Compare these two verses with Hos 11.1-4.

Thus says the Lord Almighty: See the comments on verses 12 and 15.

Have I not entreated you…?: This long rhetorical question may be rendered as one or more statements (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version; see also the models below). With this question God tells the Israelites that he has pleaded with them to be his people, just like a parent or nursemaid pleads with a child.

As a father entreats his sons or a mother her daughters means as parents urge their children to do what is right. Entreats may be rendered “begs,” “urges,” or “pleads with.” It is possible to combine as a father entreats his sons and a mother her daughters as follows: “as mothers and fathers [or, parents] urge their children.”

Or a nurse her children: The Latin word for nurse does not refer to a medical nurse. It refers to a “wet nurse,” a woman who takes care of another woman’s child by letting it nurse at her breast. Her children does not refer to the nursemaid’s own children, but to the children she is caring for.

That you should be my people and I should be your God: In the Old Testament God often says the Israelites will be his people and he will be their God as they obey him (see, for example, Exo 6.7; Lev 26.12; Jer 11.4; Ezek 36.28). This statement forms the central part of his covenant with them. Here he says he urged them to be his people by obeying him.

And that you should be my sons and I should be your father: This statement is parallel to the previous one and may be combined with it (see the models below). My sons may be rendered “my children” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version).

Here are possible models that combine verses 28-29:

• “ ‘The Lord Almighty says, “I have begged you to be my children, to let me be your father, your God. I have pleaded with you as parents plead with their children, or as a nursemaid with the children she is caring for.

• “ ‘… I have pleaded with you as a father pleads with his sons, as a mother with her daughters….

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.