¹ Then Saul said to David, “Here’s my oldest daughter, Merab. I want to give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior ²  for me and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul thought, “There’s no need for me to raise my hand against him. Let it be the hand of the Philistines!”

older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters – with complete purity.

When ¹  Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, ²  he called his older ³  son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau ⁴  replied.

“It is not our custom here,” ¹  Laban replied, “to give the younger daughter in marriage ²  before the firstborn.

The gray-haired ¹  and the aged are on our side, ²  men far older than your father. ³ 

But the older son ¹  became angry ²  and refused ³  to go in. His father came out and appealed to him,

This saying ¹  is trustworthy: “If someone aspires to the office of overseer, ²  he desires a good work.”

Do not address an older man harshly ¹  but appeal to him as a father. Speak to younger men as brothers, ² 

King Solomon answered his mother, “Why just request Abishag the Shunammite for him? ¹  Since he is my older brother, you should also request the kingdom for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

The overseer ¹  then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, ²  temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher,

He must not be a recent convert or he may become arrogant ¹  and fall into the punishment that the devil will exact. ² 

Do not lay hands on anyone ¹  hastily and so identify with the sins of others. ²  Keep yourself pure.

Later the older daughter said ¹  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby ²  to have sexual relations with us, ³  according to the way of all the world.

Listen to this, you elders; ¹  pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³  or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

For the overseer ¹  must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, ²  not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain.

In the same way, you who are younger, ¹  be subject to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. ²