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100 Bible Verses about Fatherhood

Psalm 103:13 ESV / 290 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 264 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 20:7 ESV / 253 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 182 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 4:1-9 ESV / 173 helpful votes

Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. ...

Genesis 18:19 ESV / 157 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.”

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 140 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 140 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV / 128 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.

3 John 1:4 ESV / 119 helpful votes

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

Luke 15:20-24 ESV / 109 helpful votes

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 107 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 78:5-8 ESV / 100 helpful votes

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 99 helpful votes

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

Matthew 23:9 ESV / 90 helpful votes

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

Proverbs 10:1 ESV / 83 helpful votes

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

Joshua 24:15 ESV / 81 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.”

Matthew 7:9-11 ESV / 80 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 14:26 ESV / 71 helpful votes

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

John 3:16 ESV / 67 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.

Malachi 2:10 ESV / 63 helpful votes

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Proverbs 13:22 ESV / 63 helpful votes

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

Psalm 68:5-6 ESV / 61 helpful votes

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Proverbs 23:24 ESV / 58 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV / 58 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.

Malachi 4:6 ESV / 57 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.”

Job 1:4-5 ESV / 54 helpful votes

His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

Proverbs 23:22 ESV / 52 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 12:7 ESV / 51 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?

Joshua 1:9 ESV / 49 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.”

1 Corinthians 16:13 ESV / 46 helpful votes

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

Exodus 20:12 ESV / 45 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.

John 14:6 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 6:26 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Isaiah 64:8 ESV / 37 helpful votes

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Romans 8:14 ESV / 35 helpful votes

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Deuteronomy 1:29-31 ESV / 35 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 / 35 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 15:5 ESV / 33 helpful votes

A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.

Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV / 32 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.”

John 14:23 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

1 John 3:1 ESV / 31 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.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV / 31 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.

Romans 8:32 ESV / 31 helpful votes

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Luke 15:20 ESV / 31 helpful votes

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Deuteronomy 6:1-25 ESV / 31 helpful votes

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “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. ...

Hebrews 12:4-13 ESV / 30 helpful votes

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 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. ...

Colossians 3:20 ESV / 30 helpful votes

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

John 14:13 ESV / 30 helpful votes

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 14:2 ESV / 30 helpful votes

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Isaiah 9:6 ESV / 30 helpful votes

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

James 1:17 ESV / 29 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.

Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ...

Matthew 26:53 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

Philippians 4:20 ESV / 28 helpful votes

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV / 28 helpful votes

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

John 1:18 ESV / 28 helpful votes

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

John 1:12 ESV / 27 helpful votes

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Romans 8:15 ESV / 26 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!”

Luke 12:32 ESV / 26 helpful votes

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Proverbs 3:11 ESV / 26 helpful votes

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

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 ESV / 25 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.

John 17:24 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

John 10:28-30 ESV / 25 helpful votes

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

Psalm 68:5 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

1 Chronicles 29:17 ESV / 25 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.

1 John 2:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Ephesians 4:6 ESV / 24 helpful votes

One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Matthew 6:6 ESV / 24 helpful votes

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Romans 8:19 ESV / 22 helpful votes

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

John 14:21 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 10:29-31 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 21 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.

2 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 21 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:11-18 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ...

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Galatians 4:6 ESV / 20 helpful votes

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Proverbs 17:24 ESV / 20 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 19 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

Psalm 103:1-22 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ...

Matthew 10:34-36 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Matthew 11:27 ESV / 16 helpful votes

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Matthew 6:9 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Proverbs 10:9 ESV / 16 helpful votes

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

John 14:12 ESV / 15 helpful votes

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Matthew 15:4 ESV / 15 helpful votes

For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

Matthew 6:17-18 ESV / 15 helpful votes

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

John 1:14 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Mark 14:36 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

1 Timothy 3:8-13 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. ...

Acts 17:28-29 ESV / 13 helpful votes

For “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 13 helpful votes

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Proverbs 17:6 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

John 14:16 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

Deuteronomy 8:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

Colossians 3:14 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

John 14:9 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

John 3:16-17 ESV / 11 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.

1 Corinthians 3:11 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

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