the Angel ¹  who has protected me ²  from all harm – bless these boys. May my name be named in them, ³  and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

He went up from there to Bethel. ¹  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ²  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”

Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha ¹  he told him, “The child did not wake up.”

The king said, “Find out whose son this boy is!”

When Elisha arrived at the house, there was ¹  the child lying dead on his bed.

The man ¹  replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed ²  all these laws ³  since my youth.” ⁴ 

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 Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons ¹  that are born you must throw ²  into the river, but all daughters you may let live.” ³ 

When the Philistine looked carefully at David, he despised him, for he was only a ruddy and handsome boy.

So Joseph moved them from Israel’s knees ¹  and bowed down with his face to the ground.

If the ox ¹  gores a son or a daughter, the owner ²  will be dealt with according to this rule. ³ 

I prayed for this boy, and the Lord has given me the request that I asked of him.

“Let the day on which ¹  I was born ²  perish, and the night that said, ³  ‘A man ⁴  has been conceived!’ ⁵ 

When I was a son to my father, ¹  a tender only child ²  before my mother,

I answered, “Oh, Lord God, ¹  I really ²  do not know how to speak well enough for that, ³  for I am too young.” ⁴ 

Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot ¹  away; for she thought, ²  “I refuse to watch the child die.” ³  So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. ⁴ 

Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  You must never cut his hair, ²  for the child will be dedicated to God ³  from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power ⁴  of the Philistines.”

Manoah prayed to the Lord, ¹  “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God ²  to visit ³  us again, so he can teach ⁴  us how we should raise ⁵  the child who will be born.”

She named the boy Ichabod, ¹  saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.

When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ¹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.