Be fruitful and multiply, was the blessing of God: barrenness therefore was reckoned a reproach The intense desire of having children, observable among the Jewish women, arose not only from this reproach of barrenness, but from the hope of being the mother of the promised seed, and Him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. Gen 29:31, 1Sa 1:5, 1Sa 1:6, Isa 4:1, Luk 1:21, Luk 1:25, Luk 1:27 Reciprocal: Rth 4:13 - the Lord Psa 113:9 - maketh Zep 3:15 - hath taken Joh 16:21 - for