Many lists of God's promises for women gather verses that were spoken to everyone. This page does something else. It looks at what was actually said to particular women in the pages of the Bible.
The list is longer and richer than many people expect. A slave woman running away in the desert. A barren wife who laughed. A widow from Moab. A young woman in Nazareth. God met each one, and His care for her changed history.
We also tell you plainly who did the speaking each time. Sometimes it was God Himself. Sometimes it was an angel, a priest, or a group of neighbors. That matters, because it helps you know what kind of word you are reading.
Who heard it, and who spoke it
| Woman | Verse | Who spoke | What was promised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eve | Genesis 3:15 | God, speaking to the serpent while Eve stood by | Her seed would bruise the serpent's head |
| Sarah | Genesis 17:16; 18:14 | God to Abraham, then the LORD at the tent door | A son in her old age, and nations from her |
| Hagar | Genesis 16:10 to 11; 21:17 to 18 | The angel of the LORD; the angel of God from heaven | Descendants too many to count, a great nation |
| Rebekah | Genesis 25:23 | The LORD, directly to her | Two nations in her womb |
| Ruth and Naomi | Ruth 2:12; 4:14 to 15 | Boaz; the women of Bethlehem | Blessings asking God to reward and restore |
| Hannah | 1 Samuel 1:17 | Eli the priest | A blessing that God would grant her request |
| Mary | Luke 1:30 to 33 | The angel Gabriel, sent from God | A son, Jesus, whose kingdom would never end |
Eve: the first promise of a Savior
The very first promise of rescue in the Bible was spoken in the garden right after the fall. God was speaking to the serpent, but He spoke about the woman, and the scene shows her standing right there before Him.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 (KJV)
Notice whose seed is named: hers. In a world where family lines were traced through fathers, God said the one who would defeat the serpent would come from the woman. Christians have long read this as the first hint of Jesus, born of a woman. Eve had just failed in the worst way, and among the first words she heard afterward was hope.
Sarah: is any thing too hard for the LORD?
God first spoke of Sarah's son to Abraham. He changed her name from Sarai to Sarah and said I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations. Abraham fell on his face and laughed.
Later, three visitors came to Abraham's tent, and the LORD repeated the promise while Sarah listened from behind the tent door. She was about ninety. She laughed to herself. The LORD heard it, and asked the question this page is built around:
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Genesis 18:14 (KJV)
Sarah denied laughing, out of fear, and the LORD gently corrected her. A year later Isaac was born, and Sarah said God had made her laugh, this time for joy. If you have a promise you have stopped believing, Sarah's story says God is not offended by your doubts. He just keeps His word.
Hagar: the God who sees
Hagar was an Egyptian servant in Sarah's house, used and then mistreated. Pregnant and alone, she ran into the desert. By a spring of water, the angel of the LORD found her.
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
Genesis 16:10-11 (KJV)
Ishmael means God hears. Hagar responded by giving God a name of her own, the God who sees her. It is a rare moment in Scripture: a runaway servant giving a name to God. Years later, when she and her boy were sent away and their water ran out, she sat down and wept. Again the angel of God called to her from heaven: fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad. Then God showed her a well of water close by. If you have ever felt invisible, Hagar's God sees you too.
Rebekah: a woman who asked God herself
Rebekah had waited twenty years for children. When she finally conceived, the twins fought so hard inside her that she asked, why am I thus? Then she did something simple and bold: she went to ask the LORD. And the LORD answered her.
And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Genesis 25:23 (KJV)
The Bible does not say how she asked. It says she went herself, and the LORD spoke to her. She brought her own question to God and heard His answer. Every woman reading this can do the same. The stories of Eve, Sarah, Hagar and Rebekah are all in Genesis, so they fall in the span of Book One of this series.
Ruth and Naomi: when the promise comes through people
The book of Ruth never records God speaking out loud. Instead, His care shows up through ordinary people. Naomi lost her husband and both sons in Moab and came home to Bethlehem bitter. Her daughter-in-law Ruth came with her and went to glean grain in a field owned by a man named Boaz. When he learned who she was, he blessed her:
The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
Ruth 2:12 (KJV)
Under whose wings. Ruth had come to trust the God of Israel, and Boaz pictured her as a small bird sheltering under the wings of God. Boaz later married Ruth, and when their son was born, the women of the town told Naomi that the child would be a restorer of thy life. That boy, Obed, became the grandfather of King David. Ruth falls in Book Two of this series.
Hannah: a priest's blessing and God's answer
Hannah could not have children, and her husband's other wife mocked her for it year after year. At the house of the LORD in Shiloh, she prayed so hard that her lips moved without sound, and Eli the priest thought she was drunk. When she explained, Eli answered:
Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.
1 Samuel 1:17 (KJV)
Be careful how you read this one. These are Eli's words, a priest's blessing and a prayer, not God speaking in the first person. But Hannah took them to heart. She ate, and her face was no longer sad, even before anything changed. Then the Bible says the LORD remembered her, and she bore Samuel. Later we read:
And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.
1 Samuel 2:21 (KJV)
Hannah gave Samuel to serve the LORD, and God gave her five more children. Her story is in 1 Samuel, which is in Book Two.
A gentle word. Standing on God's promises goes hand in hand with good care. Keep seeing your doctor, take what you have been prescribed, and talk to someone you trust. If healing is slow, that is never proof that your faith was too small. The people of the Bible waited too.
Mary: nothing shall be impossible
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a young woman in Nazareth who was engaged to a man named Joseph. She was troubled at his greeting, so the angel began with fear not:
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Luke 1:30-33 (KJV)
Mary asked how it could happen, since she was a virgin. Gabriel told her about the Holy Ghost, and about her older relative Elisabeth who was expecting a baby after years of barrenness. Then he said that with God nothing shall be impossible. Mary answered that she was the handmaid of the Lord.
When Mary visited Elisabeth, Elisabeth said of her, blessed is she that believed. That line could sum up every woman on this page. The promise was God's. Believing it was hers.
Jesus and the women who met Him
In the Gospels, Jesus kept speaking words of promise straight to women, often women other people overlooked.
He told a Samaritan woman at a well that the water He gives becomes a well of water springing up into everlasting life. He called a woman who touched His robe Daughter and sent her home in peace. He told Martha, at her brother's grave, that He is the resurrection and the life. And on the morning He rose, He sent Mary Magdalene to carry His message to His disciples. Paul later wrote that in Christ there is neither male nor female. Every promise to believers is yours in full.
Read them one at a time
Book One walks through Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, where you meet Eve, Sarah, Hagar and Rebekah and hear the promises God spoke to their families. Each promise has its own page with the King James verse, who it was made to, any condition, what it meant then, what it means for you and a prayer.