Miriam the prophetess, daughter of Amram and Yocheved of the tribe of Levi, was the sister of Aaron and Moses. According to the Sages she was the eldest of the family and is counted among the seven prophetesses of Israel. Seder Olam explains her name by the bitterness (merirut) the Egyptians then imposed on the Hebrews.

The Talmud identifies her with Puah, one of the Hebrew midwives who refused Pharaoh's order to kill the newborn boys. It also relates that when Amram separated from his wife because of the decree, his daughter told him his decree was harsher than Pharaoh's, and he took his wife back. She prophesied that her mother would bear a son who would save Israel. According to the Book of Exodus, Moses' sister watched over him from afar when he was placed by the Nile, and then offered Pharaoh's daughter a Hebrew nurse: their own mother.

After the crossing of the Red Sea, "Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." The prophet Micah names her alongside Moses and Aaron among those sent before Israel at the Exodus. The Book of Numbers relates that after speaking against Moses she was struck with tzaraat and had to remain outside the camp for seven days before she was healed.

According to tradition, a miraculous well, "Miriam's well", accompanied the Children of Israel in the desert in her merit. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch saw her as an example and model for the Jewish woman.

She died at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, in the fortieth year after the Exodus, and was buried there; immediately afterwards "there was no water for the congregation." The Targum attributed to Yonatan, Megillat Taanit Batra and Seder Olam Rabbah place her death on 10 Nissan. The Sages teach that the death of the righteous atones, just as the offerings do.