Genesis: 25: 23-24; But the children struggled with one another inside her, and she said. "If this is the way of it, why go on living?" So she went to consult Yahweh, and he said to her: "There are two nations in your womb, your issue will be two rival peoples, One nation shall have the mastery of the other, and the elder shall serve the younger."
Exodus: 13:1-2; Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, * "Consecrate all the
first-born to me, the first issue of every womb, among the sons of Israel. Whether man or
beast, this is mine."
Exodus 13:12; * You are to make over to Yahweh all that first issues from the womb,
Exodus 21:22-24; 'If, when men come to blows, they hurt a woman who is pregnant and she suffers a miscarriage, though she does not die of it, the man responsible must pay the compensation demanded of him by the woman's master: he shall hand it over, after arbitration.
Ruth: 1:11-12; Have I (Naomi) any more sons in my womb to make husbands for you? *Return my daughters, go, for I am too old now to marry again.
Tobit: 4:4; Remember, my child, all the risks she (your mother) ran for your sake when you were in the womb.
Job: 3:3; May the day perish when I (Job) was born, and the night that told of a boy conceived.
Job: 3: 10-11; Since it would not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide sorrows from my eyes. Why did I not die newborn, not perish as I left the womb?
Job 10:16; Or, put away like a stillborn child that never came to be, like unborn babes that never see the light.
Job 27:20; The womb that shaped him forgets him and his name is recalled no longer.
Psalms: 22:9-10; Yet you drew me out of the womb, you entrusted me to my mother's breasts; placed on your lap from my birth, from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Psalms: 22:30-31; And my soul will live for him, * my children will serve him; men will proclaim the Lord to generations * still to come, his righteousness to a people yet unborn. All this he has done.
Psalms: 51:5; You (Yahweh) are just when you pass sentence on me (David), blameless when you give judgment, You know I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.
Psalms: 58:3; Right from the womb these wicked men have gone astray, these double talkers have been in error since their birth.
Psalms 58:8; like an abortion, denied the light of day!
Psalms: 71:5-6; For you alone are my hope, Lord, Yahweh, I have trusted you since my youth, I have relied on you since I was born, you have been my portion from my mother's womb, and the constant theme of my praise.
Psalms: 87:5; But all call Zion 'Mother' since all were born in her.
Psalms: 110:3; Royal dignity was yours from the day you were born, on the holy mountains, royal from the womb, from the dawn of your earliest days.
Psalms: 139:13-17; It was you that created my inmost self, and put me together in my mother's womb; for all these mysteries I thank you; for the wonder of myself, for the wonder of your works. You know me through and through, from having watched my bones take shape when I was being formed in secret, knitted together in the limbo of the womb. You had scrutinized my every action, all were recorded in your book, my days listed and determined, even before the first of them occurred.
Proverbs: 31:1-3; What my son! What, son of my womb! What, son of my vows! Do not spend all your energy on women, nor your loins on these destroyers of kings.
Wisdom: 7:1-2; Like all the others, I (Solomon) too am a mortal man, descendant of the first being fashioned from the earth, I was modeled in flesh within my mother's womb, for ten months taking shape in her blood.
Ecclesiasticus: 1:14; To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, she was created with the faithful in their Mother's womb;
Ecclesiasticus: 40:1; Much hardship has been made for every man, a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they came out of their mother's womb.
Ecclesiasticus: 49:6-9; The holy, chosen city was burned down, her streets were left deserted, as Jeremiah had predicted; for they had ill-treated him though consecrated a prophet in his mother's womb.
Ecclesiasticus: 50:22-24; And now bless the God of all things, the doer of great deeds everywhere, who has exalted our days from the womb and acted toward us in his mercy.
Isaiah: 7:14; The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.
Isaiah: 44:2; But now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says Yahweh who made you, who formed you from the womb, who is your help; Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, Jeshurun who I have chosen.
Isaiah: 49:1; Islands, listen to me, pay attention , remotest peoples. Yahweh called me before I was born, from my mother's womb he pronounced my name.
Isaiah: 49:5; And now Yahweh has spoken, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, to gather Israel to him:
Isaiah: 49:15; Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.
Jeremiah: 20:18; Why did I come out of the womb to live in toil and sorrow and to end my days in shame!
Hosea: 9:14; Give them, Yahweh-what are you to give?--give them wombs that miscarry, and dried-up breasts.
Hosea: 12:2-4; Yahweh has a case against Israel, he will pay Jacob as his conduct merits, and will repay him as his deeds deserve. In the very womb he supplanted his brother, in maturity he wrestled against God.
Matthew: 1:18-20; This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. * Her husband Joseph, being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. * He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. * She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins." * Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel, a name which means "God-is-with-us."
Luke: 1:41-45; Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. * She gave a loud cry and said, "Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord? * For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled."
Acts 3:2; He was a cripple from birth;
Acts 14:8; A man sat there who had never walked in his life, because his feet were crippled from birth;
Romans 9:11-13; Even more to the point is what was said to Rebecca when she was pregnant by our ancestor Isaac, but before her twin children were born and before either had done good or evil. In order to stress that God's choice is free, * since it depends on the one who calls, not on human merit, Rebecca was told: the elder shall serve the younger, or as scripture says elsewhere: I showed my love for Jacob and my hatred for Esau.
Galatians: 1:15-16; Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother's womb, called me through his grace and chose * to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans.
1 Corinthians: 15:8; * and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it.
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©2000, James J. Schwarzwalder, 400 East Elm Avenue, Lindenwold, N.J. 08021