100 Bible Verses about Children Leaving Their Parents

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 280 helpful votes

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 194 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:20 ESV / 63 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 62 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 57 helpful votes

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

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 57 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 52 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 29:15 ESV / 50 helpful votes

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

Deuteronomy 27:16 ESV / 50 helpful votes

“‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Proverbs 29:17 ESV / 44 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV / 37 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.

Exodus 20:12 ESV / 35 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.

Luke 14:26 ESV / 34 helpful votes

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Proverbs 22:15 ESV / 33 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 32 helpful votes

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 31 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 11:19 ESV / 30 helpful votes

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 29 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV / 28 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.”

2 Timothy 3:1-2 ESV / 27 helpful votes

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Luke 15:11-32 ESV / 26 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 19:5 ESV / 26 helpful votes

And said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 25 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ...

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 23 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.

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Proverbs 23:22 ESV / 21 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 13:22 ESV / 21 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 19 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.

Exodus 21:17 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Titus 2:4 ESV / 17 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 17 helpful votes

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Luke 18:1-43 ESV / 17 helpful votes

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ...

Proverbs 30:17 ESV / 17 helpful votes

The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

Romans 8:6 ESV / 15 helpful votes

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Psalm 127:3 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

Proverbs 1:8 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching,

Psalm 103:13 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV / 14 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 23:13-14 ESV / 13 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 17:6 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:1 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Psalm 113:9 ESV / 13 helpful votes

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

2 Timothy 3:15 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 5:4 ESV / 12 helpful votes

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

Ephesians 6:2 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

Luke 18:29 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

Matthew 18:10 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Psalm 68:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 ESV / 12 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.

1 Timothy 3:4 ESV / 11 helpful votes

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,

Mark 10:13-16 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Matthew 21:15-16 ESV / 11 helpful votes

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

Matthew 19:6 ESV / 11 helpful votes

So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Matthew 18:12-14 ESV / 11 helpful votes

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 10:21 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,

Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV / 11 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.

Leviticus 19:3 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

James 1:27 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Acts 5:29 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

John 19:25-27 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Luke 18:15-17 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Matthew 18:2-6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Joel 1:3 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Genesis 18:19 ESV / 10 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.”

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 9 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 1:5 ESV / 9 helpful votes

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Ephesians 6:2-3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

“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.”

2 Corinthians 12:14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

Romans 1:30 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

John 3:36 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ...

Matthew 19:13-14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 15:4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

Genesis 3:16 ESV / 9 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 / 8 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,

Hebrews 11:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.

2 Timothy 3:14-15 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Acts 4:32 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Malachi 2:14 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

Proverbs 25:1-28 ESV / 8 helpful votes

These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable. Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel; take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. ...

Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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.

1 John 3:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

1 Peter 2:2-3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Matthew 5:5 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Ezekiel 20:18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“And I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

Isaiah 38:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.

Psalm 58:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Deuteronomy 4:9-10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’

Genesis 33:5 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

Genesis 12:1-20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ...

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

John 16:21 ESV / 6 helpful votes

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 6 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 2:51-52 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

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