100 Bible Verses about Adoption

Ephesians 1:5 ESV / 1,172 helpful votes

He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

James 1:27 ESV / 1,092 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.

Matthew 18:5 ESV / 897 helpful votes

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,

John 1:12 ESV / 881 helpful votes

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

Acts 7:21 ESV / 854 helpful votes

And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

Esther 2:7 ESV / 720 helpful votes

He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Matthew 25:40 ESV / 692 helpful votes

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Psalm 68:5-6 ESV / 689 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.

Romans 8:15 ESV / 681 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!”

Deuteronomy 10:18 ESV / 670 helpful votes

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Galatians 3:26 ESV / 650 helpful votes

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Galatians 4:5-7 ESV / 603 helpful votes

To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Psalm 27:10 ESV / 600 helpful votes

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

Proverbs 31:8 ESV / 596 helpful votes

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

1 John 3:1 ESV / 592 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.

Isaiah 1:17 ESV / 589 helpful votes

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

Romans 9:8 ESV / 586 helpful votes

This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Isaiah 40:31 ESV / 566 helpful votes

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

John 1:12-13 ESV / 564 helpful votes

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 14:18 ESV / 552 helpful votes

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

1 John 3:2 ESV / 533 helpful votes

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

John 1:13 ESV / 513 helpful votes

Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Romans 8:14-19 ESV / 509 helpful votes

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 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!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ...

Romans 8:14-17 ESV / 486 helpful votes

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 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!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Psalm 146:9 ESV / 481 helpful votes

The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Romans 8:14 ESV / 480 helpful votes

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

Romans 8:23 ESV / 472 helpful votes

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Galatians 4:4-5 ESV / 460 helpful votes

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Psalm 82:3 ESV / 436 helpful votes

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 419 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

1 Samuel 1:27 ESV / 411 helpful votes

For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.

Hosea 11:1 ESV / 409 helpful votes

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Galatians 4:5 ESV / 400 helpful votes

To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Hosea 14:3 ESV / 395 helpful votes

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 394 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,

Psalm 68:5 ESV / 378 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV / 309 helpful votes

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Exodus 2:1-25 ESV / 291 helpful votes

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ...

Jeremiah 3:19 ESV / 275 helpful votes

“‘I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.

Romans 8:17 ESV / 272 helpful votes

And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:29 ESV / 259 helpful votes

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:30 ESV / 247 helpful votes

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Ephesians 1:11 ESV / 223 helpful votes

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Matthew 1:18 ESV / 221 helpful votes

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 4:22 ESV / 220 helpful votes

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son,

Ephesians 4:1-32 ESV / 216 helpful votes

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ...

Galatians 4:6 ESV / 207 helpful votes

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

Exodus 2:5-10 ESV / 201 helpful votes

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ...

Romans 8:1-39 ESV / 198 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ...

Romans 9:1-33 ESV / 189 helpful votes

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. ...

Romans 9:26 ESV / 141 helpful votes

“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

2 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 139 helpful votes

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

Isaiah 49:15 ESV / 137 helpful votes

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

Ephesians 2:19 ESV / 136 helpful votes

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

2 Samuel 7:14 ESV / 128 helpful votes

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,

Galatians 3:29 ESV / 126 helpful votes

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Genesis 48:5 ESV / 126 helpful votes

And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.

Philippians 2:15 ESV / 122 helpful votes

That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Ephesians 3:6 ESV / 121 helpful votes

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Hebrews 2:13 ESV / 118 helpful votes

And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

Romans 9:4 ESV / 118 helpful votes

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

Proverbs 14:26 ESV / 115 helpful votes

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

Romans 8:29-30 ESV / 114 helpful votes

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Ephesians 1:9 ESV / 112 helpful votes

Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

Galatians 4:4-7 ESV / 112 helpful votes

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Genesis 48:16 ESV / 111 helpful votes

The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Luke 12:32 ESV / 110 helpful votes

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

Isaiah 43:7 ESV / 108 helpful votes

Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Revelation 21:7 ESV / 104 helpful votes

The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Jeremiah 31:20 ESV / 104 helpful votes

Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.

Genesis 48:14 ESV / 104 helpful votes

And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn).

Romans 8:16 ESV / 102 helpful votes

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Psalm 127:3 ESV / 102 helpful votes

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

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV / 101 helpful votes

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Hebrews 12:7 ESV / 100 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?

Hebrews 12:6 ESV / 100 helpful votes

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Acts 15:17 ESV / 98 helpful votes

That the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things

Matthew 5:9 ESV / 98 helpful votes

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Isaiah 8:18 ESV / 97 helpful votes

Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

1 Chronicles 22:10 ESV / 96 helpful votes

He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’

Isaiah 63:8 ESV / 95 helpful votes

For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior.

Numbers 6:27 ESV / 94 helpful votes

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

1 John 3:10 ESV / 93 helpful votes

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 88 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Romans 8:21 ESV / 88 helpful votes

That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Matthew 12:50 ESV / 86 helpful votes

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 5:45 ESV / 85 helpful votes

So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Proverbs 13:12 ESV / 79 helpful votes

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Isaiah 43:6 ESV / 74 helpful votes

I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,

Hebrews 2:11 ESV / 67 helpful votes

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

Genesis 15:2-4 ESV / 64 helpful votes

But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”

Jeremiah 31:9 ESV / 63 helpful votes

With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Exodus 2:10 ESV / 62 helpful votes

When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Hebrews 2:10 ESV / 60 helpful votes

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Luke 11:27-28 ESV / 57 helpful votes

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Job 24:9 ESV / 51 helpful votes

(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

Deuteronomy 32:1-52 ESV / 51 helpful votes

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation. ...

Deuteronomy 8:1-20 ESV / 51 helpful votes

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. ...

Isaiah 66:13 ESV / 50 helpful votes

As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Ephesians 1:1 ESV / 36 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

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