that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us ¹  from death.”

Through the window she looked; Sisera’s mother cried out through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so slow to return? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot-horses ¹  delayed?’

When he got home, ¹  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ²  Now get her for my wife.”

She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw ¹  how much grain ²  she had gathered. Then Ruth ³  gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime. ⁴ 

So Ruth ¹  worked beside ²  Boaz’s female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. ³  After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law. ⁴ 

She said, “He gave me these sixty pounds of barley, for he said to me, ¹  ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” ² 

His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it up to him at regular intervals when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice.

Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women childless, so your mother will be the most bereaved among women!” Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces there in Gilgal before the Lord.

Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ¹  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Has it been reported to you ¹  that Haggith’s son Adonijah has become king behind our master David’s back? ² 

She said, “I would like to ask you for just one small favor. ¹  Please don’t refuse me.” ²  He said, ³  “Go ahead and ask, my mother, for I would not refuse you.”

Rehoboam passed away ¹  and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah ²  replaced him as king.

Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!”

Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and followed in the footsteps ²  of his father and mother; like Jeroboam son of Nebat, he encouraged Israel to sin. ³ 

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord, but not to the same degree as his father and mother. He did remove the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.

The mother of the child said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So Elisha ¹  got up and followed her back.

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter ²  of King Omri of Israel.

When Jehoram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is everything all right, Jehu?” He replied, “How can everything be all right as long as your mother Jezebel promotes idolatry and pagan practices?” ¹ 

He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Jehoaddan, who was from Jerusalem.