But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, ¹  do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves ²  and for your children.

For this is certain: ¹  The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ ² 

But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name ¹  – he has given the right to become God’s children

They answered him, ¹  “Abraham is our father!” ²  Jesus replied, ³  “If you are ⁴  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ⁵  the deeds of Abraham.

For the promise ¹  is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth –

that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. ¹  Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

Brothers and sisters, ¹  do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

These things may be treated as an allegory, ¹  for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.

Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

for you were at one time darkness, but now you are ¹  light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light –

So I want younger women to marry, raise children, and manage a household, in order to give the adversary no opportunity to vilify us. ¹ 

An elder must be blameless, ¹  the husband of one wife, ²  with faithful children ³  who cannot be charged with dissipation or rebellion.

Again he says, ¹  “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, ²  with ³  the children God has given me.” ⁴ 

like Sarah who obeyed ¹  Abraham, calling him lord. You become her children ²  when you do what is good and have no fear in doing so. ³ 

Their eyes, ¹  full of adultery, ²  never stop sinning; ³  they entice ⁴  unstable people. ⁵  They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! ⁶ 

And now, little children, remain ¹  in him, ²  so that when ³  he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. ⁴ 

You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, ¹  because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

From ¹  the elder, ²  to an elect lady ³  and her children, whom I love in truth ⁴  (and not I alone, but also all those ⁵  who know the truth),