Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He ¹  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, ²  the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  His mother was an Ammonite woman ⁴  named Naamah.

So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he went through the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. He called out to her, “Please give me a cup ¹  of water, so I can take a drink.”

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.

This young woman pleased him, ¹  and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen ²  young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ³ 

But he replied, ¹  “You’re talking like one of the godless ²  women would do! Should we receive ³  what is good from God, and not also ⁴  receive ⁵  what is evil?” ⁶  In all this Job did not sin by what he said. ⁷ 

Enjoy ¹  life with your beloved wife ²  during all the days of your fleeting ³  life that God ⁴  has given you on earth ⁵  during all your fleeting days; ⁶  for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work ⁷  on earth. ⁸ 

They trample ¹  on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; ²  they push the destitute away. ³  A man and his father go to the same girl; ⁴  in this way they show disrespect ⁵  for my moral purity. ⁶ 

For the Lord ¹  had caused infertility to strike every woman ²  in the household of Abimelech because he took ³  Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find ¹  a wife for my son.’

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham’s servant and his men.

When ¹  Esau was forty years old, ²  he married ³  Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

When her labor was at its hardest, ¹  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ² 

Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons ¹  of Esau’s wife Adah.

There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man ¹  named Shua. ²  Judah acquired her as a wife ³  and had marital relations with her. ⁴ 

So he returned to Judah and said, “I couldn’t find her. Moreover, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get ¹  a nursing woman ²  for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse ³  the child for you?”

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand-drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand-drums and with dances. ¹ 

“If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she ¹  dies as a result of the blow, ²  he will surely be punished. ³ 

If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner ¹  must pay thirty shekels of silver, ²  and the ox must be stoned. ³ 

Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, ¹  so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness. ²