People and genealogy
The people of Scripture
The people this site has written or filed, set in the period each one stands in, from before Abraham to the letters of the apostles.
Summary
111 lives are written here in full, and 117 more names carry a register row with the verses that hold them. Five studies take a whole group at once and are counted apart.
- Genesis opens with every nation. It narrows to the family God calls in Abraham.
- The family goes into Egypt, comes out under Moses, and takes the land under Joshua.
- Judges lead until Israel asks for a king. Then 39 reigns follow the split.
- Assyria takes the north and Babylon the south. Persia sends the people home.
- The Gospels open four hundred years later. The Twelve carry the story into Acts.
The people by era
Show the groups
- Five walks across the familyeach takes a whole group at once0 group studies
- Before AbrahamAdam to the tower1 written life, 1 in the register
- The patriarchsAbraham to Joseph1 written life
- Egypt and the wildernessMoses to the plains of Moab1 written life, 1 in the register
- The united kingdomSaul, David and Solomon1 written life, 4 in the register
- Judah, the southern throneRehoboam to Zedekiah7 written lives
- Israel, the northern throneJeroboam to Hoshea3 written lives
- Jesus and the Gospelsthe birth to the ascension2 written lives, 1 in the register
- The church, from Acts onwardPaul, his circle and the letters1 written life, 7 in the register
- Named elsewhere in Scripturethe record gives no date1 in the register
Before Abraham
The first eleven chapters of Genesis, from the garden to Babel. The rest of Scripture keeps looking back to these names.
1 written life, 1 in the register
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The register: 1 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
The patriarchs
One family across four generations, carrying a promise it could not keep, and Job, whom the record sets in the same age. Every later covenant is spoken back to these names.
1 written life
Egypt and the wilderness
The generation that left Egypt, took the law at Sinai, and died in the desert. Its leaders and its rebels are both here.
1 written life, 1 in the register
The register: 1 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
The united kingdom
Three reigns over one nation, with the prophets who stood beside them. The throne is given, built up, then split at Solomon's death.
1 written life, 4 in the register
The register: 4 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
AbigailNabal's wife, a woman of good understanding whose swift intercession kept David from avenging himself with his own hand — and who became his wife when the LORD returned Nabal's wrong on his own head9 passages- AgagKing of Amalek, spared by Saul against the express command — the partial obedience that cost Saul the kingdom; hewed in pieces before Jehovah by Samuel at Gilgal3 passages
AhimelechPriest of Nob who gave the fugitive David the showbread and Goliath's sword, not knowing the king's quarrel; slain with eighty-five priests on Saul's order at Doeg's hand4 passages- AsaphA Levitical chief musician appointed by David over the temple song (1 Chr 16); twelve psalms bear his name (Ps 50, 73–83)35 passages
Judah, the southern throne
The line of David held Jerusalem for twenty reigns, from the split under Rehoboam to the fall of the city, with the prophets sent to them.
7 written lives
- AbijahBrief but militarily successful reign
- AsaGodly king who instituted reforms and trusted God for victory, but later relied on foreign alliance and persecuted a prophet
- Ahaziah of JudahThe sixth king of Judah who reigned for only one year, deeply influenced by his wicked mother Athaliah and the house of Ahab
AthaliahDaughter of Ahab and Jezebel who seized the throne of Judah by slaughtering the royal heirs after her son's deathGustave Doré, The Death of Athaliah, The Holy Bible (1866)- AmaziahThe ninth king of Judah who defeated Edom but then foolishly worshipped Edomite gods
- AhazOne of the most wicked kings of Judah who practiced child sacrifice, introduced Assyrian religion into Jerusalem, closed the Temple, and refused Isaiah's offer of a divine sign
- AmonThe fifteenth king of Judah, who reigned two years
Israel, the northern throne
Nine dynasties rose and fell in two hundred years, each judged by the calves at Bethel and Dan. Elijah and Elisha were sent against this throne.
3 written lives
AhabThe seventh and most infamous king of Israel who married Jezebel and introduced systematic Baal worship to IsraelUnknown, Jezebel Promises King Ahab Naboth's Vineyard (undated)- Ahaziah of IsraelThe eighth king of Israel who reigned two years and followed the sins of both his father Ahab and his mother Jezebel
AmosAmos of Tekoa, a Judean shepherd and dresser of sycamore figs, prophesied against the northern kingdom in the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II. His message names injustice hidden under religious observance, and it stands among the plainest prophetic charges of covenant hypocrisy in the Old TestamentGustave Doré, The Prophet Amos (1866)
Jesus and the Gospels
The Twelve stand here, where a reader first meets them, with the family, the friends, the rulers who tried Jesus, and the witnesses of the resurrection.
2 written lives, 1 in the register
AnnaAnna the prophetess was an 84-year-old widow who worshipped night and day in the temple with fasting and prayerRembrandt, The Prophetess Anna in the Temple
AndrewAndrew, brother of Simon Peter, was among the first disciples called and is remembered throughout the Gospels for consistently bringing others to Jesus, from his own brother to a boy with loaves and fishes to Greek visitors seeking the LordJosé de Ribera, The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew
The register: 1 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
The church, from Acts onward
Paul and his circle, the men and women of Acts, and the churches the letters were written to. The Twelve stand one period back, where they were called.
1 written life, 7 in the register
The register: 7 more names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
- Alexander the coppersmithDid Paul much evil — "the Lord will render to him according to his works" (2 Tim 4:14); possibly the Alexander of 1 Tim 1:20
- Ananias of DamascusA disciple at Damascus told in a vision to go and lay hands on the man who had come to arrest him; he argues briefly with God about it, and goes — greeting the persecutor as Brother Saul
- ApollosEloquent, Alexandrian-trained teacher mighty in the Scriptures (Acts 18:24-28), instructed more perfectly by Priscilla and Aquila; his name became a Corinthian factional banner though he was Paul's unified fellow-laborer (1 Cor 3:5-9)6 passages
- ApphiaAddressed with Philemon and Archippus (Phlm 2), traditionally his wife — "Apphia our sister."1 passage
AquilaA Jewish tentmaker of Pontus who, with his wife Priscilla, labored alongside Paul and "laid down their own necks" for him (Rom 16:3-4; Acts 18)7 passages- ArchippusFellow-soldier addressed in Phlm 2, charged in Col 4:17 to take heed to the ministry received in the Lord2 passages
- ArtemasOne of two men Paul considered sending to Crete so Titus could winter with him at Nicopolis (Titus 3:12)1 passage
Named elsewhere in Scripture
Names the record places by book rather than by reign. Their pages say what Scripture says and leave the date open.
1 in the register
The register: 1 names in this era, each with the passages that hold them
Keep studying
On this page
Where they stood3
The written lives come from this site’s own character pages. The register rows come from its person dossiers. The number in a register row is how many passages Orville J. Nave lists under that name in Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a public domain work.