What Does the Bible Say About Provoking Children?

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 54 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 26 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 29:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 11 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 22:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 12:6 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

Romans 8:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

Psalm 103:1-22 ESV / 6 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. ...

Philippians 2:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Psalm 103:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 4 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.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

1 Peter 1:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ...

James 1:17 ESV / 3 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.

Hebrews 12:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 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. ...

1 Corinthians 1:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ...

Romans 8:15 ESV / 3 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!”

John 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Proverbs 23:13-14 ESV / 3 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.

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 3 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 28:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

1 John 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Hebrews 10:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”

1 Timothy 2:1-15 ESV / 2 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, ...

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Romans 13:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Romans 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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.

Romans 7:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. ...

Romans 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

John 15:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

John 3:1-36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ...

Jeremiah 33:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Proverbs 31:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. ...

Proverbs 29:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 22:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Psalm 119:1-176 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! ...

Psalm 103:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, ...

2 Samuel 13:1-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her. And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.” Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” ...

2 Samuel 12:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

2 Samuel 11:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

Deuteronomy 6:1-25 ESV / 2 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. ...

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

47 Bible Verses about Provoking Children

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 54 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 26 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 29:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 12:6 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 103:1-22 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 103:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 1:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 12:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 1:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 23:13-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 28:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 10:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 2:1-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:1-36 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 33:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 31:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 29:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 22:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 119:1-176 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 103:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 13:1-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 12:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 11:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 6:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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