39 (Jephthah’s rash vow)

Yet again, the Israelites have fallen on hard times, and this time it falls to Jephthah, described as
“the son of a prostitute,” to lead them to victory—inadvertently sacrificing his daughter along
the way.

29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh.
He passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.
30
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,
31
then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from
the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.’ 32So Jephthah
crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them; and the Lord gave them into his hand. 33He
inflicted a massive defeat on them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty towns,
and as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet
him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except
her. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, ‘Alas, my daughter! You have brought me
very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the
Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.’ 36She said to him, ‘My father, if you have opened your
mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord
has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites.’ 37And she said to her father,
‘Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the
mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I.’ 38‘Go,’ he said and sent her away for
two months. So she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the
mountains. 39At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to
the vow he had made. She had never slept with a man. So there arose an Israelite custom that
40
for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah
the Gileadite.

14
Judges 19 (Another woman offered up for gang-rape)

Throughout the book of Judges, the author emphasizes the lawlessness of the pre-king period of
Israel’s history; this story and its aftermath provide a fitting climax to this trend of depravity. As
in the story of Sodom, a woman is offered as a substitute for a man threatened with rape; this
time, however, the rapists accept the substitute—and things only get worse from there.

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite, residing in the remote parts of
the hill country of Ephraim, took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2But his
concubine became angry with him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at
Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for some four months. 3Then her husband set out after her, to
speak tenderly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys.
When he reached her father’s house, the girl’s father saw him and came with joy to meet him.
4
His father-in-law, the girl’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him for three days; so
they ate and drank, and he stayed there. 5On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and
he prepared to go; but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, ‘Fortify yourself with a bit of food,
and after that you may go.’ 6So the two men sat and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father
said to the man, ‘Why not spend the night and enjoy yourself?’ 7When the man got up to go, his
father-in-law kept urging him until he spent the night there again. 8On the fifth day he got up
early in the morning to leave; and the girl’s father said, ‘Fortify yourself.’ So they lingered until
the day declined, and the two of them ate and drank. 9When the man with his concubine and his
servant got up to leave, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, ‘Look, the day has worn
on until it is almost evening. Spend the night. See, the day has drawn to a close. Spend the night
here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow you can get up early in the morning for your journey, and go
home.’

10 But the man would not spend the night; he got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus
(that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with
him. 11When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master,
‘Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night in it.’ 12But his
master said to him, ‘We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners, who do not belong to the
people of Israel; but we will continue on to Gibeah.’ 13Then he said to his servant, ‘Come, let us
try to reach one of these places, and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.’ 14So they passed by
and went on their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
15
They turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. He went in and sat down in the
open square of the city, but no one took them in to spend the night.

16 Then at evening there was an old man coming from his work in the field. The man was from
the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah. (The people of the place were
Benjaminites.) 17When the old man looked up and saw the wayfarer in the open square of the
city, he said, ‘Where are you going and where do you come from?’ 18He answered him, ‘We are
passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which
I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah; and I am going to my home. Nobody has offered to take
me in. 19We your servants have straw and fodder for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me
and the woman and the young man along with us. We need nothing more.’ 20The old man said,

15
‘Peace be to you. I will care for all your wants; only do not spend the night in the square.’ 21So he
brought him into his house, and fed the donkeys; they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

22 While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a depraved lot, surrounded the
house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house,
‘Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.’ 23And
the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, ‘No, my brothers, do not act
so wickedly. Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. 24Here are my virgin daughter
and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them;
but against this man do not do such a vile thing.’ 25But the men would not listen to him. So the
man seized his concubine, and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her, and abused her all
through the night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26As
morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her
master was, until it was light.

27 In the morning her master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go
on his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the
threshold. 28‘Get up,’ he said to her, ‘we are going.’ But there was no answer. Then he put her on
the donkey; and the man set out for his home. 29When he had entered his house, he took a knife,
and grasping his concubine he cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout
all the territory of Israel. 30Then he commanded the men whom he sent, saying, ‘Thus shall you
say to all the Israelites, “Has such a thing ever happened since the day that the Israelites came up
from the land of Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak out.” ’

The rest of the Israelites agree that the behavior of the Benjaminites is outrageous and go to war
with them, nearly wiping them out and cursing anyone who gives their daughter in marriage to a
Benjaminite. When they realize that they are about to destroy an entire tribe, however, they
decide to allow the Benjaminites to repopulate themselves by hiding outside the town of Shiloh
and kidnapping and raping the women of that town. (The tribe of Benjamin later went on to
produce Saul, the first king of Israel, as well as St. Paul the Apostle.)

Proverbs 1:20-2:22 (Lady Wisdom)

This is a sample from the long monologue of “Lady Wisdom” in the book of Proverbs. Often
called Sophia, this feminine figure has been very important for many feminist theologians—
especially in light of the fact that early Christian thinkers tended to identify her with Christ.
Note, however, that even in a passage identifying Wisdom as a woman, “loose women” are
scapegoated.

ch. 1
20
Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
21
At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22
‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

16
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23
Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24
Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
25
and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
27
when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
29
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
30
would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
31
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
32
For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33
but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.’

ch. 2

1My child, if you accept my words

and treasure up my commandments within you,
2
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3
if you indeed cry out for insight,
and raise your voice for understanding;
4
if you seek it like silver,
and search for it as for hidden treasures—
5
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
8
guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of his faithful ones.
9
Then you will understand righteousness and justice

17
 and equity, every good path;
10
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11
prudence will watch over you;
and understanding will guard you.
12
It will save you from the way of evil,
from those who speak perversely,
13
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14
who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil;
15
those whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.

16
You will be saved from the loose woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
17
who forsakes the partner of her youth
and forgets her sacred covenant;
18
for her way leads down to death,
and her paths to the shades;
19
those who go to her never come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.

20
Therefore walk in the way of the good,
and keep to the paths of the just.
21
For the upright will abide in the land,
and the innocent will remain in it;
22
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Ezekiel 23 (The parable of two promiscuous women)

The Israelite prophets make frequent use of the metaphor of adultery to castigate Israel for its
unfaithfulness to God. This passage is among the most graphic and extreme.

1The word of the Lord came to me: 2Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one
mother; 3they played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; their breasts were
caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled. 4Oholah was the name of the elder and
Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for
their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians,
warriors 6clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men,
mounted horsemen. 7She bestowed her favours upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of

18
them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted. 8She did not
give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her
and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. 9Therefore I delivered her into
the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10These uncovered
her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword.
Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.

11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than her sister in her lusting and in her
whorings, which were worse than those of her sister. 12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors
and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome
young men. 13And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14But she carried her
whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in
vermilion, 15with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them
looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16When she saw
them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17And the Babylonians came
to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with
them, she turned from them in disgust. 18When she carried on her whorings so openly and
flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister. 19Yet she
increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the
land of Egypt 20and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys,
and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth,
when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts.

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will arouse against you your lovers from
whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23the
Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them,
handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors, all of them
riding on horses. 24They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a
host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and
helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their
ordinances. 25I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in
fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They
shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26They
shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels. 27So I will put an end to your
lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or
remember Egypt any more. 28For thus says the Lord God: I will deliver you into the hands of
those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust; 29and they shall
deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare,
and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings 30have
brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself
with their idols. 31You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your
hand. 32Thus says the Lord God:
You shall drink your sister’s cup,
deep and wide;
you shall be scorned and derided,
it holds so much.

19
33
You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation
is the cup of your sister Samaria;
34
you shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its sherds,
and tear out your breasts;
for I have spoken, says the Lord God. 35Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have
forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness
and whorings.

36 The Lord said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their
abominable deeds. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their
idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children
whom they had borne to me. 38Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my
sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths. 39For when they had slaughtered their
children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what
they did in my house.

40 They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they
came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;
41
you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense
and my oil. 42The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought
in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the arms of the women, and beautiful
crowns upon their heads.

43 Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her.
44
For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to
Oholibah, wanton women. 45But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of
bloodshed; because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.

46 For thus says the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of
terror and of plunder. 47The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them
down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. 48Thus will I put an
end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as
you have done. 49They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your
sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Gospels
Matthew 1:1-16 (The genealogy of Jesus, including four Gentile women)

Genealogies admittedly don’t make for exciting reading, but Jesus’s is interesting from a
feminist perspective because it breaks with the patriarchal mold and lists several women—
what’s more, those women are Gentiles. I have bolded their names below. Tamar’s husband died
and her father-in-law Judah dragged his feet on providing a replacement husband (which was
her duty), so she took the initiative and seduced Judah in order to gain progeny; Rahab the

20
prostitute has already been mentioned; Ruth has an entire book devoted to her story, where her
attempt to find an Israelite husband is overshadowed by the story of love and devotion between
her and Naomi; and the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba, caught King David’s eye while bathing in the
nude, leading him to set up Uriah to die in battle and take his wife, who became the mother of
King Solomon.

1An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah
and his brothers, 3and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of
Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the
father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab,
and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King
David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah [Bathsheba], 7and Solomon the
father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8and
Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of
Uzziah, 9and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of
Hezekiah, 10and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos
the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the
deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the
father of Zerubbabel, 13and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and
Eliakim the father of Azor, 14and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and
Achim the father of Eliud, 15and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan,
and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom
Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

Matthew 15:21-28 (The Canaanite woman)

Though this story is in many ways appalling, it is noteworthy that this woman (and the parallel
figures in other gospels) is the only person who ever persuades Jesus to change his mind about
anything.

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite
woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David;
my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came
and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was
sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying,
‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the
dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’
table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you
wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

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Matthew 26:26-29 (Institution of the Lord’s supper)

A major point of dispute in the debate about women’s ordination comes down to the institution
of the Lord’s supper (or communion, or Eucharist). Traditionalists argue that only the 12 (male)
apostles were present at the final supper where Christ instituted the sacrament of communion,
meaning that only males could subsequently administer it. Women’s ordination advocates point
out that the wording is often unclear—some gospels refer only to the “disciples,” and it’s clear
that Jesus had woman followers—and that in any case, women should be counted among the
apostles because all the gospels agree that women were the first witnesses of the resurrection
and therefore the first to deliver the good news (one of the definitions of an apostle, which comes
from a root word meaning “sent”).

26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to
the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ 27Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks
he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; 28for this is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will never again drink of
this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’

Matthew 27:55-28:10 (Women stay with Jesus during crucifixion, witness

resurrection)

All the gospels agree that while Jesus’s male disciples were busy betraying, denying, or
abandoning him, women followed him all the way to his death and even showed up to give him
proper burial rites, making them the first to receive the news that Jesus had risen from the dead
—and the first to see the resurrected Jesus firsthand.

ch. 27

55 Many women were also there [where Jesus was crucified], looking on from a distance; they
had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. 56Among them were Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a
disciple of Jesus. 58He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be
given to him. 59So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60and laid it in his
own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the
tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the
tomb.

62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered
before Pilate 63and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive,
“After three days I will rise again.” 64Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the
third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been
raised from the dead”, and the last deception would be worse than the first.’ 65Pilate said to them,
‘You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’ 66So they went with the guard
and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

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ch. 28

28After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to see the tomb. 2And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the
Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was
like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4For fear of him the guards shook and became like
dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for
Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place
where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and
indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’
8
So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly
Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and
worshipped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to
Galilee; there they will see me.’

Mark 3:31-35 (Jesus’s true family)

In this passage and its parallels in other gospels, many see Jesus working to displace the
patriarchal family as the primary social bond, a key goal of feminism.

31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.
32
A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and
sisters are outside, asking for you.’ 33And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’
34
And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!
35
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’

Mark 14:3-9 (A woman anoints Jesus)

This story provides the title for Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza’s magnum opus In Memory of Her,
which attempts to excavate the evidence for women’s role in the origins of Christianity. Many
identify the woman in this story with Mary Magdalene; I am not convinced.

3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came
with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the
ointment on his head. 4But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the
ointment wasted in this way? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three
hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. 6But Jesus said, ‘Let
her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7For you always
have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not
always have me. 8She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its
burial. 9Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has
done will be told in remembrance of her.’

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Mark 16:1-8 (The resurrected Jesus appears to the women)

This is the earliest ending to the Gospel of Mark, believed to be the earliest gospel. Many believe
that the abruptness of the ending indicates that the original conclusion has been lost, and a few
variations were appended by later editors. This story complicates the vision of women as the
first apostles somewhat; virtually no one knows what to do with it, though.

1When the sabbath [after Jesus was crucified] was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother
of James, and Salome [also a woman] bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And
very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had
been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’
4
When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled
back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the
right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place
they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there
you will see him, just as he told you.’ 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and
amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Luke 1:26-56 (The story of the Virgin Mary)

The Virgin Mary is an ambivalent figure for feminist theologians—Rosemary Radford Ruether
devotes an entire chapter of her Sexism and God-Talk to Mary, concluding that Mary is best
viewed as an advocate of liberation, as evidenced by her song (known as the Magnificat), which
echoes the songs of Miriam, Deborah, and others. The dark side of the Virgin Mary for women is
that her perfect faith and virginity set up a model that no other woman can attain.

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name
was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ 29But
she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The
angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you
will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and
will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his
ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be
no end.’ 34Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35The angel said to her,
‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative
Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was
said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where
she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s
greeting, the child [John the Baptist] leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit

24
of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?
44
For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And
blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the
Lord.’

46 And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

56 And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

Luke 7:26-8:3 (The woman anoints Jesus; women then follow him)

In this variation on the story of the woman anointing Jesus, we get more of a picture of the
controversy she causes and are also told that after this incident, a group of women begin
following Jesus from place to place, providing for Jesus and his other disciples. This may echo
the social reality of many early Christian communities, where independently wealthy women
often served as patrons.

ch. 7

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and
took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he
was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him
at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair.
Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the
Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would
have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’
40
Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied,
‘speak.’ 41‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

25
42
When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love
him more?’ 43Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And
Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ 44Then turning towards the woman, he said to
Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but
she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45You gave me no kiss, but
from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with
oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were
many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is
forgiven, loves little.’ 48Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ 49But those who were at the
table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ 50And he
said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

ch. 8

1Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good
news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2as well as some women who had been
cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had
gone out, 3and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who
provided for them out of their resources.

John 4:5-42 (The Samaritan woman)

The Samaritans were a kind of splinter group from the Jews, following their understanding of
the law of Moses with a different center of worship. The Jews hated Samaritans and would not
associate with them—particularly not their women. Jesus’s enigmatic teaching catches the
Samaritan woman’s imagination and she goes on to win her entire village to the cause of Jesus,
providing another example of a woman as an “apostle.”
5
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his
son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It
was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. 8(His
disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that
you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with
Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to
you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’
11
The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that
living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons
and his flocks drank from it?’ 13Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be
thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The
water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ 15The
woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep
coming here to draw water.’

26
16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 17The woman answered him, ‘I
have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; 18for you have
had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’
19
The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshipped on this
mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 21Jesus said to
her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know,
for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true
worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to
worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25The
woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he
will proclaim all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but
no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ 28Then the woman left
her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29‘Come and see a man who told
me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ 30They left the city and were
on their way to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ 32But he said to them, ‘I
have food to eat that you do not know about.’ 33So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no
one has brought him something to eat?’ 34Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him
who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the
harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The
reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper
may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” 38I sent you
to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their
labor.’

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told
me everything I have ever done.’ 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay
with them; and he stayed there for two days. 41And many more believed because of his word.
42
They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have
heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.’

John 8:2-11 (The woman caught in adultery)

This story includes one of Jesus’s most famous quotes. As with any woman of questionable
morals who appears in the Bible, some have identified this woman with Mary Magdalene.
Noteworthy here is that, as shown in the laws quoted above, both the man and the woman caught
in adultery should have been killed—so it is possible to read this story as showing Jesus’s
objection to a double standard for men and women.
2
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down
and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught
in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman

27
was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5Now in the law Moses commanded us to
stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 6They said this to test him, so that they might have
some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
7
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among
you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ 8And once again he bent down and
wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the
elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and
said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11She said, ‘No one, sir.’
And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

John 20:1-18 (Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene)

Of all the gospel accounts, John’s is most emphatic in insisting that women are the first to see
the resurrected Christ: the two primary male disciples come and go before Jesus appears to
Mary Magdalene.

1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb
and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord
out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ 3Then Peter and the other
disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other
disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen
wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went
into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’
head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other
disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did
not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to
their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
12
and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head
and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them,
‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14When she had
said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15
Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him
to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have
laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in
Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because
I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to
my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ 18Mary Magdalene went and announced
to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

St. Paul (authentic)

Letters attributed to St. Paul make up a large chunk of the New Testament, but modern scholars
believe that only a few of them—Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1
Thessalonians, and Philemon—were actually written by the historical Paul; the others were

28
written by later followers in his name. As will become clear, however, the “bad” stuff is not
limited to the pseudonymous letters.

Galatians 3:23-28 (No more male and female)

The concluding verse of this passage is a call for radical equality—unfortunately, Paul does not
always seem to follow up on this insight.

23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be
revealed. 24Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be
justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26for
in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer
slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 4:21-31 (Paul’s interpretation of the Hagar story)

In this passage, Paul is trying to displace the privileges of the “insiders” (in this case, Jews),
who claim descent from the child of the promise, by claiming that it is really the “outsiders”
who are now inheriting the promise. However liberating such language might have felt in
context, it later served to underwrite the scapegoating of Jews—and even taking context into
account, it still continues the oppression of Hagar even in an argument intended to include those
who had been excluded.

21 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? 22For it is
written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. 23One,
the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was
born through the promise. 24Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One
woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. 25Now Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
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But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.
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For it is written,
‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,
burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;
for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than the children of the one who is married.’
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Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac. 29But just as at that time the child
who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit,
so it is now also. 30But what does the scripture say? ‘Drive out the slave and her child; for the
child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.’ 31So then,
friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman.

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1 Corinthians 11:2-16 (Gender and hairstyle)

In addition to arguing for a clearly hierarchical relation between the sexes, this passage
demonstrates that Paul is the first of many Christian theologians to display a pronounced
anxiety about maintaining clear expectations for gender difference in dress and hairstyle.

2 I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I
handed them on to you. 3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and
the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. 4Any man who prays or
prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, 5but any woman who prays or
prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head—it is one and the same thing as having her
head shaved. 6For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is
disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. 7For a
man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is
the reflection of man. 8Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9Neither
was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. 10For this reason a
woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, in
the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. 12For just as woman
came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God. 13Judge for
yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? 14Does not nature
itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, 15but if a woman has long
hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if anyone is disposed to be
contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

1 Corinthians 14:33b-37 (Women be silent)

This is one of the most infamous biblical passages wielded against women’s ordination. Many
scholars regard it as a later interpolation, as it does not appear to fit in context, and the New
Revised Standard Version places it in parentheses.

As in all the churches of the saints, 34women should be silent in the churches. For they are not
permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. 35If there is anything they
desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in
church. 36Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

St. Paul (pseudonymous) & Other New Testament Texts

Colossians 3:18-25 (The Christian household)

This is one of many “household codes” from the New Testament, which recommend that
Christians imitate the hierarchical model of the broader society. Some interpreters attempt to
soften the blow by pointing out that this author (probably not the real Paul) is not completely
one-sided, as he insists that husbands not abuse their authority.

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18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and
never treat them harshly.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord.
21
Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart. 22Slaves, obey your earthly
masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but
wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the
Lord and not for your masters, 24since you know that from the Lord you will receive the
inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for
whatever wrong has been done, and there is no partiality.

Ephesians 5:21-33 (The Christian household again)

This is a more detailed version of the passage above, believed to be written by a later imitator of
Paul. The image of the church as the bride of Christ will become very influential.

21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of
the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24Just as the
church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26in
order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27so as to present
the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that
she may be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way, husbands should love their wives as
they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hates his own
body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30because we
are members of his body. 31‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined
to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ 32This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to
Christ and the church. 33Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should
respect her husband.

1 Timothy 2:8-15 (Women be silent and don’t dress like sluts)

This passage, from a letter supposedly written to Paul’s young companion Timothy, combines
the concern for men’s authority with anxiety about dress in one tidy package, and it innovates in
connecting this issue to Eve.

8 I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or
argument; 9also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable
clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10but with good
works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 11Let a woman learn in silence
with full submission. 12I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to
keep silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14and Adam was not deceived, but the

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woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15Yet she will be saved through childbearing,
provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.

1 Timothy 5:3-16 (How to manage the widows of the church)

In early Christian communities, widows appeared to be a large and especially problematic

group, which later formed the basis for women’s monastic groups. Here “Paul” provides
“Timothy” with advice on how to manage them.

3 Honor widows who are really widows. 4If a widow has children or grandchildren, they should
first learn their religious duty to their own family and make some repayment to their parents; for
this is pleasing in God’s sight. 5The real widow, left alone, has set her hope on God and
continues in supplications and prayers night and day; 6but the widow who lives for pleasure is
dead even while she lives. 7Give these commands as well, so that they may be above reproach.
8
And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the
faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

9 Let a widow be put on the list if she is not less than sixty years old and has been married only
once; 10she must be well attested for her good works, as one who has brought up children, shown
hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to doing good in
every way. 11But refuse to put younger widows on the list; for when their sensual desires alienate
them from Christ, they want to marry, 12and so they incur condemnation for having violated their
first pledge. 13Besides that, they learn to be idle, gadding about from house to house; and they are
not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not say. 14So I would
have younger widows marry, bear children, and manage their households, so as to give the
adversary no occasion to revile us. 15For some have already turned away to follow Satan. 16If any
believing woman has relatives who are really widows, let her assist them; let the church not be
burdened, so that it can assist those who are real widows.

Titus 2:3-5 (How to handle women, broken down by age)

This comes from another letter in which “Paul” gives advice to a young pastor.

3 Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to
drink; they are to teach what is good, 4so that they may encourage the young women to love their
husbands, to love their children, 5to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household,
kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.

Hebrews 11:31 (The one woman in a catalogue of heroes of faith)

The inclusion of Rahab in the famous catalogue of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 is noteworthy,
as she is the only woman and is also a woman of “loose morals.” Here the unnamed author is
perhaps echoing Jesus’s consistent privileging of prostitutes in the Gospels.
31
By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had
received the spies in peace.

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Revelation 17:1-6 (The Whore of Babylon)

The Book of Revelation follows up on the Hebrew prophets’ use of female imagery and takes it
up a notch.

1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will
show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters, 2with whom the kings
of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants
of the earth have become drunk.’ 3So he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I
saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven
heads and ten horns. 4The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and
jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her
fornication; 5and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of
whores and of earth’s abominations.’ 6And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the
saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly amazed.

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