People of the Bible

Also: Cephas, Simon bar Jonah, Simon son of Jonas

A fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee, Simon was the brother of Andrew and one of the first disciples called by Jesus. He was given the name Peter (Pe...

Also: Andrew the First-Called

A fisherman from Bethsaida and the brother of Simon Peter, Andrew was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. When the Baptist pointed to Jesus and...

Also: James the Greater, James the Elder, Boanerges (Son of Thunder)

The son of Zebedee and Salome, and the elder brother of the apostle John. James was a fisherman working with his father when Jesus called him and his ...

Also: The Beloved Disciple, Boanerges (Son of Thunder), John the Evangelist

The younger son of Zebedee and brother of James, John is traditionally identified as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23). Part of Jesus's inn...

Also: Philip the Apostle

Philip was from Bethsaida, the same city as Andrew and Peter (John 1:44). He was called directly by Jesus with the simple command "Follow me" (John 1:...

Also: Nathanael, Nathanael of Cana

Bartholomew is listed among the Twelve in all four apostle lists (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14, Acts 1:13) but is never mentioned elsewhere in t...

Also: Levi, Levi son of Alphaeus, Matthew the Publican

Matthew was a tax collector (publican) sitting at the receipt of custom in Capernaum when Jesus called him with two words: "Follow me. And he arose, a...

Also: Didymus, Thomas the Twin, Doubting Thomas

Thomas, also called Didymus ("the Twin" in Greek), appears in all four apostle lists but is best known from three dramatic scenes in the Gospel of Joh...

Also: James the Less, James the Younger

James the son of Alphaeus is one of the most obscure of the Twelve. He is listed in all four apostle catalogs (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15, Act...

Also: Judas son of James, Lebbaeus, Judas not Iscariot

Thaddaeus is listed among the Twelve in Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, while Luke's lists (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13) name "Judas the son of James" in the sam...

Also: Simon the Canaanite, Simon Zelotes

Simon is distinguished from Simon Peter by the epithet "the Zealot" (Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13) or "the Canaanite" (Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:18) — both terms m...

Also: Judas son of Simon Iscariot

Judas Iscariot was the treasurer of the Twelve and the one who betrayed Jesus. The Gospel of John identifies him as "a thief" who "had the bag, and ba...

Matthias was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot as the twelfth apostle. Peter explained the qualification: the replacement must be someone "which...

Also: Saul of Tarsus, Saul, The Apostle to the Gentiles

Born as Saul in Tarsus of Cilicia, Paul was "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6), educated under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), and a Roman citizen ...

Also: Moshe, Moses the Lawgiver

Born to a Hebrew family during Pharaoh's decree to kill all male Hebrew infants, the infant Moses was placed in a basket on the Nile and found by Phar...

Also: Elias, Elijah the Tishbite

Elijah the Tishbite appeared suddenly in the biblical narrative during the reign of wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who had promoted Baal worship ...

Also: Eliseus

Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when Elijah cast his mantle upon him, calling him to prophetic ministry (1 Kings 19:19-21). He served as E...

Also: Yeshayahu, Isaiah son of Amoz

Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied during the reigns of four kings of Judah — Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — spanning roughly 740-700 BCE. His callin...

Also: Yirmeyahu, The Weeping Prophet

Called by God before birth — "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee" (Jeremiah...

Also: Yechezkel, Ezekiel son of Buzi

Ezekiel son of Buzi was a priest who was among the Jews deported to Babylon in 597 BCE, before the final destruction of Jerusalem. His prophetic minis...

Also: Belteshazzar, Daniel the Prophet

Daniel was taken to Babylon as a young man in the first deportation of 605 BCE and trained for service in King Nebuchadnezzar's court, where he was re...

Also: Shemuel, Samuel the Seer

Samuel was born in answer to the desperate prayer of his mother Hannah, who had been barren. She vowed: "If thou wilt...give unto thine handmaid a man...

Also: Jonah son of Amittai

Jonah son of Amittai is the only prophet in scripture who explicitly ran from God's commission. When God commanded him to "go to Nineveh, that great c...

Also: Hoshea, Hosea son of Beeri

Hosea prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel during the turbulent final decades before Assyria's conquest in 722 BCE. God's opening command to H...

Also: Amos of Tekoa

Amos was not a professional prophet or the son of a prophet but "a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit" from the small village of Tekoa in Judah...

Also: Micah of Moresheth, Mikayahu

Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — a contemporary of Isaiah — addressing both the northern and southern k...

Also: Saul son of Kish, King Saul

Saul son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin was Israel's first king, standing "head and shoulders above" his countrymen (1 Samuel 9:2). Anointed by Sa...

Also: David son of Jesse, King David, The Sweet Psalmist of Israel

A shepherd boy from Bethlehem, David was anointed by Samuel while his older brothers were passed over: "The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looke...

Also: King Solomon, Jedidiah

Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, became king after a succession struggle and was confirmed by God in a dream at Gibeon: "Ask what I shall give the...

Also: King Hezekiah, Ezekias

Hezekiah began to reign at age 25 and "did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did" (2 Kings 18:3). ...

Also: King Josiah, Josias

Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight after the assassination of his father Amon, and scripture records simply: "he did that which was right...

Also: King Ahab

Ahab son of Omri "did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him" (1 Kings 16:30). His marriage to Jezebel, princess of Sidon, broug...

Also: Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon was the instrument of God's judgment on Judah, destroying Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE after a brutal siege. He de...

Also: Cyrus the Great, Cyrus II of Persia, Koresh

Cyrus the Great of Persia is the only non-Israelite called God's "anointed" (mashiach) in scripture. Isaiah prophesied his name approximately 150 year...

Also: The First Man

The first human being, created by God from the dust of the ground: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostr...

Also: Noe

In a world where "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5), Noah alone "found grace in the eyes of the ...

Also: Abram, Father Abraham, Father of Many Nations

Originally named Abram, God called him to leave Ur of the Chaldeans with the promise: "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee...and...

Also: Yitzhak, The Son of Promise

Isaac was the long-awaited son of Abraham and Sarah, born when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 — proof that "with God nothing shall be impossible" (L...

Also: Israel, The Supplanter

Born grasping his twin brother Esau's heel — his name means "heel-grabber" or "supplanter" (Genesis 25:26). Jacob obtained Esau's birthright for a bow...

Also: Joseph son of Jacob, Zaphnath-paaneah

Jacob's favored son, given a "coat of many colours" (Genesis 37:3), Joseph was hated by his brothers for his dreams of their sheaves bowing to his. Th...

Also: Jerubbaal

When the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites, the greeting was paradoxical...

Also: Shimshon

An angel announced Samson's birth to his barren mother, dedicating him as a Nazirite from the womb — his hair was never to be cut as a sign of consecr...

Also: Deborah the Prophetess

Deborah is the only woman identified as a judge of Israel and is also called a prophetess (Judges 4:4). She held court under a palm tree between Ramah...

Also: Jephthae

Jephthah was the son of Gilead by a prostitute, driven out by his half-brothers who said: "Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art ...

Also: The Virgin Mary, Miriam, Theotokos

A young woman of Nazareth betrothed to Joseph, Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel with an extraordinary announcement: "Thou shalt conceive in thy w...

Also: Ruth the Moabite

Ruth was a Moabite widow who refused to abandon her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi after both their husbands died. Her declaration of loyalty is among ...

Also: Hadassah, Queen Esther

Esther (Hebrew name Hadassah, meaning "myrtle") was an orphaned Jewish girl raised by her cousin Mordecai in the Persian capital of Susa. When King Ah...

Also: Rahab the Harlot

Rahab was a woman in Jericho (described as a harlot in Joshua 2:1) who hid two Israelite spies sent by Joshua to scout the city. She declared her fait...

Also: Hannah the Prophetess

Hannah was one of the two wives of Elkanah. While the other wife Peninnah had children, Hannah was barren and deeply grieved. Year after year at the t...

Also: Mary of Magdala

Mary Magdalene was a woman from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee from whom Jesus cast out "seven devils" (Luke 8:2). After her healing, she b...