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........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)