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³Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb. ⁴Like arrows in the hand of the powerful, so are the sons of those who have been cast out. ⁵Blessed is the man who has filled his desire from these things. He will not be confounded when he speaks to his enemies at the gate.

¹¹Ephraim has chased away their glory like a bird: from birth, and from the womb, and from conception.

¹³For you have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother. ¹⁴I will confess to you, for you have been magnified terribly. Your works are miraculous, as my soul knows exceedingly well. ¹⁵My bone, which you have made in secret, has not been hidden from you, and my substance is in accord with the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my imperfection, and all this shall be written in your book. Days will be formed, and no one shall be in them.

²⁸And God blessed them, and he said, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the flying creatures of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

³For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but instead, according to their own desires, they will gather to themselves teachers, with itching ears,

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”

¹⁵Did not One make her, and is she not the remainder of his spirit? And what does one seek, except offspring of God? So then, preserve your spirit, and do not despise the wife of your youth.

¹Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ²But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. ³A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband. ⁴It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body. ⁵So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence. ⁶But I am saying this, neither as an indulgence, nor as a commandment.

³Know this first: that in the last days there will arrive deceitful mockers, walking according to their own desires,

²⁹For behold, the days will arrive in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed.’

⁵Build houses and live in them. And plant gardens, and eat from their fruit. ⁶Take wives, and conceive sons and daughters. And give wives to your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters. And be multiplied there, and do not choose to be few in number.

¹²A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.

¹You should not rebuke an old man, but rather plead with him, as if he were your father; with young men, like brothers; ²with old women, like mothers; with young women, in all chastity, like sisters. ³Honor those widows who are true widows. ⁴But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let her first learn to manage her own household, and to fulfill, in turn, her own obligation to her parents; for this is acceptable before God. ⁵But she who is truly a widow and is destitute, let her hope in God, and let her be urgent in supplications and prayers, night and day. ⁶For she who is living in pleasures is dead, while living.

¹⁵Yet she will be saved by bearing children, if she has continued in faith and love, and in sanctification accompanied by self-restraint.

¹About the same time, Judah, descending from his brothers, turned toward an Adullamite man, named Hirah. ²And he saw there the daughter of a man called Shua, of Canaan. And taking her as a wife, he entered to her. ³And she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Er. ⁴And conceiving offspring again, having given birth to a son, she called him Onan. ⁵Likewise, she bore a third, whom she called Shelah, after whose birth, she ceased to bear any more. ⁶Then Judah gave a wife to his first born Er, whose name was Tamar.

⁵And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their little ones, and he said: “What do these want for themselves?” and “Are they related to you?” He responded, “These are the little ones that God has given as a gift to me, your servant.”