He gives the lonely a home to live in and leads prisoners out into happy freedom, but rebels will have to live in a desolate land.

Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.

Then she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Because Rebecca had no children, Isaac prayed to the LORD for her. The LORD answered his prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant.

Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children.

She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, "God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son.

The people who once were well fed now hire themselves out to get food, but the hungry are hungry no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the mother of many is left with none.

Jerusalem, you have been like a childless woman, but now you can sing and shout for joy. Now you will have more children than a woman whose husband never left her.

But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You are to name him John.

John will be great in the Lord's sight. He must not drink any wine or strong drink. From his very birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,

For the scripture says, "Be happy, you childless woman! Shout and cry with joy, you who never felt the pains of childbirth! For the woman who was deserted will have more children than the woman whose husband never left her."