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.’

Now the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people.

Woe ¹  to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!

While ¹  they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ² 

Be keenly aware that just as a parent disciplines his child, ¹  the Lord your God disciplines you.

The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy ¹  both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.

Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us. ¹ 

Just as you do not know the path ¹  of the wind, or how the bones form ²  in the womb of a pregnant woman, ³  so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Before she goes into labor, she gives birth! Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!

Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.”

She ¹  exclaimed with a loud voice, ²  “Blessed are you among women, ³  and blessed is the child ⁴  in your womb!

At ¹  the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel ²  before he was conceived in the womb.

At that moment, ¹  she came up to them ²  and began to give thanks to God and to speak ³  about the child ⁴  to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. ⁵ 

He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ²  For the child will be dedicated ³  to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

And Adam had marital relations ¹  with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given ²  me another child ³  in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”

Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot ¹  away; for she thought, ²  “I refuse to watch the child die.” ³  So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. ⁴ 

But Onan knew that the child ¹  would not be considered his. ²  So whenever ³  he had sexual relations with ⁴  his brother’s wife, he withdrew prematurely ⁵  so as not to give his brother a descendant.

After three months Judah was told, ¹  “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, ²  and as a result she has become pregnant.” ³  Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms.