Person Old Testament
Merab
Also known as Michal =KJV; Merab =ESV, NIV
Merab, the eldest daughter of King Saul, was promised to David but given to Adriel. Mentioned in 4 verses across 2 books, first at 1 Samuel 14:49.
Why it matters. Eldest daughter of King Saul.
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Merab
Merab was the eldest daughter of King Saul (1Sa.14.49). She was initially promised to David as a wife, with the condition that he fight valiantly for Saul and the Lord (1Sa.18.17). However, when the time came for her to be given to David, she was instead given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife (1Sa.18.19). Merab had five sons with Adriel, and these sons were among the seven descendants of Saul who were handed over to the Gibeonites for execution, as a means of atonement for Saul's attempt to annihilate the Gibeonites (2Sa.21.8). This event occurred during David's reign, when a three-year famine prompted David to seek the Lord's guidance.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Spouse
- Adriel
Appears in Scripture
Named in 4 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.