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100 Bible Verses about Bad Parents

Psalm 27:10 ESV / 794 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 629 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 4:29 ESV / 406 helpful votes

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Isaiah 49:15 ESV / 371 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.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 346 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 337 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.

Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 333 helpful votes

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 275 helpful votes

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

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 265 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

2 Corinthians 12:14 ESV / 249 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.

Luke 17:3 ESV / 226 helpful votes

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

Exodus 20:12 ESV / 177 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.

Proverbs 11:29 ESV / 173 helpful votes

Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

1 Peter 2:1-25 ESV / 149 helpful votes

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 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. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ...

Proverbs 14:1 ESV / 131 helpful votes

The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 130 helpful votes

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

1 John 2:1-29 ESV / 127 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ...

Psalm 103:13 ESV / 113 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV / 86 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.

Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV / 85 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.

1 John 3:15 ESV / 83 helpful votes

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 83 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.

Proverbs 13:22 ESV / 78 helpful votes

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

Luke 17:1-37 ESV / 76 helpful votes

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ...

Psalm 23:4 ESV / 74 helpful votes

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.

Matthew 10:21 ESV / 64 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,

Luke 11:13 ESV / 63 helpful votes

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!”

Proverbs 15:27 ESV / 63 helpful votes

Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 61 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.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV / 61 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.

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 61 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 2:1-15 ESV / 60 helpful votes

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ...

Proverbs 10:1 ESV / 56 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV / 51 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.

Colossians 3:20 ESV / 49 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 47 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 29:17 ESV / 46 helpful votes

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

Matthew 10:35 ESV / 43 helpful votes

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.

Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV / 42 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.”

Luke 1:37 ESV / 42 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Proverbs 19:18-20 ESV / 41 helpful votes

Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death. A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

Proverbs 1:8 ESV / 41 helpful votes

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

Numbers 14:18 ESV / 41 helpful votes

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’

Hebrews 12:11 ESV / 40 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.

Luke 11:27-28 ESV / 40 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!”

James 1:1-27 ESV / 39 helpful votes

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ...

Proverbs 22:15 ESV / 39 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 3:4 ESV / 38 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 23:13 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

1 Peter 5:2-3 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Philippians 4:19 ESV / 37 helpful votes

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 37 helpful votes

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

Luke 11:11 ESV / 36 helpful votes

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;

Philippians 4:6-7 ESV / 35 helpful votes

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Joel 1:3 ESV / 35 helpful votes

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

John 3:16 ESV / 33 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.

1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Hebrews 12:7-11 ESV / 30 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? 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? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 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.

Isaiah 66:13 ESV / 30 helpful votes

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

Psalm 15:1-5 ESV / 29 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 28 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.

Matthew 18:6 ESV / 28 helpful votes

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.

Proverbs 30:17 ESV / 28 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.

Proverbs 29:15 ESV / 28 helpful votes

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

Psalm 55:12 ESV / 27 helpful votes

For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.

Joshua 24:15 ESV / 26 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.”

Romans 8:28 ESV / 25 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 25 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.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 23 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,

Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV / 23 helpful votes

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 4:9 ESV / 23 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—

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Exodus 21:15 ESV / 22 helpful votes

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

Titus 2:2-8 ESV / 21 helpful votes

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. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. ...

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 21 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Genesis 27:1-46 ESV / 21 helpful votes

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ...

1 Timothy 2:4 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Proverbs 3:1-12 ESV / 20 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. ...

Psalm 78:1-7 ESV / 20 helpful votes

A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, ...

Joshua 4:20-24 ESV / 20 helpful votes

And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV / 20 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.

Deuteronomy 11:19 ESV / 20 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.

Hebrews 12:7 ESV / 19 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?

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Mark 6:1-6 ESV / 19 helpful votes

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ...

Matthew 6:33-34 ESV / 19 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jeremiah 19:1-15 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ...

Isaiah 49:1-26 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— ...

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 18 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Acts 16:31 ESV / 18 helpful votes

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Psalm 94:1-23 ESV / 18 helpful votes

O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. ...

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 17 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 14:6 ESV / 17 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.

John 8:32 ESV / 17 helpful votes

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Mark 9:42 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Matthew 7:9-10 ESV / 17 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?

Ezekiel 20:18 ESV / 17 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.

Psalm 106:1-48 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise? Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times! Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. ...

Exodus 34:6-7 ESV / 15 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.”

2 Corinthians 1:1-24 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ...

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