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 is what the Lord says: “Where is your mother’s divorce certificate by which I divorced her? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ¹  Look, you were sold because of your sins; ²  because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. 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 

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 

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

Then he ¹  brought out gold, silver jewelry, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and to her mother.

“But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! ¹ 

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be ¹  lord ²  over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. ³  May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”

So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Rescue me, ¹  I pray, from the hand ²  of my brother Esau, ³  for I am afraid he will come ⁴  and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children. ⁵ 

We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. ¹  The boy’s ²  brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, ³  and his father loves him.’

“Honor ¹  your father and your mother, that you may live a long time ²  in the land ³  the Lord your God is giving to you.

You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day.

You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, ¹  whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; ²  you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. ³ 

If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, ¹  it is lewdness. ²  Both he and they must be burned to death, ³  so there is no lewdness in your midst.

You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister and your father’s sister, for such a person has laid bare his own close relative. ¹  They must bear their punishment for iniquity. ² 

The Israelite woman’s son misused the Name and cursed, ¹  so they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

He must not defile himself even ¹  for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, ²  because the separation ³  for ⁴  his God is on his head.

If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, ¹ 

You must be sure ¹  to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.