father of יַעֲשִׂיאֵל

שאול 's  cousin and general of his army. דוד   accuses אבנר   of not protecting שאול   adequately when דוד   has an opportunity to kill שאול .  After שאול 's  death, אבנר   crowns שאול 's  son איש בשת   king over Israel. אבנר   challenges דוד 's  general, יואב בן צרויה ,  to a battle and Israel's soldiers get routed (losing 360 men to דוד 's  20) although אבנר   does kill יואב 's  brother עֲשָׂהאֵל .  After אִישׁ בֹּשֶׁת   accuses אבנר   of sleeping with שאול 's  concubine רִצְפָּה בַּת אַיָה ,  אבנר   defects to דוד 's  camp and convinces the elders of Israel to accept דוד   as their king. Nevertheless, even though אבנר   has become דוד 's  ally, יואב   kills אבנר   in revenge for his brother עשהאל 's  death. דוד   is appalled at this treachery and curses יואב   and his family for slaying a great warrior of Israel.

Tenth שׁוֹפֵט   of Israel, אִבְצָן   is from בֵּית לֶחֶם   and judges for seven years. אִבְצָן   has 30 sons and 30 daughters. The מדרש   claims that אבצן   and בעז   are one and the same (בבא בתרא צא .).

Founding father of Judaism, the first of Israel's three patriarchs: אברהם ,  יצחק ,  יעקב .  Born אַבְרָם   in אוּר כַּשְׂדִים ,  he represents the tenth generation after נח .  The תורה   reveals nothing about אברם 's  childhood, but the מדרש   tells us stories about the patriarch intuiting the existence of God and smashing idols in his father's idol shop (see for example במדבר רבה יד :ב   and בראשית רבה לח :ח ). אברם 's  wife שָׂרַי   is barren. Led by תרח ,  the family sets out from אור כשדים   for ארץ כענן .  They get as far as חָרָן   where תרח   dies (פרשת נח ). God appears to אברם   and tells him to leave his homeland and travel to a land that He will show him. This first communication of God to אברם   is considered the first of many tests posed by the Lord to אברהם .  According to פרקי אבות ,  אברהם   faces ten challenges in his long relationship with God (פרקי אבות ה :ג .  Commentaries on this משנה   provide different compilations of episodes to reach ten tests - see below). At this early point in אברם 's  story, God promises to make אברם   a great nation. אברם   accedes to God's command and travels to כנען   with his wife and his nephew לוט ,  following God's lead. Once there, God makes His second promise: to give the land to אברם 's  descendants. These two promises: אברם   will have many descendants, and they will inherit the land of Israel, are repeated often to אברהם   as well as to יצחק   and יעקב .  The promises are referred to frequently in the rest of the תורה   (see for example שמות ו :ד   and שמות לב :יג ) and נ "ך ,  and remain strong beliefs in Judaism. A famine in כנען   sends אברם   and שרי   to Egypt where אברם   pretends that his wife is his sister. Upon returning to כנען ,  אברם   and לוט   part ways since each is very wealthy and their flocks require separate grazing land. לוט   who chooses to live in סְדֹם   gets caught up in a war between city states and אברם   rushes to his rescue. In gratitude for his assistance, ברע ,  the king of סדם ,  offers the plunder to אברם   who turns him down saying that he'd rather his wealth was attributed to God's beneficence and not the king's gifts. God again promises אברם   that he will found a great nation and compares his descendants to the numerous stars (בראשית טו :ה ). God and אברם   strike a covenant known as " בְּרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים "  in which the promise of the land is again enunciated. During this episode God informs אברם   that his descendants will be oppressed in a foreign land. Following his wife's suggestion, אברם   marries הגר ,  שרי 's  maid, so that she may bear אברם   a child, since שרי   remains barren. אברם   is 86 years old when הגר   gives birth to a son, ישמעאל .  God appears to אברם   again, promising to give him the land and to make him the founder of a great nation. To emphasize this second point God changes His beneficiary's name from אברם   to אברהם ,  arguing that אברהם   signifies "father of a multitude of nations" (בראשית יז :ה ). It is at this time that God introduces the practice of circumcision to אברהם .  He is commanded to circumcise himself and all future male descendants. This will be the physical sign of the covenant between God and אברהם 's  family. God also renames שרי   in preparation for her becoming a mother, changing her name to שרה .  Upon hearing that he and his wife will have a son together, אברהם   laughs. He is, after all, 99 years old at this point and שרה   is 90. Nevertheless, God assures him that he will have a son and instructs that the boy be named יצחק .  The covenant that God has forged with אברהם   will find expression in יצחק .  אברהם   proceeds to circumcise himself, ישמעאל   and all of his household (פרשת לך לך ). Three men come to visit אברהם   and during the course of the encounter שרה   overhears the news that she will give birth to a son in a year (according to the popular interpretation of this story the three men were angels. See רש "י   on בראשית יח :א   which is based on the מדרש   from בבא מציעא פב :).  God informs אברהם   that He plans on destroying the towns of סְדֹם   and עֲמֹרָה   due to the wickedness of their inhabitants. This leads to a lengthy dialogue between God and אברהם   wherein the latter begs God to spare the towns. אברהם   travels to גְּרָר   where he again presents his wife as his sister. אבימליך ,  the king, takes שרה .  He is warned by God in a dream that he will die for having taken a married woman. אבימלך   confronts אברהם   who defends himself by arguing that indeed שרה   is related to him on his father's side (see רש "י   to בראשית כ :יב ), and by claiming that he had to protect himself from the immorality of the place. אבימלך   sends the couple away with many gifts and later on forges a pact with אברהם .  יצחק   is born and is circumcised. אברהם 's  other son ישמעאל   makes sport of יצחק ,  and שרה   demands that אברהם   banish ישמעאל   and הגר ,  saying that she will not have ישמעאל   inherit along with יצחק .  אברהם   is upset by שרה 's  request but God tells him to grant שרה 's  wish. אברהם   sends ישמעאל   and הגר   away, and God promises him that ישמעאל   too will found a great nation. God gives אברהם   his greatest test when He asks him to sacrifice יצחק   on an altar - the episode known as עֲקֵדַת יִצְחָק .  Without hesitation, אברהם   takes his son and travels to a place indicated by God and prepares to kill his son. At the last moment אברהם   is stopped by an angel who declares that אברהם   has proven his complete faith by this act of utter submission to the will of God (פרשת וירא ). שרה   dies at age 127, and after mourning her אברהם   proceeds to buy a burial plot and cave from עפרון החתי ,  at a location in חֶבְרוֹן   known as מְעָרַת הַמַּכְפֵּלָה .  אברהם   next sends his servant to his homeland to find a wife for יצחק .  אברהם   refuses to let his son marry a local girl and also warns the servant against taking יצחק   out of כנען   to settle in אברהם 's  native land. אברהם   lives to 175 and upon his death is buried in the family burial plot by his sons יצחק   and ישמעאל   (פרשת חיי שרה ). אברהם   remains the father figure for the Jewish people and is generally called אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ -  אברהם   our father. The Bible, the prayer book and Jewish culture often recall the unique relationship אברהם   had with God, sometimes referring to God as אֱלֹ -הֵי אַבְרָהָם -  the God of אברהם .  The Talmud credits אברהם   with contributing to the composition of תהלים   (בבא בתרא יד :.  רש "י   suggests that this means that אברהם   and איתן האזרחי   are one and the same; איתן   is mentioned in תהלים פט :א .). 

פרקי אבות ה :ג   states that אברהם   passes 10 tests put to him by God. Here is one list of these trials as assembled by the רמב "ם . 

1. Emigration to a foreign country which God commands (בראשית יב :א -ו ).

2. The famine that אברהם   encounters upon reaching his destination, though told he would prosper (יב :י ).

3. The treachery of the Egyptians when שרה   is taken to the palace (יב :יד -כ ).

4. The war of the five kings versus the four that אברהם   participates in (פרק יד ).

5. אברהם 's  marriage to הגר   after despairing of שרה   having a child (פרק טז ).

6. God's command to אברהם   to circumcise himself (יז :ט -יד ).

7. The treachery of the king of גרר   when שרה   is taken by him (פרק כ ).

8. The banishment of הגר   after she bore him a son (כא :ט -כא ).

9. The banishment of ישמעאל   from the household (כא :ט -כא )

10. עקדת יצחק -  the binding of יצחק   (פרק כב ).

the former name of אַבְרָהָם

דוד 's  third son whose mother is מַעֲכָה בַּת תַּלְמַי .  When אבשלום 's  sister תמר   is raped by their half brother אמנון ,  אבשלום   takes תמר   into his house. Two years after that, אבשלום   gets his revenge when he kills אמנון   at sheep shearing festivities. אבשלום   then escapes to גשור   to his maternal grandfather תלמי ,  with whom he stays for three years. Thanks to the intervention of יואב   (אבשלום 's  cousin) דוד   is persuaded to allow אבשלום   to return to ירושלים .  Nevertheless, אבשלום   is not allowed in the palace but remains unseen by דוד   for two more years. In order to get יואב 's  attention, אבשלום   sets his field on fire; יואב   then agrees to get אבשלום   an audience with דוד .  דוד   embraces אבשלום   but is soon betrayed by him. Chapters 15 through 19 in שמואל ב   tell the story of אבשלום 's  rebellion against דוד .  אבשלום   first builds up popular support among the people and then declares himself king in חברון .  דוד   flees ירושלים   when he realizes that the nation is with his son. He takes with him soldiers and loyalists all weeping at their misfortune. אבשלום   follows אחיתפל 's  advice and sleeps with דוד 's  concubines who have remained in ירושלים ,  a sign of אבשלום 's  usurpation of his father's throne. But God forces אבשלום   to accept חושי 's  battle plan over אחיתפל 's  which was objectively sounder. When דוד   finally sends out an army to confront אבשלום 's  forces, דוד 's  men are victorious and 20,000 men of Israel are killed. אבשלום ,  riding a donkey under a terebinth tree, gets his hair caught in the branches and is stuck there. יואב   hears that אבשלום   is trapped and he kills the prince while he hangs in the tree. Before his death, אבשלום   had set up a monument to himself called "יד אבשלום ".

father of שַׁמָּה

King of עמלק   whom שאול   fails to kill, leading to שאול 's  dethronement. According to the midrash, אגג   is the ancestor of המן   (מגילה יג .).

A contributing author to the book of משלי .  According to the מדרש ,  the name אגור   is a pseudonym for שלמה ,  the accepted author of the book (ילקוט שמעוני משלי רמז ).

A son of ישמעאל .

The head of the Jewish community at כָּסִפְיָא .  During his journey to Israel, עזרא   realizes that his company lacks לְוִיִּם   to serve in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. He sends messengers to אדו   asking him to supply the necessary men for the group heading towards the homeland. אדו   complies and sends along roughly 40 לוים   to fill the Levite jobs in the Temple.

המן 's  ten sons are hanged following his downfall. אדליא   is one of them.

The world's first human. Created by God on the sixth day of creation, אדם   and his counterpart, אשה   (later named חוה ) are placed in גן עדן   and commanded to populate the earth. אדם   is given rule over all of nature and is permitted to subjugate the animal kingdom and to eat from all the plants he sees save from the עץ הדעת טוב ורע .  The woman he is with is persuaded by the snake to eat this forbidden fruit and she then tempts אדם   to partake as well. As punishment for their disobedience the couple is expelled from גן עדן   and given individual punishments as well. אדם   is told that his sustenance will from now on be secured only through toil. אדם   has three sons: קין ,  הבל   and שת   and lives for 930 years (פרשת בראשית ). The Talmud credits אדם   with contributing to the composition of תהלים   (בבא בתרא יד :.  רש "י   suggests that תהלים קלט :טז   is his work.).

One of King אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ 's  closest advisors. Following the slight of Queen וַשְׁתִּי ,  he is among those consulted when the king seeks an appropriate response to his wife's disobedience.

A Canaanite king captured and killed during שבט יהודה 's  conquest of its territory. אדני בזק   is a wicked king who severs the thumbs and big toes of his captured foes and forces them (70 in all) to scrounge for scraps of food under his table. The men from יהודה   disfigure him in like manner.

King of ירושלים   from the nation of אֱמֹר .  Upon hearing of יהושע 's  conquest of יריחו   and עי   as well as the submission of the גבעונים ,  אדני צדק   forges a pact with other local Amorite kings: הוהם ,  פראם ,  יפיע   and דביר .  Together the five attack גבעון   for making peace with Israel. The outmanned גבעונים   call יהושע   for assistance. יהושע   and his army arrive and defeat the five armies with two miracles thrown in by God to make the job easier.

A leader of the people during the time of נחמיה ,  אדניה   is a signatory to a pledge - an אֲמָנָה -  affirmed by the leaders of the community. Those who sign the declaration promise to observe the commandments of the Torah, to refrain from intermarrying, to avoid commerce on Shabbat, and to make regular donations to the Temple.

The Judean king יהושפט   is a righteous leader who walks in the ways of God. He sends a delegation of religious authorities on a circuit throughout the cities of יהודה   to teach Torah to the people. אדניהו ,  a לוי ,  is one of the instructors in that group.

דוד 's  fourth son. His mother is חַגִּית .  When דוד   becomes old and weak, אדניה   decides that he will be the next king. He assembles chariots and runners and gathers some of his father's advisors- יואב בן צרויה   and אביתר הכהן   to support him, spurning צדוק הכהן ,  בניהו בן יהוידע ,  נתן הנביא ,  and of course שלמה .  While celebrating אדניה 's  imminent coronation, יונתן בן אביתר   arrives with news that דוד   has chosen שלמה   as Israel's next leader. The party breaks up suddenly and אדניה ,  fearing שלמה ,  runs and seizes the horns of the מזבח   believing that he will be safe there. שלמה   sends word that if אדניה   behaves, no harm will come to him. After דוד   dies אדניה   asks בת שבע   to appeal to שלמה   to grant him דוד 's  concubine, אבישג השונמית ,  as a wife. שלמה   sees this as a challenge to his throne and he has אדניה   killed by בניהו בן יהוידע .  The story of אדניה 's  attempt to seize Israel's throne and דוד 's  selection of שלמה   to succeed him (מלכים א פרק א ) is read as the הפטרה   for פרשת חיי שרה .

666 (or 667) of this man's descendants return to יהודה   with זְרֻבָּבֶל   following the edict of כּוֹרֶשׁ .  Other descendants of his accompany עזרא   to Israel from בבל .

Labour minister under שלמה המלך   and under his son רחבעם ,  responsible for enlisting people to work for the state. אדנירם   is put in charge of organizing and dispatching labourers to cut timber in Lebanon for שלמה 's  construction of the בית המקדש .  After רחבעם 's  rise to the throne, the king announces that he will be tougher on the people than his father was. אדרם   was the first casualty of this policy. רחבעם   sends אדרם   to quell the rebellion against him, and the people of ישראל   stone him to death.

A grandson of בנימין בן יעקב .

דוד 's  tax collector.

Son and assassin of סנחריב מלך אשור .

The third-born son of שמעון בן יעקב .

A descendant of בנימין בן יעקב .

The second of the שופטים ,  this judge from שבט בנימין   leads a rebellion against the מואב   king, עגלון .  אהוד   is left-handed which allows him to sneak a double-edged sword into the palace on his right thigh. At the right moment, אהוד   stabs the king in the stomach and escapes to lead the Jews in battle against the oppressors. Following this victory, the land is peaceful for 80 years.

A son or grandson of זְרֻבָּבֶל   and hence either a great-grandson or great-great-grandson of יְהוֹיָכִין ,  the nineteenth king of יהודה .

The name given to the kingdom of ישראל   (represented by its capital שמרון ) by the prophet יחזקאל   when the land is portrayed as an unfaithful woman. Her sister kingdom יהודה   is called אָהֳלִיבָה .

This craftsman from שבט דן   is appointed by God to assist בצלאל   in the construction of the משכן   utensils (פרשיות כי תשא ,  ויקהל ,  פקודי ).