<p class="poetry">&#8220;Before I formed you in your mother&#8217;s womb<n id="1" /> I chose you.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Before you were born I set you apart.p> <p class="poetry">I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="poetry">In the womb he attacked his brother;p> <p class="poetry">in his manly vigor he struggled<n id="1" /> with God.p>

and the <sc>Lordsc> said to her,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Two nations<n id="1" /> are in your womb,p> <p class="poetry">and two peoples will be separated from within you.p> <p class="poetry">One people will be stronger than the other,p> <p class="poetry">and the older will serve the younger.&#8221;p>

Jacob became furious<n id="1" /> with Rachel and exclaimed, &#8220;Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?&#8221;<n id="2" />

and this water that causes the curse will go<n id="1" /> into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Then the woman must say, &#8220;Amen, amen.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> will greatly multiply your children,<n id="1" /> the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he<n id="2" /> promised your ancestors<n id="3" /> he would give you.

You will then eat your own offspring,<n id="1" /> the flesh of the sons and daughters the <sc>Lordsc> your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege<n id="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&#8217;s<n id="1" /> belly.

The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud<n id="1" /> did not pull the sword out of his belly.<n id="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.<n id="1" />

He said, &#8220;Naked<n id="1" /> I came from my mother&#8217;s womb, and naked I will return there.<n id="2" /> The <sc>Lordsc> gives, and the <sc>Lordsc> takes away.<n id="3" /> May the name of the <sc>Lordsc><n id="4" /> be blessed!&#8221;

<p class="poetry"><sc>Lordsc>, use your power to deliver me from these murderers,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">from the murderers of this world!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They enjoy prosperity;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">you overwhelm them with the riches they desire.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">They have many children,p> <p class="poetry">and leave their wealth to their offspring.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Just as he came forth from his mother's womb, naked will he return as he came,p> <p class="poetry">and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc>, the one who made you, says &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid, my servant Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">Jeshurun,<n id="1" /> whom I have chosen!p>

<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc>, your protector,<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed you in the womb:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>, who made everything,p> <p class="poetry">who alone stretched out the sky,p> <p class="poetry">who fashioned the earth all by myself,<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Listen to me, O family of Jacob,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">all you who are left from the family of Israel,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">you who have been carried from birth,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Listen to me, you coastlands!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Pay attention, you people who live far away!p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> summoned me from birth;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Ephraim will be struck down<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">their root will be dried up;p> <p class="poetry">they will not yield any fruit.p> <p class="poetry">Even if they do bear children,p> <p class="poetry">I will kill their precious offspring.p>

and said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I<n id="1" /> called out to the <sc>Lordsc> from my distress,p> <p class="poetry">and he answered me;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">from the belly of Sheol<n id="3" /> I cried out for help,p> <p class="poetry">and you heard my prayer.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Will the <sc>Lordsc> accept a thousand rams,p> <p class="poetry">or ten thousand streams of olive oil?p> <p class="poetry">Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,p> <p class="poetry">my offspring &#8211; my own flesh and blood &#8211; for my sin?<n id="1" />p>