The verb anatrephō means to nourish and bring up a child — to nurse, rear, or raise. It appears three times in the New Testament: Acts 7:20–21 (Moses nursed and reared) and Acts 22:3 (Paul raised in Jerusalem). The word emphasizes the full process of nurture from infancy to maturity.
Both Moses and Paul — the two towering figures of the Old and New Covenants — are described using anatrephō. Moses was miraculously nurtured by his own mother while legally adopted by Pharaoh's daughter; his upbringing combined the heritage of Hebrew faith with the sophistication of Egyptian education. Paul was "brought up" in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel — shaped by the finest Pharisaic tradition. God's providence operates through the ordinary processes of human nurture and education. How people are raised profoundly shapes who they become. Both men's upbringings equipped them uniquely for the missions God had prepared.