2:7

gentle: Paul and his companions “became gentle” because they loved the Thessalonian brothers and felt concern for their spiritual growth. (1Th 2:8) Some translations, though, read “became little children” or “became infants.” The reason for such different wording is that some Greek manuscripts use a word that means “gentle” (eʹpi·oi), while others use a word that means “infants; young children” (neʹpi·oi). The two Greek words differ by only one letter. Some scholars explain the variation in manuscripts by suggesting that scribes unintentionally duplicated the Greek letter “n” from the preceding word​—an error called a dittography. However, the context and the ensuing comparison to a nursing mother favor the word “gentle,” which is used in many modern translations.

a nursing mother: Within a few verses, Paul uses two vivid metaphors based on family relationships, which reflected the warm feelings that he and the Thessalonian Christians had for one another. (1Th 3:6) Here Paul likens the relationship that he and his companions had with the congregation to that of “a nursing mother,” one who loves her children so deeply that she puts their interests ahead of her own. Then, at 1Th 2:11, Paul shifts to a metaphor of a father. (See study note.) The term rendered “nursing mother” occurs only here in the Christian Greek Scriptures. However, it is used in the Septuagint at Isa 49:23, where Jehovah says that when he brought his people back from exile, he would provide princesses who would act as “nurses.”

tenderly cares for: Or “cherishes.” The Greek expression used here literally means “to warm; to make warm.” In this context, it may have brought to mind the way a human mother would care for her children by keeping them warm and comfortable. In the Septuagint, this word is used at De 22:6 (for the Hebrew “sitting on”) and at Job 39:14 (“keeps . . . warm”) to describe the way a mother bird warms her fledglings or her eggs.