80 Bible Verses about Being A Father

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 31 helpful votes

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 103:13 ESV / 16 helpful votes

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

John 3:16 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Proverbs 23:24 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Proverbs 14:26 ESV / 10 helpful votes

In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.

Malachi 4:6 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Proverbs 23:13-14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV / 9 helpful votes

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Proverbs 23:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Joshua 24:15 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Hebrews 12:7 ESV / 6 helpful votes

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

John 16:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

1 John 3:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Mark 16:1-20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ...

Proverbs 20:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

Joshua 1:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Deuteronomy 1:29-31 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Colossians 3:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Acts 2:38 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 15:11-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ...

Matthew 28:1-20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ...

Proverbs 10:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Exodus 20:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Genesis 18:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ...

Galatians 3:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 16:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Romans 8:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Acts 22:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

Mark 16:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Matthew 7:9-11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Proverbs 22:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Proverbs 17:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

1 Chronicles 29:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

2 Kings 8:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ...

Exodus 34:6-7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Genesis 3:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

3 John 1:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

1 John 4:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

James 1:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Titus 2:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And so train the young women to love their husbands and children,

Titus 2:1-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ...

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Philippians 2:5-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 3:14-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

Galatians 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Romans 1:26-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Acts 15:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

John 6:22-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ...

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Luke 11:11-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

Matthew 7:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Hosea 13:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Proverbs 29:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.

Proverbs 17:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

Proverbs 17:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

Proverbs 10:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

Proverbs 3:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.

Proverbs 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof,

Proverbs 3:1-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ...

1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

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