“Before I formed you in your mother’s womb ¹  I chose you. ²  Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled ¹  with God.

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.”

Jacob became furious ¹  with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” ² 

and this water that causes the curse will go ¹  into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot.” ²  Then the woman must say, “Amen, amen.” ³ 

The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ¹  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ²  promised your ancestors ³  he would give you.

You will then eat your own offspring, ¹  the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege ²  by which your enemies will constrict you.

Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ¹  belly.

The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud ¹  did not pull the sword out of his belly. ² 

On the top of each pillar, right above the bulge beside the latticework, there were two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments arranged in rows all the way around. ¹ 

He said, “Naked ¹  I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. ²  The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. ³  May the name of the Lord ⁴  be blessed!”

Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ¹  from the murderers of this world! ²  They enjoy prosperity; ³  you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ⁴  They have many children, and leave their wealth to their offspring. ⁵ 

Just as he came forth from his mother's womb, naked will he return as he came, and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.

This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says – the one who formed you in the womb and helps you: “Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob, Jeshurun, ¹  whom I have chosen!

This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says, the one who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself, ² 

“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ¹  all you who are left from the family of Israel, ²  you who have been carried from birth, ³  you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ⁴ 

Listen to me, you coastlands! ¹  Pay attention, you people who live far away! The Lord summoned me from birth; ²  he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ³ 

Ephraim will be struck down ¹  – their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring.

and said, “I ¹  called out to the Lord from my distress, and he answered me; ²  from the belly of Sheol ³  I cried out for help, and you heard my prayer. ⁴ 

Will the Lord accept a thousand rams, or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin? ¹