Noah's wife
Genesis 6 to 8How do I trust God when my family is entering an unfamiliar season?
A close-reading Bible study · Volume 1 · 12 guided studies
Study the women the Bible never names, slowly enough to see them.
Noah's wife. The widow with a handful of flour. Job's wife and her one sentence. You've read past them for years. This printable guide walks with you through twelve of them, one passage at a time: the key verses printed on the page, room to write what you notice and what you wonder, and my notes to compare with yours. Then you choose one response that fits your own life.
Launch price · 115-page PDF · Sent to your email right after you pay · 7-day refund
- 12 womenin Bible order, Genesis to the Song of Songs
- The key versesprinted in the KJV, with room for notes
- 349 quotationschecked word for word against the KJV
- Companion notesin the back, to compare with yours
Sound familiar?
You want to understand the passage, not just feel something about it.
- You've read these chapters for years and still couldn't tell a friend much about the women in them.
- You hit a hard chapter, closed your Bible, and couldn't have told anyone what it said.
- You wanted more depth than a pretty verse and a short thought, but not a seminary textbook.
- You fell off track halfway through a study and never went back.
- You'd love someone to compare notes with after you've done your own reading.
- You lead a group that has 45 minutes together and no time for a video.
Then this guide was written for you. It gives you the passage, a simple way to read it, room for your questions and your wondering, and my notes to compare with yours afterward.
The invitation this guide keeps
“Let’s read closely, wonder honestly, and keep learning together.”
What I see in the passage
The words and actions Scripture records, with a verse number to find them again.
What I think it may suggest
Your reading, beside what careful readers have said, and the reasons some readings have more support than others.
What I wonder or imagine
Her feelings, her name, the questions the passage leaves open. A place for curiosity, and often where the best questions start.
I write suspense fiction under this same name, so imagination is no stranger here. In this guide we simply keep track of which thought is which, so you can see how each one shapes what you take home. That’s how you learn to read a passage for yourself.
What's inside
12 studies · Genesis to the Song of SongsTwelve women, and the question each one raises
Each study brings one practical question to the text, about your relationships, your work, your home or your faith.
Lot's wife
Genesis 19:15-26 and Luke 17What am I struggling to leave behind?
Potiphar's wife
Genesis 39:7-20What happens when desire turns into entitlement?
Pharaoh's daughter
Exodus 2:5-10When does doing what's right require challenging my own environment?
Jephthah's daughter
Judges 11:29-40What should we do when spiritual commitments cause harm?
Manoah's wife
Judges 13:2-24Am I recognizing the wisdom God has given me?
The Levite's concubine
Judges 19 and 20What happens when the people responsible for protecting others fail?
The widow of Zarephath
1 Kings 17:8-24How do I respond when my resources seem insufficient?
The widow with the oil
2 Kings 4:1-7What resources and relationships are already available to me?
The Shunammite woman
2 Kings 4 and 8Can I advocate for my needs without surrendering my faith?
Job's wife
Job 1 and 2Can we respond compassionately to people whose grief looks different from ours?
The Shulammite woman
Song of Songs, selected versesHow can love involve both genuine desire and wise discernment?
How every study works
The same six steps, twelve times over
1
Her question
An opening page that welcomes you into her situation, with the question we’re bringing to her story.
2
Read it first
The key verses, printed, with a ruled margin for your notes and a few older words explained. No chasing down verses.
3
Your turn first
Your own page: Notice, Ask, Sort and Respond, with room for what you see, what you wonder and what you think it means.
4
Let’s look closer
My notes on the passage, the world around her, a question worth exploring and other ways careful readers have understood her.
5
Where it meets your life
A bridge from the passage to your own season, room for your response, three group questions and ideas for exploring further.
6
Companion notes
In the back of the book, so we can compare what we noticed. Examples, never a list of right answers.
15 minutes for the core studyMore for the notes and further reading, whenever you like45 minutes with a group
Some of these chapters are hard. Studies that involve abuse, violence, a harmful vow or the death of a child open with a short note, so you know what’s ahead. The guide reads them plainly, never squeezes a cheerful lesson out of suffering, and never suggests that faith means staying in danger.
Twelve women, one method, and room to write your own answers.
Launch price · 7-day refund
Is it right for you?
Who it's for, and who it isn't
This is for you if
- You want to understand Scripture for yourself, not just read someone's summary of it.
- You find Bible study hard to pin down on your own and want a method you can repeat.
- You have questions about these women and want a place to explore them honestly, without losing track of what the text says.
- You lead a small group and need discussion questions and a plan, without a video.
- You're single, married, widowed, caring for someone, raising children or not. The questions are written for you.
It's not for you if
- You want a devotional with a short thought and a pretty verse. This guide asks you to read the passage every time.
- You want these women's stories retold as fiction. I write fiction elsewhere, and it's labeled as fiction.
- You want a video series. There isn't one, on purpose.
- You want an academic commentary in Hebrew and Greek. (If you get curious, the guide points you to free tools.)
Who wrote it
Hi, I'm Brielle York.
I write suspense fiction set in Beauclaire Isles, a fictional island community near Miami, and Bible studies on the women Scripture doesn't name. On Gist, I post a new study most days, working through the Bible in order.
This guide gathers the first twelve, rebuilt so you can do the studying yourself: the passage, the method, room to write, and my notes waiting for you afterward.
Questions
Before you buy
What exactly do I get?
A 115-page PDF in US Letter size. It arrives by email right after you pay. Print it at home, or use it on a tablet with an app that lets you write on PDFs. On a screen, every verse number and reference opens that verse on Blue Letter Bible.
Do I need a study Bible or other books?
No. The key verses for each woman are printed in the guide, in the King James Version. Some questions and further-reading ideas point to other passages, so keep a Bible nearby, or tap the reference if you’re reading on a screen.
How long does each study take?
About 15 minutes for the core study: the passage and your own page. My notes, the reflection questions and the ideas for exploring further take longer, whenever you have the time. A group can do one woman in a 45-minute meeting, and the plan is in the back.
I'm not a wife or a mother. Will this fit my life?
Yes. Some of these women were wives and mothers. Others were daughters, widows, women with no child, and a voice in a love poem. Whether you’re single, married, widowed, caring for someone, raising children or not, the questions are written for you.
Can my small group use it?
Yes. Every study has three group questions, and the back of the guide has a 45-minute meeting plan with no video, plus a page on leading the harder studies with care. Each woman who writes in the guide should have her own copy.
What about the things the Bible doesn’t say?
We wonder about them, honestly. Where Scripture is silent, the guide says so and treats it as room to explore. Your questions and imagined possibilities are welcome; we just keep track of which is which. Later traditions, like the name Sitis for Job’s wife, are labeled as tradition, and where careful readers disagree, you’ll see the readings side by side with their reasons.
Can I see how it works before I buy?
Yes. The free 15-Minute Study Method includes Lot's wife, built exactly like the twelve in this guide. Get it free here.
What if it isn't for me?
Email hello@brielleyork.com within 7 days of buying and you'll get a full refund.
How do I pay?
Checkout is through PayPal.
Twelve women. Twelve pages in your own handwriting.
Read what the passage says, wonder honestly about what it leaves open, and write what it means for your life.
Launch price · Sent to your email right after you pay · 7-day refund