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The Talmud tells us that there were 48 male prophets and seven female prophetesses from the Jewish people. The seven prophetesses of the Hebrew Bible are:

1 Sarah. Abraham’s wife Sarah was an equal partner in his efforts to spread monotheistic beliefs and morality. Abraham led the men, and Sarah the women. She was originally named Yiscah, but Abraham called her Sarai (“my princess) because she was superior to him in her prophetic abilities. When she was 89 years old, God commanded that her name be changed to Sarah (which means “princess”) and Abram (“exalted father”) become Abraham (“father of many nations”). Sarah was so holy that her bread would remain fresh all week, her Shabbat candles would burn until the following Friday, and a cloud would hover above her tent.

2 Miriam the Prophetess, knew that her parents were destined to give birth to the child who would lead the people out of slavery, and she convinced them to be sexually active. From that union came Moses, the redeemer of Israel. Miriam continued to believe in a better future, even when her father doubted her prophecy. When the Israelites left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, leaving the Egyptians behind, Miriam led the women in song and dance. And due to Miriam’s merit, God provided the people with a traveling well for most of the 40 years that they were in the desert.

3 Deborah the Prophetess ruled Israel from under a date tree (tomer Devorah) in the land of Ephraim. One reason for this open-air office was that she was wary of being alone with men who came to seek her counsel, and therefore chose to meet them in plain sight. Scripture describes her as “a woman of flames (lapidot).” The sages understood this to mean that she had the honor of making wicks for the Temple menorah. She conveyed God’s message to General Barak that he should go to war against the Canaanites, who had been oppressing the people of Israel. Barak agreed to go to war only if Deborah would go with him. She obliged, the Israelites won (with the help of Yael (A convert to Judaism and another brave woman), and Deborah sang a song to thank God for His deliverance. The land was then tranquil for 40 years.

4 Hannah-Chanah had no offspring, but her husband’s other wife, Peninah, was blessed with many children. One holiday, she was so saddened that she went alone to the Tabernacle and wept, silently praying. She promised God that if she would be blessed with a son, she would give him to God all the days of his life. Her prayer was unusual in that it was silent, and Eli, the High Priest at the time, thought she was drunk. When she explained what she was doing, he was impressed and agreed that she was correct. In fact, many laws of Jewish prayer are derived from Chanah’s prayer.

5 Abigail was the wise and beautiful wife of Nabal, a stingy man who was as tough as a lion. After Nabal, who was as rich as he was bad, refused to give provisions to King David and his men, Abigail gave them bread, wine, meat and dried fruits, and convinced David not to kill her husband. According to the Talmud, she did so using proofs from Jewish law. Ten days later, Nabal died and David and Abigail married. Tradition tells us that Abigail did more than just say wise words, but that she actually prophesied to David.

6 Huldah the Prophetess encouraged King Josiah to continue his program of renovating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and reintroducing the service of God. After the king asked her the significance of an old Torah scroll they had found in the Temple, she conveyed the following message from God to the King: “I will bring a calamity on this place, and upon its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read—because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped other gods . . . So My anger shall be kindled against this place.

“But to the king of Judah . . . Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I decreed against this place and against its inhabitants . . . and you rent your clothes and wept before Me—I heard you. Therefore I will gather you unto your fathers, and you will go to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see the misfortune which I will bring upon this place.” Huldah lived in the time of the reign of King Josiah in Jerusalem. It was during this time that the spirit of prophecy came to her. This was also the time of two other prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah.

According to the Midrash, Jeremiah prophesied in the streets of Jerusalem; Zephaniah delivered his prophecies in the synagogues; and Huldah had a school for women in Jerusalem. In the Talmud it is stated that Huldah was a relative of prophet Jeremiah. She was a descendant of Joshua bin Nun. The prophet Jeremiah was also a descendant of Joshua—on his mother’s side. On his father’s side, she was a descendant of a convert to Judaism.

7 Queen Esther is recognized in Jewish tradition as one of the Hebrew Bible’s seven female prophets. The Book of Esther (2:7) relates that Esther had two names: “He was foster father to Hadassah—that is, Esther.” While the Book of Esther centers on her political maneuvering and bravery, the Talmud also identifies her as the last of the Biblical prophetesses, noting that she was imbued with a divine spirit to risk her life to save her people. Queen Esther is an orphan raised by her uncle Mordecai, and is eventually married to King Ahasuerus. She does not reveal her Jewishness to the king and learns of a plan to kill all the Jews by the king’s advisor, Haman.

She recognizes that she needs to personally plead with the king to save her people. She fasts for three days, and then goes to the king, enduring many obstacles while going through the palace. Her bravery earns her a major spot among the seven women prophets, and she is remembered as the one responsible for the deliverance of Israel.

Esther is the only woman to author a book of the Hebrew Bible. Esther was a Jewish girl who rose to the occasion and saved the Jewish people—then mostly exiled in Persia—from the wicked Haman, who wished to wipe them out. Taken to the king’s palace, Esther used her position as queen to expose Haman as a scheming scoundrel, and her people are saved. (Talmud, Megillah 14a) She had the Book of Esther recorded for all posterity, to be read every year on Purim, the day Jews celebrated that their enemies had been vanquished. (Esther 9:29). All females should read the Book of Esther.