1 Thessalonians 2:7
Verse 7 of 20. The 2nd of 5 chapters in 1 Thessalonians, in The Letters of Paul.
3For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception.
4But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak—not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.
5For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
6nor seeking glory from men (neither from you nor from others), when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ.
7But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
8Even so, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not the Good News of God only, but also our own souls, because you had become very dear to us.
9For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God.
10You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe.
11As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children,
World English Bible. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.