Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, ¹  he appeared to me also.

And so by persevering, Abraham ¹  inherited the promise.

Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ¹  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ¹  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ² 

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” That is why she named him Judah. ¹  Then she stopped having children.

They sat before him, arranged by order of birth, beginning with the firstborn and ending with the youngest. ¹  The men looked at each other in astonishment. ² 

¹  “When you assist ²  the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: ³  If it is a son, kill him, ⁴  but if it is a daughter, she may live.” ⁵ 

then you must give over ¹  to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. ²  Every firstling ³  of a beast that you have ⁴  – the males will be the Lord’s. ⁵ 

You yourselves must obey ¹  my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, ² 

You must set apart ¹  for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks.

But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! ¹  I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! ² 

Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food, but the hungry no longer lack. Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ²  but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, ¹  named Genubath. Tahpenes raised ²  him in Pharaoh’s palace; Genubath grew up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s sons.

But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. ¹  You lie among ²  the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for ³  the stones of the pit, ⁴  as if you were a mangled corpse. ⁵ 

They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. ¹  For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants. ² 

What will you say ¹  when the Lord ²  appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ³  Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ⁴ 

For I, the Lord, tell you what will happen to ¹  the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. ² 

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you ¹  will groan ²  when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

The angel replied, ¹  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow ²  you. Therefore the child ³  to be born ⁴  will be holy; ⁵  he will be called the Son of God.

As ¹  he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out ²  to him, “Blessed is the womb ³  that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” ⁴