¹² Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors?

⁷ As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children^[a] among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.

⁵ You must celebrate this event in this month each year after the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (He swore to your ancestors that he would give you this land—a land flowing with milk and honey.)

²⁴ “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

³ Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants,^[a] just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father.

¹⁹ Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

²³ And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them.