Just as lion cubs are born predators, ¹  so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem ¹  in Judea, in the time ²  of King Herod, ³  wise men ⁴  from the East came to Jerusalem ⁵ 

After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ¹  he asked them where the Christ ²  was to be born.

Then Herod ¹  privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared.

At ¹  the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel ²  before he was conceived in the womb.

Now ¹  when the time came for their ²  purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary ³  brought Jesus ⁴  up to Jerusalem ⁵  to present him to the Lord

Jesus replied, ¹  “I tell you the solemn truth, ²  unless a person is born from above, ³  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ 

Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ²  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

The wind ¹  blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ² 

His disciples asked him, ¹  “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man ²  or his parents?” ³ 

They asked the parents, ¹  “Is this your son, whom you say ²  was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful ¹  to God. For ²  three months he was brought up in his father’s house,

Some days later, when Felix ¹  arrived with his wife Drusilla, ²  who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak ³  about faith in Christ Jesus. ⁴ 

Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, ¹  our ancestor Isaac –

For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But all things come from God.

I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. ¹ 

But she will be delivered through childbearing, ¹  if she ²  continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time.

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ¹  as he said to himself, ²  “Can ³  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁴  Can Sarah ⁵  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁶ 

and the Lord said to her, “Two nations ¹  are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from within you. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”