And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth ¹  and laid him in a manger, ²  because there was no place for them in the inn. ³ 

So ¹  the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising ²  God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told. ³ 

Now ¹  when the time came for their ²  purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary ³  brought Jesus ⁴  up to Jerusalem ⁵  to present him to the Lord

Now ¹  Jesus ²  came to Nazareth, ³  where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue ⁴  on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. ⁵  He ⁶  stood up to read, ⁷ 

What father among you, if your ¹  son asks for ²  a fish, will give him a snake ³  instead of a fish?

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

While he was on his way down, ¹  his slaves ²  met him and told him that his son was going to live.

The one who belongs to ¹  God listens and responds ²  to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, ³  because you don’t belong to God.” ⁴ 

who said by the Holy Spirit through ¹  your servant David our forefather, ²  ‘Why do the nations ³  rage, ⁴  and the peoples plot foolish ⁵  things?

Now all the Jews know the way I lived ¹  from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people ²  and in Jerusalem. ³ 

Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, ¹  our ancestor Isaac –

As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his own children,

But she will be delivered through childbearing, ¹  if she ²  continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because ¹  love is from God, and everyone who loves ²  has been fathered ³  by God and knows God.

So Jehoshabeath, ¹  the daughter of King Jehoram, ²  took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away ³  from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him.

So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ²  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ³  Abram did what ⁴  Sarai told him.

So Leah became pregnant ¹  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ²  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ³  Surely my husband will love me now.”

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ¹  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ² 

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ¹  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ²