1 Thessalonians 2:11

2:11 As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his own children,

Numbers 11:12

11:12 Did I conceive this entire people? ¹  Did I give birth to ²  them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father ³  bears a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers?

Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁴  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁵ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ⁶  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Isaiah 66:13

66:13 As a mother consoles a child, ⁷ 

so I will console you,

and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

Acts 13:18

13:18 For ⁸  a period of about forty years he put up with ⁹  them in the wilderness. ¹⁰ 

[11:12]  ¹ sn The questions Moses asks are rhetorical. He is actually affirming that they are not his people, that he did not produce them, but now is to support them. His point is that God produced this nation, but has put the burden of caring for their needs on him.

[11:12]  ² tn The verb means “to beget, give birth to.” The figurative image from procreation completes the parallel question, first the conceiving and second the giving birth to the nation.

[11:12]  ³ tn The word אֹמֵן (’omen) is often translated “nurse,” but the form is a masculine form and would better be rendered as a “foster parent.” This does not work as well, though, with the יֹנֵק (yoneq), the “sucking child.” The two metaphors are simply designed to portray the duty of a parent to a child as a picture of Moses’ duty for the nation. The idea that it portrays God as a mother pushes it too far (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 86-87).

[49:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁶ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[66:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “like a man whose mother comforts him.”

[13:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “And for.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[13:18]  ⁹ tn For this verb, see BDAG 1017 s.v. τροποφορέω (cf. also Deut 1:31; Exod 16:35; Num 14:34).

[13:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “desert.”