⁷Although we could have insisted on our own importance^b^* as apostles of Christ, yet we became infants in your midst, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

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Footnotes

bLiterally “being able to be with a claim of importance”
*Here the participle (“being able”) is understood as concessive

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Instead, we were like young children among you.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children,

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nurse nurtures her own children.

NLTNew Living Translation

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

KJV 1900King James Version

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

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