9 Strong Women In The Bible And The Lessons They Teach Us
- Karen O'Reilly
- Oct 24, 2023
- 17 min read
Updated: May 28, 2024
Did you know that the Bible is full of stories of awesome strong women? There are many lessons to be learned from these strong women in the Bible!
I am sure that you will be encouraged by these women of the Bible in our devotional Bible study. To help you explore on a deeper level the strengths of all these women and how they can strengthen your own walk with the Lord, I have a free printable Women of the Bible PDF that you can download and use digitally or print out.
There are many different situations or circumstances that require us, ladies, to step up and take charge. They require the quiet strength and dignity that we find in the Lord. We need His wisdom and we need to learn to wait on His timing and find our confidence in Him.
What the Bible says about strong women in the Bible
This month I have selected 30 scripture verses about 9 strong women in the Bible. These verses reflect the strength of these female Bible characters. They had to face difficult trials during their lives and they found their strength in God. They weren't perfect but we will learn how God redeems every situation and has a good plan for their lives and ours.
Strong Women in the Bible
Let me introduce you to the 9 faithful strong women that we will be studying:
Esther - a woman of strength and dignity. She was an exceptional woman!
Deborah - a woman of valor. She was a phenomenal woman. She listened to the voice of God.
Mary - the mother of Jesus and her strong faith in God. She was an amazing woman who said 'yes' to God at a very young age and impacted humanity eternally!
Hannah - fervent in prayer. She was a remarkable woman of faith.
Sarah - discovered that nothing is impossible for God. This amazing woman gave birth when she was very old and she has some lessons to teach us about trusting God and His word!
Ruth - a loving and loyal woman. This exceptional woman will teach you to love well.
Rahab - fearless and full of faith. She truly is a phenomenal woman! She has some very exciting lessons to teach us about redemption.
Miriam - we will learn to dance like Miriam but take note she didn't finish well!
Martha - we will learn to serve and have faith like Martha. She is another remarkable woman of the Bible. We know her sister, Mary better but there is so much scripture treasure to be mined from studying the characteristics of Martha!
To help you get the most out of this study I have created a free Woman of the Bible PDF with a list of the Bible verses about these strong women and some pretty journaling paper. You will find them in the Scriptural Grace Resource Library HERE
Strong Women In The Bible eBook/ PDF, Devotional And Prayer Journal:
I am very excited to tell you that this popular Strong Women In The Bible reading plan, devotional, and prayer journal has now been made as a PDF. It includes 30 devotionals on these 9 women in the Bible. You will be able to use the women of the Bible study digitally on your phone or tablet or you could print it out and place it in a ring binder. I do a combination of both.
This is a wonderful Bible study that you can do alone or with friends. It contains devotional studies on 9 women from the Bible. You will be encouraged by the strength and wisdom that they found in God. You can download it as an individual study HERE or you can download it as part of our mega Bible Study And Prayer Journal Bundle HERE
Related: Strong Women In The Bible, devotional Bible study now available. Save 25% with code BIBLESTUDYSG in all caps.
What does the Bible say about a strong woman?
You will find below many scriptures to encourage women. They will reveal stories about women from the Old Testament in the Bible and the New Testament. Here are the stories of 9 strong women in the Bible and you will find out that their strength came from knowing God, praying fervently, and trusting Him with all that concerns them.
1. Strong Women in the Bible - Queen Esther.
- a woman of strength and dignity. She was an exceptional woman!
The book of Esther is one of 2 books in the Bible named after women. Another interesting fact is that the word, God, is never mentioned in the entire book of Esther. The historical time period of Esther takes place during the reign of the Medes and Persians. The story of Esther is exciting and full of danger but it will inspire you to become an exceptional woman of God!
Esther is an orphan and was raised by her uncle, Mordecai. We aren't told the reason why Esther's parents aren't living but we are told though that she is very beautiful! Take note that Esther is not Persian and she is an orphan which means that she should not have found favor with the king.
In Esther chapter 2, we read that the king needs a new queen. So he commands a decree and gathers many maidens in Shushan. Esther was one of the women chosen to join the king's harem and she found favor with Hegai ( the man in charge of the king's harem). I'm not sure I would find it an honor to be in the king's harem but it was back in these biblical times! The awesome part of this story is that God was able to save the Jewish people because of Esther and her role in the harem!
Esther 4:13-14
Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed.14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
Her strength: She fasted, prayed, and trusted God.
Esther was highly favored during her time of preparation to meet the king. The preparation took 12 months.
She was given the best apartment to live in and maids to help prepare her beauty treatments. There is one very important fact to take note of - her uncle wisely advised her not to reveal her true nationality and she obeyed him. It was Esther's obedience and gratefulness during her time in the harem that caused her to receive so much favor and respect.
Take great encouragement from the story of Esther in knowing that one person can make a difference. Esther was an unlikely candidate to become Queen but God made a way because He needed to save a nation!
There were plans by Haman, an evil man that wanted the Jewish people exterminated. Esther was miraculously placed in a position to plead for their lives and the story ends with Haman himself being killed instead.
There is so much more to discuss about Esther. You can learn more about what Esther in the Bible can teach you about strength and dignity HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
2. Strong women in the Bible: Deborah
Who was Deborah in the Bible? She was a phenomenal woman!
Deborah was the only female judge of Israel named in the Bible. She was also called a prophetess. There isn't much information about her. We are just told that she was a judge, she was wise and most importantly she spoke God's truth. One interesting fact is that everyone knew where to find her! She had a special place - a tree between 2 towns in the hill country of Ephraim.
The backstory is that the Israelites had disobeyed God and as a result had been oppressed by Jadin, king of Canaan. The Israelites cried out to God for help.
Deborah, the prophetess knew that God had called Barak to go fight the king but Barak was afraid to go. The Canaanites had superior equipment, so it is fair that he would be afraid! But he should have done what God had asked him to do. He said that if Deborah would go to the battle with him, then he would fight.
Judges 4:8-9
Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.”
9 “Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.
Her strength: She was fearless because she trusted God and listened to Him.
Deborah was fearless and she did go. During our devotionals, we will be considering the lessons to be learned from fearless Deborah and how she loved and listened to God. You can read this story in Judges 4 and 5. I will tell you that Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army came to a bloody end and the Israelites had peace for 40 years! Oh, and Deborah is also a songwriter. You can check out the song of Deborah and her story in the book of Judges!
You can learn more about what Deborah in the Bible can teach you about being fearless HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
3. Strong Women in the Bible: Mary the mother of Jesus.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her strong faith in God. She was an amazing woman who said 'yes' to God at a very young age and impacted humanity eternally!
We will also be considering what lessons we can learn from Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Did you know that the name Mary in Hebrew is Miriam? Here are some other facts about this amazing woman:
She is most commonly known as the ' Virgin Mary' because she gave birth miraculously to Jesus.
We are told in Luke 3 that her heritage is from the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David.
Her strength: Mary had a deep faith in God. Her faith was so strong in God that she bravely said 'yes' to Him when He asked her to be the virgin mother of Jesus.
I have chosen four portions of scripture for our Bible plan to study Mary. We will go deeper in our devotionals on each scripture. Here is what we will be looking at:
Mary was very young when she was visited by an angel. Can you imagine what that would be like, to see an angel? And then she was given the incredible miraculous news that she would conceive the Savior of the world!
Luke 1:45
" You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
Mary will teach us that we need to know God as she did.
We need to say 'yes' to God's plan as Mary did.
We will learn that nothing is impossible with God.
We will learn to store up God's treasures in our hearts, just like Mary did.
You can learn more about what Mary the mother of Jesus in the Bible can teach you about being strong in your faith HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
4. Strong Women in the Bible: Hannah.
Hannah - was a remarkable woman of faith. She is known as a woman fervent in prayer.
Hannah was the mother of Samuel. We see Hannah as a mighty prayer warrior. She endured oppression and abuse for many years. You can read her story in Samuel Chapter 1.
Hannah longed for a child for many years but she was barren. One year Hannah took a trip to the Tabernacle to pray.
In 1 Samuel 1:10-11, we read about her heartfelt prayer to God. She was so distressed that her words came out silently. She was in the temple praying when Eli the priest saw her. She was in so much distress that Eli thought she was drunk! Hannah assured him that she was not drunk but that she was in deep distress.
1 Samuel 1:10-11
Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.11 And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”
Her strength: Hannah was fervent in prayer and had a strong faith in God.
Hannah made a vow to God that if He remembered her and gave her a son, then she would give him back to God. I'm so excited to tell you that, Hannah gave birth to a boy and called him Samuel. The name Samuel means 'heard of God' or 'asked of God'. And Hannah kept her promise and dedicated her son to God.
We will be learning through our bible verses about Hannah, about God's faithfulness, and Hannah's perseverance! We will discuss praying fervently and keeping promises in our daily devotionals this month.
You can learn more about what Hannah in the Bible can teach you about being fervent in prayer HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
5. Strong Women in the Bible: Ruth.
Ruth - was a loving and loyal woman. This exceptional woman will teach you to love well.
We will learn to love like Ruth!
The Book of Ruth is the other book in the Bible to be named after a woman. If you have time read the Book of Ruth for yourself. It is a short book and will take about 15 minutes.
Do you know the story of Ruth?
Ruth was a Moabite widow of Mahlon. He was Naomi's son. Naomi had also buried her other son and husband. It was very tragic and Naomi decided to return to her home country, Israel. Ruth insisted on going with her.
Ruth 1:16-18
But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
Her strength: Ruth was loving and faithful to God. God rewarded her faithfulness by including her in the lineage of Christ!
There are quite a few lessons to be learned from Ruth's story and we will unpack them in our devotionals.
We will be looking at Ruth's stubborn love for her mother-in-law.
What it means to be a kinsman-redeemer.
Decisions made today can impact generations!
You can learn more about what Ruth in the Bible can teach you about being loving and faithful HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
6. Strong women in the Bible: Rahab
Rahab - fearless and full of faith. She truly is a phenomenal woman! She has some very exciting lessons to teach us about redemption.
Do you know this strong woman from the Bible? She had a terrible reputation as a prostitute and she would have been despised by her neighbors because of her profession. We are not told what her circumstances were that led her to be a prostitute but she is listed in Matthew 1:1-5 as part of the lineage of Christ. We will uncover the events that lead up to Rahab being named in such an awesome list during our devotionals.
Rahab lived in Jerico which was a wicked city. God told the Israelites that He was giving them the city but that they were to destroy the people living in it. This might seem severe but I know there is more to that story that we don't read of in the Bible. The key here is that the city was known to be wicked. That makes Rahab all the more remarkable!
Joshua sent 2 spies to check out the city. The spies needed somewhere safe to stay and hide and they ended up at Rahab's home.
Joshua 2:8-11
Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them.9 “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.10 For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. 11 No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord, your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.
Her strength: Rahab was fearless and full of faith which God rewarded by including her in the lineage of Christ!
The king of Jerico found out about the spies and sent soldiers to Rahab's home to arrest them. Rahab hid the spies and lied to the soldiers. She was very brave!
During our devotionals, we will examine:
Why would Rahab risk her life for the spies?
Why would she betray her own people?
Why is Rahab mentioned as part of the lineage of Christ?
Rahab is a remarkable woman from the Bible full of faith. I'm so looking forward to unpacking all that we can learn from her in our devotionals!
You can learn more about what Rahab in the Bible can teach you about being fearless and faithful HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible. (Don't forget to use the code: BIBLESTUDYSG to get 25% OFF)
7. Strong Women in the Bible: Miriam.
Who is Miriam? We will be learning to dance in praise and worship like Miriam but not to lose favor with God due to jealousy!
She was a brave woman, even from a young age. As a young girl, she protected her baby brother from being murdered. Pharaoh was not happy that the Israelites were thriving in his land. They were his slaves but they were growing larger in numbers. So he issued an awful decree to kill all the newborn baby boys. You can read all about this in Exodus 1: 6-22 and Exodus 2: 1-8.
Have you guessed yet the name of Miriam's brother? She was a sister to Moses!
Exodus 15:20-21
Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced. 21 And Miriam sang this song:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.”
Her strength: Miriam knew how to worship God in sheer delight but like us all, she also had her weaknesses.
We read in Exodus 15:20-21 that Miriam danced with joyful abandon when the Lord delivered His people from Egyptian slavery. As you read about Miriam, keep in mind that she is older than Moses. Moses was 80 years old when God called him to the burning bush. So that would make Miriam in her late 80's or early 90's. Maybe she was getting old and cranky when she had her jealous episode.
Oh yes! We will be having quite a discussion about Miriam in our devotionals!
You can learn more about what Miriam in the Bible can teach you about joyfully worshipping God HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
8. Strong Women in the Bible: Martha
Martha - we will learn to serve and have faith like Martha. She is another remarkable woman of the Bible.
I'm sure you know Martha! You can read about her in Luke 10:39-42. We tend to think of her in a negative way, that she was too busy to sit and listen to Jesus. But this month, let's explore this woman of God and glean some life lessons from her.
Related: I had an article published about the story of Mary and Martha on the prestigious blog Butterflyliving.com Here.
Luke 10:39-42
Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Her strength: Martha had a servant's heart and listened to Jesus when He gently rebuked her.
Martha was a sister to Mary and they were sisters to Lazarus. We are told in scripture that Jesus was a close friend of Martha and her siblings. John 11:5 says, "....Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus".
I'm sure you know the story of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and Martha getting angry asking Jesus if He cared that she was left to do all the work.
I always feel upset for Martha. Maybe that is because I find it hard to sit still.
Are you a Mary or a Martha? I think we need to be a balance of both!
During our devotionals this month, we will look at Jesus and His compassion for Martha and we will also look at Martha's faith shining before Jesus restores life back to Lazarus. Martha is a phenomenal woman of God!
You can learn more about what Martha in the Bible can teach you about having a servant's heart and getting your priorities in good order HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible.
9. Strong Women in the Bible: Sarah.
Sarah - discovered that nothing is impossible for God. This amazing woman gave birth when she was very old and she has some lessons to teach us about trusting God and His word!
This is the last strong woman of God that we will look at this month. What a woman! She had to lean into God and really trust Him to do the impossible.
Do you know Sarah?
She was the wife of Abraham. She was also known as Sari. You can read her story in Genesis chapter 18. Sarah was barren for many years but God had given both Abraham and Sarah a promise that they would have as many children as the stars. The major issue was that Sarah was old and childless now and had left her childbearing years long ago.
What do you do when you have been given a promise from God but you haven't yet seen it fulfilled?
I know many women who ask that question for many different reasons! Just let me say...don't do what Sarah did! She tried to help God out with His promise and that led to a lot of trouble!
You can read about that in Genesis chapter 16.
Hebrews 11:11-12
It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.12 And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.
Her strength: She trusted God to do the impossible.
There are a few lessons to be learned from the story of Sarah. We will learn that God keeps His promises and His timing is perfect. Nothing is too hard for the Lord!
My favorite lesson that we will discuss in the devotional, is that even when we mess up God doesn't hold it against us. Sarah is also mentioned in Hebrews 11:11, which is a list of faithful people. She may have doubted God's promise of a baby in her late years but she changed and her faith grew!
You can learn more about what Sarah in the Bible can teach you about believing God for the impossible HERE in our devotionals on these strong women in the Bible. (Don't forget to use the code: BIBLESTUDYSG to get 25% OFF)
Here is the free Women of the Bible PDF
Make sure you download this lovely FREE printable HERE It is kept in our Resource Library. (CLICK ON THE PIC! ) It is our reading plan only, but it will guide you through 30 wonderful days of encouragement as you learn from these strong women who had found their strength in God.
If you're looking for inspiration and encouragement in your faith journey, exploring the lives of female heroes in the Bible is a great place to start. From Esther's bravery in saving her people to Mary's willingness to surrender to God's plan, these women offer powerful examples of faith in action. The Female Bible Heroes PDF, complete with commentary and guided devotional questions, is an excellent resource for diving deeper into the stories of Deborah, Hannah, Miriam, Martha, Sarah, Ruth, Rahab, and more. By studying these women and reflecting on their experiences, you can gain a deeper understanding of God's character and the ways in which He works in the lives of His people.
Through this Bible study, you'll discover how these female heroes overcame challenges, learned to trust God in difficult situations, and ultimately played pivotal roles in the unfolding of God's redemptive plan. You'll also gain insights into how you can apply their experiences and lessons to your own life, as you seek to grow in your faith and deepen your relationship with God.
So whether you're new to the Bible or a seasoned reader, the Female Bible Heroes PDF is an excellent tool for helping you draw closer to God and gain a greater appreciation for the incredible women who have gone before us in the faith. You can currently grab your copy with 25% OFF using code BIBLESTUDYSG in all caps at the checkout.
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4. Related: If you loved learning about the strong women in the Bible, you will love our devotional Bible study lessons bundle HERE.
I would love it if you could share with me your thoughts as you work your way through this free printable women's devotional Bible study. You can connect with me via email karen@scripturalgrace.com or on our FACEBOOK page.
It's all about His grace.
xx Karen.
