The Bible is full of famous women—queens, prophets, a judge, notable disciples of Jesus and associates of Paul. Some women have books of the Bible named after them. Others share the spotlight with their also-famous husbands or sons. You can probably name quite a few of these women.

But there are others you can’t name, because—well, the Bible doesn’t give them names. In honor of International Women’s Day, we want to give a shout out to these anonymous heroines of the faith.

1. The Wise Woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14:1-21). Maybe you missed this story in Sunday school. King David had banished his son Absalom for killing another son, Amnon, to avenge the assault of their sister, Tamar. So a “wise woman” came to see King David, pretending to seek protection in her own family feud—then she turned the tables and challenged the king to bring Absalom back. (Not unlike the prophet Nathan’s ploy in 2 Samuel 12.) Do not miss the redemptive message in verse 14: “God doesn’t take our lives. Instead, he figures out ways of bringing us back when we run away” (CEV).
2. The Widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-24). The prophet Elijah showed up during a time of famine and asked this woman to fix him lunch. She explained that she only had enough for one last meal for herself and her son before they died of starvation. Elijah insisted, and she used her last provisions to make him some bread. Except, miraculously, they weren’t her last provisions. Her flour and oil lasted until the end of the drought. Her remarkable faith was tested later when her son died. Elijah brought him back to life.
3. The Poor Widow with the Olive Oil (2 Kings 4:1-7). Elisha was the prophetic successor of Elijah, and he did some similar things. The widow of one of Elisha’s followers was having trouble paying her late husband’s debts. A creditor was threatening to take her two sons as slaves, and all she owned was a small bottle of olive oil. Elisha told her to borrow as many jars as possible from her neighbors and fill them all with the oil from her bottle. She did so, and amazingly the oil kept pouring until every jar was filled. Then she sold the oil to pay her debts.
4. The Canaanite Woman from Tyre/Sidon (Matthew 15:21-28). This woman dared to talk back to Jesus. And while others generally get the credit for being the first Gentiles to follow Jesus, she could probably claim that honor herself. Her daughter was demon-possessed, and Jesus was in town. She begged him for help, despite a brush-off from his disciples. But even Jesus was playing hard-to-get: “I was sent only to the people of Israel! . . . It isn’t right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs.” This is shocking language from the Lord of love, but he might have been testing her faith. And she passed that test by tossing his word-picture right back: “even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their owner’s table.” She wasn’t demanding; she was begging the Jewish Messiah to give a Gentile girl a break.
5. The Sinful Woman who Anointed Jesus’ Feet (Luke 7:36-50). There are two stories of Jesus being anointed with perfume. In one, the anointer is named as Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, but this story has different details, and the woman is described as “sinful”—probably code for prostitution or adultery. Everyone knew her reputation, which made it all the more astonishing that Jesus would allow her to kiss his feelt, wash them with her tears, pour perfume on them, and dry them with her hair. The Pharisees in the room were aghast. Jesus took the opportunity to teach about forgiveness, saying, “All her sins are forgiven, and that is why she has shown great love.” By contrast, the Pharisees didn’t think they had many sins to forgive, so they were rude.
6. The Woman with the Bleeding Problem (Luke 8:40-48). Jesus was rushing to heal someone else when this woman pushed through the crowd and touched his clothes. She believed that the mere contact with him would cure her of the hemorrhaging that had plagued her for twelve years. She was right, sort of. Amazingly, despite the throng around him, Jesus stopped and asked “Who touched me?” When the woman came forward and knelt before him, he made the impersonal personal: “Daughter, you are now well because of your faith.” It was not the touch of some magic garment that healed her, but her trust in the Healer.
7. The Poor but Generous Widow (Luke 21:1-4). There was a collection box in the Temple, where people could make donations. Jesus saw various rich people doing so, and we might guess that they reveled in the attention they received (see Matthew 6:2). But then a widow deposited two copper coins, and Jesus exalted her. “I tell you that this poor woman has put in more than all the others. Everyone else gave what they didn’t need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had.”
8. The Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4:1-42). Traveling through Samaria at mid-day, Jesus stopped at a well and asked a woman to draw him some water. She was shocked that a Jewish rabbi would even talk to her—a Samaritan, a woman, and not a very chaste one. He told her about “living water.” He honored her questions about God and worship and the Messiah. And she turned out to be a pretty good missionary, getting everyone in town to come out and hear him for themselves. “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?”
9. The Fortunetelling Slave (Acts 16:16-18). She was possessed by a demon that enabled her to tell people’s fortunes. Her masters made good money from her. But when Paul and Silas came to town, she (or the demons) recognized them as servants of the true God and followed them around, causing a commotion. Finally, Paul exorcised the evil spirit, which caused a new commotion—the masters were upset at losing their livelihood. They instigated a riot and had Paul and Silas thrown in prison. It took an earthquake and a jailer’s conversion to spring them. We don’t know what happened to the young woman. Perhaps she wanted to know more about this Jesus, whose name had liberated her. And maybe she connected with Lydia and the newborn church in Philippi. Was she among the people to whom Paul wrote, “God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won’t stop . . .” (Philippians 1:6)?

All Scriptures from CEV.