Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 1:31

"and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that Jehovah thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place." — Deuteronomy 1:31 (ASV)

The Lord ... bare thee, as a man doth bear his son. —From this comes the expression in Acts 13:18, He bare them as a nursing father in the wilderness.—Revised New Testament, margin.