The Seven Prophetesses שבע נביאות
Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther—the seven women the Talmud names prophetesses of Israel.
"Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied to Israel"—so Megillah 14a draws up the count, and names the prophetesses one by one: Sarah, who saw further than Abraham; Miriam, who foretold the deliverer's birth; Deborah, who judged the people beneath her palm; Hannah, whose prayer became the model of all prayer; Abigail, who stopped David on the road to bloodshed; Huldah, to whom the king sent about the scroll; Esther, who stood before the king "not according to the law".
For each of them the Gemara finds the verse where her word proved prophecy. The list is read also as a statement: prophecy in Israel was no male preserve—of the fifty-five names counted, seven belong to women.
On the timeline
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Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Megillah 14a-b — the list of the seven prophetesses
Basis: Talmud and midrash.