What Does the Bible Say About Unruly Children?

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV / 28 helpful votes

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Leviticus 20:9 ESV / 24 helpful votes

For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Romans 3:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

1 Corinthians 14:34 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 7 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 / 7 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Galatians 5:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Romans 13:1-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

1 Peter 4:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

1 Peter 2:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

Titus 1:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

John 8:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Luke 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Proverbs 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

2 Kings 2:23-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

2 Timothy 4:5 ESV / 1 helpful vote

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

1 Timothy 2:9 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Luke 24:1-53 ESV / 1 helpful vote

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ...

Luke 21:33 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Luke 11:13 ESV / 1 helpful vote

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Mark 14:25 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 21:12 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

Matthew 12:40 ESV / 1 helpful vote

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Song of Solomon 1:1-17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. ...

Proverbs 22:3 ESV / 1 helpful vote

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

Proverbs 15:5 ESV / 1 helpful vote

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

Psalm 139:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Leviticus 10:9 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

Exodus 21:20-21 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ...

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 1 helpful vote

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

Bible Verses about Unruly Children