27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

22 “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,,before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. 24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water;25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.

29 From whose womb comes the ice?Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens 30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

14 “For a long time I have kept silent,I have been quiet and held myself back.But now, like a woman in childbirth,I cry out, I gasp and pant.

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?Though she may forget,I will not forget you!

13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

3 “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. 4 Even to your old age and gray hairsI am he, I am he who will sustain you.I have made you and I will carry you;I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,

7 Instead, we were like young children among you.Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. 12 The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him.

8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs,I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them—a wild animal will tear them apart.

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.