People of the Bible
The people
Everyone the history turns on, from the first man to the last letter, with the songs that carry them.
At a crowded street market at midday, a grandmother chooses tomatoes while a young man carries a crate past a nurse.Beginnings
- AdamThe first man, given a garden to keep and a choice he did not have to make.Genesis 1 to 5
- EveBuilt from the man's side, named the mother of all living, and the first to be lied to.Genesis 2 to 4
- CainThe first child born, the first to bring an offering, and the first to kill.Genesis 4
- AbelThe keeper of sheep who brought his best, was accepted, and was killed for it.Genesis 4
- SethThe son born after the murder, named as a replacement, and through whom the promise travels.Genesis 4 to 5
- EnochSeventh from Adam, walked with God for three hundred years, and was not, for God took him.Genesis 5
- NoahThe one righteous man in a violent world, who built a boat on dry land because God said the rain was coming.Genesis 5 to 10
- Shem, Ham and JaphethThree brothers who walked off a boat into an empty world, and became every nation in it.Genesis 9 to 11
- NimrodThe first man to be called mighty, whose kingdom began at Babel and whose cities became Assyria.Genesis 10 to 11
The family of promise
- AbrahamTold to leave everything he could name for a country he was not shown.Genesis 12 to 25
- SarahBarren for ninety years, laughed at the tent door, and named the mother of nations.Genesis 12 to 23
- LotChose the well-watered plain, pitched his tent toward Sodom, and had to be dragged out by the hand.Genesis 12 to 19
- HagarThe Egyptian maid who ran into the desert twice and was found there both times.Genesis 16 · Genesis 21
- IshmaelAbraham's first son, named because God heard, and sent into the desert to become twelve princes.Genesis 16 to 17 · Genesis 21 · Genesis 25
- MelchizedekThree verses in Genesis, one in a psalm, and a whole argument in Hebrews about a priest with no beginning.Genesis 14
- IsaacThe son of laughter, bound on a mountain and spared, who dug his father's wells again.Genesis 17 to 35
- RebekahThe girl at the well who watered ten camels, and the mother who chose which son would carry the promise.Genesis 24 to 27
- JacobThe heel-grabber who bought a birthright, stole a blessing, wrestled God at a river, and was renamed Israel.Genesis 25 to 49
- EsauThe red hunter who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, lost the blessing to his twin, and forgave him anyway.Genesis 25 to 36
- LeahThe unloved elder sister, married by a trick in the dark, who bore six sons and named the fourth Praise.Genesis 29 to 35
- RachelThe shepherdess Jacob kissed at the well and served fourteen years for, who died on the road giving birth to her second son.Genesis 29 to 35
- JudahThe fourth son who sold his brother, was shamed by his daughter-in-law, and then offered himself for Benjamin. The lion who holds the sceptre.Genesis 37 to 49
- TamarThe twice-widowed daughter-in-law who was denied her rights, took them by a veil and a pledge, and was called more righteous than Judah.Genesis 38
- JosephThe dreamer in the coat of many colours, sold by his brothers, jailed on a lie, raised to rule Egypt, and the one who said: ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good.Genesis 37 to 50
- PotipharPharaoh's captain of the guard, who bought a Hebrew slave, trusted him with everything, and jailed him on his wife's word.Genesis 37 · Genesis 39
- Ephraim and ManassehJoseph's two Egyptian-born sons, adopted by their grandfather and blessed with crossed hands, the younger set before the elder.Genesis 41 · Genesis 48
Out of Egypt
- MosesDrawn out of the Nile, sent back from a burning bush, and given a law on a mountain. The man God knew face to face, who never crossed the river.Exodus 1 to 40 · Numbers 1 to 36 · Deuteronomy 1 to 34
- AaronMoses' mouth before Pharaoh, the maker of the golden calf, and the first high priest of Israel, whose rod budded and whose garments passed to his son on a mountain.Exodus 4 to 17 · Exodus 28 to 32 · Leviticus 8 to 10 · Numbers 12 to 20
- MiriamThe girl who watched the basket, the prophetess who led the women with a timbrel, and the sister who was shut out of the camp for seven days.Exodus 2 · Exodus 14 to 15 · Numbers 12 · Numbers 20
- JochebedObeyed the letter of the order to put her son in the river, and built him something to float in.Exodus 1 to 2
- Pharaoh of the exodusNever named, which for a man whose whole life was built on having his name last is the sharpest thing in the account.Exodus 1 to 15
- JethroA Midianite priest who took in a fugitive, and later told the man who had seen the sea open that he was doing his job wrong.Exodus 2 to 4 · Exodus 18
- ZipporahTook a flint knife at a lodging place on the road and did what her husband had not.Exodus 2 · Exodus 4 · Exodus 18
- JoshuaSpent forty years as the assistant who did not leave the tent, and then led the crossing.Exodus 17 · Exodus 24 · Exodus 32 to 33 · Numbers 13 to 14 · Numbers 27 · Deuteronomy 31 to 34 · Joshua 1 to 24
- CalebWaited forty-five years to collect on one sentence, and asked for the hardest piece of ground on the map.Numbers 13 to 14 · Numbers 32 · Deuteronomy 1 · Joshua 14 to 15
- KorahSaid that the whole congregation was holy, which was true, and used it to take something that was not his.Numbers 16 to 17
- BalaamHired to curse a nation, blessed it four times instead, and then found a way to damage it anyway.Numbers 22 to 24 · Numbers 31
- PhinehasEnded a plague with a spear, and years later ended a civil war by asking a question first.Numbers 25 · Numbers 31 · Joshua 22
The land and the judges
- RahabHid two spies under drying flax, bargained for her whole family, and ended up in the line of the Messiah.Joshua 2 · Joshua 6
- AchanTook a cloak, some silver and a wedge of gold, and thirty-six men died at a town nobody was worried about.Joshua 7
- DeborahJudged Israel under a palm tree, told a general what to do, and went with him when he would not go alone.Judges 4 to 5
- BarakWould not go without the prophetess, was told the glory would go elsewhere, and went.Judges 4 to 5
- JaelOffered a fleeing general milk and a rug, and the song calls her most blessed of women in tents.Judges 4 to 5
- GideonWas threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it, and was greeted as a mighty man of valour.Judges 6 to 8
- AbimelechTook the crown his father refused, on one stone, from seventy brothers.Judges 9
- JephthahWas thrown out for his mother, called back when they needed him, and made a vow he should never have made.Judges 10 to 12
- SamsonWas set apart before birth and spent his life breaking every term of it, and the strength never left until he told someone why.Judges 13 to 16
- DelilahAsked the same question four times while he watched her test every answer, and he told her anyway.Judges 16
- RuthA Moabite widow with no reason to stay, who would not be sent home.Ruth 1 to 4
- NaomiCame home and told the town to stop using her name, because it meant pleasant.Ruth 1 to 4
- BoazKept the law past the point the law required, and then went to the gate and did it properly.Ruth 2 to 4
The kings
- EliJudged Israel for forty years, mistook a praying woman for a drunk, and could not restrain his own sons.1 Samuel 1 to 4
- HannahPrayed without making a sound, got what she asked for, and handed him back.1 Samuel 1 to 2
- SamuelThe last judge and the first kingmaker, who told the nation exactly what a king would cost and then gave them one.1 Samuel 1 to 16 · 1 Samuel 25 · 1 Samuel 28
- SaulWas found hiding among the baggage on the day he was made king, and spent the rest of his reign unable to stop looking over his shoulder.1 Samuel 9 to 31
- JonathanGave away the throne he was born to, garment by garment, and meant it.1 Samuel 13 to 14 · 1 Samuel 18 to 20 · 1 Samuel 23 · 1 Samuel 31
- DavidShepherd, outlaw, poet, king and murderer, and the one the rest of the Bible keeps measuring kings against.1 Samuel 16 to 31 · 2 Samuel 1 to 24 · 1 Kings 1 to 2 · 1 Chronicles 11 to 29
- GoliathCame out twice a day for forty days to offer a fight nobody would take, and was beaten by the one weapon his armour did not cover.1 Samuel 17
- AbigailLoaded two hundred loaves onto donkeys and rode out to stop four hundred armed men, and talked David out of a murder.1 Samuel 25
- BathshebaIs given no words at all in the chapter she is famous for, and secures the throne in the one where she speaks.2 Samuel 11 to 12 · 1 Kings 1 to 2
- NathanTold a king an account about a poor man’s lamb, waited for the verdict, and then said you are the man.2 Samuel 7 · 2 Samuel 12 · 1 Kings 1
- JoabWon David’s wars, killed three men the king wanted alive, and was right about him more often than the king could stand.2 Samuel 2 to 3 · 2 Samuel 11 · 2 Samuel 14 · 2 Samuel 18 to 20 · 1 Kings 2
- AbsalomWaited two years for justice that never came, then spent four more standing at the gate taking it for himself.2 Samuel 13 to 19
- SolomonAsked for a listening heart instead of long life or riches, got all three, and lost the plot at the end.1 Kings 1 to 11 · 2 Chronicles 1 to 9
- The queen of ShebaTravelled about fifteen hundred miles to test a reputation, and went home saying the report had understated it.1 Kings 10 · 2 Chronicles 9
- RehoboamWas asked to lighten the load, took three days to think about it, and gave the worst answer in the Old Testament.1 Kings 12 · 1 Kings 14 · 2 Chronicles 10 to 12
- JeroboamWas promised ten tribes and a sure house if he would listen, and built two golden calves in the first year.1 Kings 11 to 14
- AhabDid more to provoke the LORD than all the kings before him, and is mostly remembered for sulking about a vegetable garden.1 Kings 16 to 22
- JezebelA Sidonian princess who ran a state religion, wrote letters in her husband’s name, and met the end she did with her eyes painted.1 Kings 16 to 21 · 2 Kings 9
- NabothSaid no to a king once, politely and on legal grounds, and it cost him and his sons their lives.1 Kings 21
- JehuWas anointed in a back room, drove like a madman, and destroyed Baal out of Israel without ever leaving the calves of Jeroboam.2 Kings 9 to 10
- HezekiahSpread a threatening letter out in the temple and left it there, and woke to find the siege gone.2 Kings 18 to 20 · 2 Chronicles 29 to 32
- ManassehReigned fifty-five years, the longest of any king of Judah, and undid his father’s reform item by item.2 Kings 21 · 2 Chronicles 33
- JosiahWas eight years old when he began to reign, and at twenty-six tore his clothes over a book nobody had read in his lifetime.2 Kings 22 to 23 · 2 Chronicles 34 to 35
- ZedekiahThe last king of Judah, who kept asking the prophet for a word in secret and never once did what it said.2 Kings 24 to 25 · 2 Chronicles 36
The prophets
- ElijahCalled down fire on a mountain in front of a nation, and asked to die the next day.1 Kings 17 to 19 · 1 Kings 21 · 2 Kings 1 to 2
- ElishaAsked for a double portion of his master’s spirit, and spent fifty years mostly feeding people and mending things.1 Kings 19 · 2 Kings 2 to 13
- NaamanCame with silver, gold and a letter from his king, and was cured by washing seven times in a river he had insulted.2 Kings 5
- GehaziRan after the man his master had refused payment from, and came back with two talents of silver and a disease.2 Kings 4 to 5 · 2 Kings 8
- IsaiahSaw the throne, said he was a man of unclean lips, and volunteered before he was asked.Isaiah 1 to 66 · 2 Kings 19 to 20
- JeremiahWas told before he was born what he would do, objected that he was a child, and preached forty years to a city that did not change.Jeremiah 1 to 52 · Lamentations 1 to 5
- BaruchWrote the book, read it aloud when the prophet could not, wrote it again after the king burned it.Jeremiah 32 · Jeremiah 36 · Jeremiah 43 · Jeremiah 45
- EzekielA priest who never served in a temple, given the strangest assignments in Scripture and told to carry them out without explaining.Ezekiel 1 to 48
- DanielServed four kings of two empires without ever pretending to belong to either.Daniel 1 to 12
- Hananiah, Mishael and AzariahSaid God is able to deliver us, and then said but if not, we still will not serve your gods.Daniel 1 to 3
- HoseaWas told to marry a woman who would leave him, and then told to go and buy her back.Hosea 1 to 14
- JoelPreached a sermon about locusts that turned into the text Peter used on the day the church began.Joel 1 to 3
- AmosA herdsman from Judah who walked north into a rich country and told it its worship was noise.Amos 1 to 9
- ObadiahTwenty-one verses, the shortest book in the Old Testament, about a brother who stood on the other side of the road.Obadiah 1
- JonahRan from an assignment, was given it again, carried it out in eight words, and then sulked because it worked.Jonah 1 to 4
- MicahFrom a farming town in the foothills, and the one who named the village the Messiah would come from.Micah 1 to 7
- NahumWrote the sequel to Jonah, about the same city, a hundred and fifty years later, and it does not end the same way.Nahum 1 to 3
- HabakkukComplained to God twice, got an answer worse than the problem, and finished by singing.Habakkuk 1 to 3
- ZephaniahTraced his own family back four generations to a king, and then announced the end of everything.Zephaniah 1 to 3
- HaggaiTwo chapters, four dated messages, and the only prophet in the Old Testament whose audience did exactly what he said.Haggai 1 to 2
- ZechariahGiven eight visions in one night, and more lines about the Messiah than any prophet except Isaiah.Zechariah 1 to 14
- MalachiWrote the last page of the Old Testament as an argument, and the audience answers back seven times.Malachi 1 to 4
Exile and return
- NebuchadnezzarBurned the temple, built the greatest city in the world, and ended up eating grass.2 Kings 24 to 25 · Daniel 1 to 4
- BelshazzarThrew a feast with the vessels taken out of the temple, and was dead before morning.Daniel 5
- DariusSigned a law he was flattered into, spent the night fasting because of it, and could not undo his own signature.Daniel 6
- CyrusNamed by Isaiah about a hundred and fifty years before he was born, and called God’s anointed without ever knowing him.2 Chronicles 36 · Ezra 1 · Isaiah 44 to 45
- EstherKept her nationality secret for five years, and then spent it all in one sentence.Esther 1 to 10
- MordecaiSaved the king’s life, was forgotten for five years, and the forgetting is what turned the book.Esther 2 to 10
- HamanWas so offended by one man that he bought a decree against an entire people, and died on the gallows he built for him.Esther 3 to 9
- EzraA scribe who prepared his heart to seek the law, to do it, and to teach it, in that order.Ezra 7 to 10 · Nehemiah 8
- NehemiahCupbearer to a king, project manager by trade, and the only man in Scripture who prays between a question and his answer.Nehemiah 1 to 13
- ZerubbabelGrandson of a deported king, governor of a province, and the man who laid a foundation that made half the crowd weep.Ezra 3 to 5 · Haggai 1 to 2 · Zechariah 4
- Joshua the high priestStood in a courtroom in filthy garments with an accuser at his elbow, and was given a clean turban instead of a verdict.Ezra 3 · Haggai 1 to 2 · Zechariah 3
- JobLost everything in two chapters, argued for thirty-nine, and was answered by a question about the weather.Job 1 to 42
The gospels
- JesusFour accounts, one life, and the only figure in this catalogue every other sheet is arranged around.Matthew 1 to 28 · Mark 1 to 16 · Luke 1 to 24 · John 1 to 21
- MaryAsked one practical question, got an answer that explained nothing, and agreed anyway.Matthew 1 to 2 · Luke 1 to 2 · John 2 · John 19
- Joseph of NazarethNot one recorded word, four dreams, and three moves that kept a child alive.Matthew 1 to 2 · Luke 2
- John the BaptistDrew bigger crowds than anyone in the country and spent his whole ministry telling them he was not the point.Matthew 3 · Matthew 11 · Matthew 14 · Mark 1 · Mark 6 · Luke 1 · Luke 3 · John 1 · John 3
- ElizabethHid for five months, and then said out loud what a younger woman had not told anybody.Luke 1
- Zechariah the priestAsked for evidence and was given nine months of silence, and used the first words he got back to sing.Luke 1
- SimeonWas promised he would not die before he had seen it, and spent the rest of his life going to the temple.Luke 2
- Anna the prophetessEighty-four years old, widowed after seven years of marriage, and in the temple when it happened.Luke 2
- Herod the GreatRebuilt the temple on a scale nobody had seen since Solomon, and killed a village of children over a rumour.Matthew 2
- PeterSaid the best thing anyone said about him and the worst thing anyone said to him, in the same conversation.Matthew 4 · Matthew 14 to 18 · Matthew 26 · Mark 8 to 9 · Mark 14 · Luke 5 · Luke 22 · John 13 · John 18 · John 21
- AndrewEvery time he appears he is bringing somebody to meet somebody else.Matthew 4 · John 1 · John 6 · John 12
- James son of ZebedeeOne of the three taken up the mountain, and the first of the twelve to be killed for it.Matthew 4 · Matthew 17 · Matthew 20 · Mark 9 to 10 · Luke 9
- JohnNever names himself in his own gospel, and calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved instead.Matthew 4 · Matthew 17 · Mark 9 to 10 · John 13 · John 19 to 21
- PhilipAnswered an impossible question with a budget, and asked for the one thing he had been looking at for three years.John 1 · John 6 · John 12 · John 14
- NathanaelSaid something dismissive about a town, went to look anyway, and was commended for having no guile.John 1 · John 21
- ThomasIs remembered for one week of doubt and never for the day he volunteered to die.John 11 · John 14 · John 20
- MatthewWas sitting at a tax booth, and the next scene is a dinner party at his house with all the wrong guests.Matthew 9 to 10 · Mark 2 · Luke 5
- James son of AlphaeusWalked the whole three years and left not one recorded sentence.Matthew 10 · Mark 3 · Luke 6
- ThaddaeusHas three names across the lists and exactly one question, and the question is a good one.Matthew 10 · Mark 3 · John 14
- Simon the ZealotA man whose politics were in his name, sent out beside a man who collected Rome’s taxes.Matthew 10 · Mark 3 · Luke 6
- Judas IscariotKept the bag for three years, sold the whole thing for a slave’s price, and could not live with the change in his hand.Matthew 26 to 27 · Mark 14 · Luke 22 · John 12 to 13 · John 18
- Mary MagdaleneOut of her went seven devils, and out of her came the first sentence anyone spoke about the resurrection.Luke 8 · Matthew 27 to 28 · Mark 15 to 16 · John 19 to 20
- MarthaComplained about the dishes, and later said the second greatest confession in the gospels standing in a graveyard.Luke 10 · John 11 to 12
- Mary of BethanyIs found at his feet all three times she appears, and the third time she breaks a year’s wages over them.Luke 10 · John 11 to 12 · Matthew 26
- LazarusIs the only man in the gospels who is loved, allowed to die on purpose, and then called out by name.John 11 to 12
- NicodemusCame at night with a compliment, and came back in daylight with a hundred pounds of burial spices.John 3 · John 7 · John 19
- Joseph of ArimatheaA rich councillor who had kept quiet, and then asked the governor for a body in front of everyone.Matthew 27 · Mark 15 · Luke 23 · John 19
- The Samaritan womanCame for water at the hour nobody comes, and left her jar behind to go and tell the town.John 4
- ZacchaeusClimbed a tree because he was short, and came down owing four times over to everyone he had cheated.Luke 19
- JairusA synagogue ruler who fell at the feet of a man his colleagues were watching, because his daughter was twelve and dying.Mark 5 · Luke 8 · Matthew 9
- The centurion at the crossRan the execution, watched it to the end, and said the thing none of the religious men in the crowd would say.Matthew 27 · Mark 15 · Luke 23
- Pontius PilateSaid three times that he found no fault in him, and signed the order anyway.Matthew 27 · Mark 15 · Luke 23 · John 18 to 19
- CaiaphasGave the advice that killed him, and John says the man was prophesying without knowing it.John 11 · Matthew 26 · John 18
- BarabbasWoke up guilty and condemned, and went home for reasons that had nothing to do with him.Matthew 27 · Mark 15 · Luke 23 · John 18
The church
- MatthiasWas chosen by lot to fill a place nobody wanted, and is never mentioned again.Acts 1 · Acts 2
- StephenWas appointed to hand out food, and gave the longest speech in Acts before anybody could stop him.Acts 6 to 8
- Philip the evangelistTook the message to the people Jerusalem would not speak to, then left a crowd to meet one man on a desert road.Acts 8 · Acts 21
- CorneliusA Roman officer whose prayers were heard before anyone was willing to walk into his house.Acts 10 to 11
- Ananias of DamascusArgued with the vision, went anyway, and called the man who had come to arrest him brother.Acts 9
- PaulHeld the coats at a stoning, and wrote most of the letters the church has read ever since.Acts 9 · Acts 13 to 28 · 2 Corinthians 11 to 12 · Galatians 1 to 2 · Philippians 3 · 2 Timothy 4
- BarnabasWas nicknamed the son of consolation, and spent it on the two men nobody else would take.Acts 11 · Acts 13 to 15
- SilasSang in a jail at midnight with his feet in the stocks, and mentioned in the morning that he was a Roman.Acts 15 to 18
- TimothyWas half Greek in a town that cared, young in a job that did not suit it, and kept at it for twenty years.Acts 16 · Acts 17 · 1 Timothy 1 to 6 · 2 Timothy 1 to 4
- TitusWas the test case for whether a Greek had to become a Jew first, and the answer was no.2 Corinthians 7 to 8 · Galatians 2 · Titus 1 to 3
- LukeWrote more of the New Testament than anyone else and never once puts his own name in it.Acts 16 · Acts 20 to 21 · Acts 27 to 28 · Colossians 4 · Philemon 1
- MarkQuit one journey and is the reason the first missionary partnership broke up, and ended it useful.Acts 12 · Acts 13 · Acts 15 · 2 Timothy 4 · 1 Peter 5
- Priscilla and AquilaRan a tentmaking business, moved cities three times, and kept a church in whatever house they were renting.Acts 18 · Romans 16 · 1 Corinthians 16
- LydiaThe first convert in Europe was a foreign businesswoman at a riverside prayer meeting with no synagogue in town.Acts 16 · Acts 16
- ApollosWas the best speaker in the book, was quietly told what he had missed, and went back out better.Acts 18 · Acts 19 · 1 Corinthians 1 to 4 · 1 Corinthians 16
- James the brother of JesusDid not believe him during his life, saw him after the resurrection, and ended up chairing the council.Acts 15 · Acts 21 · 1 Corinthians 15 · Galatians 1 to 2 · James 1 to 5
- JudeMeant to write about salvation and had to write about something else instead.Jude 1
- Philemon and OnesimusA slave owner and the slave who ran, and a letter that asks for one and refuses to command it.Philemon 1 · Colossians 4
- Herod AgrippaKilled one apostle, arranged the execution of a second, and did not survive his own applause.Acts 12
- DorcasThe evidence brought to her funeral was the clothes she had made, held up by the women wearing them.Acts 9
Heaven and the adversary
- GabrielAppears four times in the whole Bible, always to explain something, and twice to tell a family they are having a child.Daniel 8 · Daniel 9 · Luke 1
- MichaelCalled one of the chief princes, and the only one who fights, and he will not pick an argument he is not given.Daniel 10 · Daniel 12 · Jude 1 · Revelation 12
- The SerpentMore subtle than any beast of the field, and named at the end of the Bible as the devil and Satan.Genesis 3 · Job 1 to 2 · Zechariah 3 · Revelation 12 · Revelation 20
- The rider on the white horseHas four names in eleven verses, and the only weapon named is a sword that comes out of his mouth.Revelation 19
