¹⁶ And he took them in his arms, and gave them a blessing, putting his hands on them.

¹³ My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.

⁵ As you have no knowledge of the way of the wind, or of the growth of the bones in the body of her who is with child, even so you have no knowledge of the works of God who has made all.

⁹ But it was you who took care of me from the day of my birth: you gave me faith even from my mother's breasts.

⁵ Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations.

²¹ When a woman is about to give birth she has sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she has given birth to the child, the pain is put out of her mind by the joy that a man has come into the world.

⁹ Will I by whom the birth was started, not make it complete? says the Lord. Will I who make children come to birth, let them be kept back? says your God.

³ See, sons are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the body is his reward.

¹⁷ Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.

¹⁴ I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious.

¹⁵ My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being.

¹⁷ How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!

¹⁴ But Jesus said, Let the little ones come to me, and do not keep them away: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.