We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers have become widows.

You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s flesh.

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

ל (Lamed) Children ¹  say to their mothers, ²  “Where are food and drink?” ³  They faint ⁴  like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly ⁵  in their mothers’ arms. ⁶ 

The young woman ran and told her mother’s household all about ¹  these things.

Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. ¹  He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, ² 

Certainly ¹  you made my mind and heart; ²  you wove me together ³  in my mother’s womb.

There is a generation ¹  who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers. ² 

Leave immediately ¹  for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

You plot against your brother; ¹  you slander your own brother. ² 

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 

who will not receive in this age ¹  a hundred times as much – homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions ²  – and in the age to come, eternal life. ³ 

Yes, you are the one who brought me out ¹  from the womb and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

I have leaned on you since birth; ¹  you pulled me ²  from my mother’s womb. I praise you continually. ³ 

Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ¹ 

He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. ² 

I have been dependent on you since birth; ¹  from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ² 

My own brothers treat me like a stranger; they act as if I were a foreigner. ¹ 

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem.

Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Listen to me! Each of you should return to your mother’s home! ¹  May the Lord show ²  you ³  the same kind of devotion that you have shown to your deceased husbands ⁴  and to me! ⁵