Jehoram ¹  received this letter from Elijah the prophet: “This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: ‘You ²  have not followed in the footsteps ³  of your father Jehoshaphat and of ⁴  King Asa of Judah,

However, he did not execute their sons. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, ¹  “Fathers must not be executed for what their sons do, ²  and sons must not be executed for what their fathers do. ³  A man must be executed only for his own sin.” ⁴ 

Uzziah passed away ¹  and was buried near his ancestors ²  in a cemetery ³  belonging to the kings. (This was because he had a skin disease.) ⁴  His son Jotham replaced him as king.

So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ¹  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ²  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

Now he was acting as the guardian ¹  of Hadassah ²  (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, for neither her father nor her mother was alive. ³  This young woman was very attractive and had a beautiful figure. ⁴  When her father and mother died, Mordecai had raised her ⁵  as if she were his own daughter.

They have gone back to the evil ways ¹  of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to ²  other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah ³  have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer ¹  for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer ²  for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness. ³ 

Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, ‘You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.’ Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies. ¹ 

“A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ¹  his master. If I am your ²  father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’

That is why ¹  a man leaves ²  his father and mother and unites with ³  his wife, and they become a new family. ⁴ 

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹ 

Now the Lord said ¹  to Abram, ²  “Go out ³  from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. ⁴ 

No longer will your name be ¹  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ²  because I will make you ³  the father of a multitude of nations.

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.

So they made their father drunk ¹  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. ²  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ³ 

The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ¹  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

What’s more, ¹  she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife.

“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. ¹  “Tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, ¹  will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,