17 Scripture Verses for Parents
Maybe before you were a parent, you couldn’t understand how a functioning adult could smell like a diaper pail. Or retain Cheerios in every observable crevice of their car. Or let a child in their care arrive at a public location with only one shoe.
But here we all are.
That is to say—parenting has a way, in moments uproarious and others not-so-much, of bringing us to our knees. Here are 17 Bible verses for parenting the kids God, in His wisdom and perfection, has handed you.
Bible Verses for Parenting: Start Here
1. Deuteronomy 6:1-9
“‘Now this is the commandment…that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them…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…all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
“…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…
“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. 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.’”
Here, we glimpse the core of God’s vision for discipling kids. God casts a vision for intentionally kneading His principles into the stuff of our days. We weave them in as we read picture books in the egg chair, or walk to the park, or cuddle and tickle before bed, or shovel in scrambled eggs, or slap them on Post-it notes around the house. Consider God’s Word and ways as a tea bag in the water of your environment, soaking deeperfurther and deeperfurther into the marrow of our kids. For our flourishing and longevity, our homes are marked by Him (v. 9). He’s on our hearts (v. 6).
2. Ephesians 6:1-4
“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.”
From the very first chapter of the Bible, God displays boundless creativity and engineering, yet hemmed in with precise order: Day; night. Land; sky. Earth; sea. And His thoughtful, precise boundaries cause families to flourish, too. Kids blossom under the careful management—not blind control—of their parents, as dads, particularly, nourish their kids spiritually. In turn, kids are to honor parents, which causes life to “go well” for kids.
3. Proverbs 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
When it comes to Bible verses for parenting, it’s important to know that Proverbs aren’t promises. Though the command to “train” our kids remains a biblical non-negotiable, the Amplified Bible clarifies “the way he should go” as “keeping with [the child’s] individual gift or bent” (see Ephesians 2:10). This beckons us to a beautiful intentionality as we avidly study God’s Word alongside the rough materials of His good handiwork in our kids.
4. Psalm 127:1, 3-5
“Unless the Lord builds the house,those who build it labor in vain…
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.”
Centuries after Solomon set pen to parchment for this psalm, Jesus would compare two families in metaphor: one built on rock, one upon sand. Catastrophe pummels both. Yet only one remains standing. Jesus is the only home foundation that will withstand all of life’s storms (1 Corinthians 3:11).
In another metaphor, children sail like arrows, ahead of a skilled warrior’s path, toward a target. Children are actually portrayed as a defense and multifaceted source of honor against life’s opposition.
5. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
Making disciples of our kids (Matthew 28:18-20), we can cultivate an atmosphere where kids’ heartfelt responses to God are far more likely to appear. We long to be faithful—approved and unashamed (2 Timothy 2:15)—with the gift of cultivating our kids. His kids.
Still, we’re not entitled to God waking our kids’ hearts, or to our kids’ sincere responses to Him.
It’s only God who gives the growth.
6. Philippians 1:6
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Ultimately, our kids belong to God more than they have ever belonged to us. Our trust lands squarely on Him to fulfill—in His timing, His way—what He begins in our kids.
7. Hebrews 12:7-11
“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?…
“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.”
Discipline is no one’s favorite part of parenting, but it plays an unavoidable role in loving our kids toward “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” That’s right: Discipline eventually brings our kids peace, and even prepares them for God’s far more perfect training and authority.
8. Proverbs 23:26
“My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.”
God jam-packed Proverbs with wisdom for life. But in this key phrase—My son, give me your heart—we’re reminded that wise parents strive to win their kids’ affection, trust, and will. And that’s whether we’re kicking the soccer ball around or sitting a child in time out.
Rejecting image-management, we ultimately pursue a child’s heart.
9. 1 Corinthians 3:3-7
“If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Of course, we love our kids. But in everyday moments, both micro and macro, it’s all too easy for our own agendas to compel our parenting more than love. This classic passage reminds us we could do all of parenting “right,” raising kids who check all of the boxes, and yet fail to love them daily.
10. Romans 2:4
“…God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”
Because as parents we follow God’s parenting—and aim to shepherd the heart more than behavior management—we consider how kids’ hearts are shaped and influenced. Negative consequences are only one type of tool in our parenting toolbelt. God’s own kindness toward us allures us toward heart change, modeling his gentleness alongside His discipline.
11. 2 Timothy 3:14-16
“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. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
We’re told the faith of Timothy, Paul’s protégé, was a generational one—proceeding through his grandma, then his mom (1 Timothy 1:5). From childhood, he knew Scripture. And amidst all of life’s unknowns ahead of both Timothy and our kids, God’s Word forms the ultimate Swiss army knife for life.
12. Psalm 78:4-8
“We will…tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
He…appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.”
We read in Judges 2:10, “There arose another generation…who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” Our kids, too, are always a single generation away from not knowing Him; to turning their backs on His good and wise ways. This Psalm declares your parenting a critical link in a generational chain of knowing and loving God for who He is and has been to His people throughout time.
And as an ancient Jewish quote reminds, “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
13. Exodus 33:12-17
“Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, you say to me, “Bring up this people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.”
“Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.’ And he said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?’
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’”
Moses turns to God in this passage immediately after the people of Israel collectively create an idol and wildly celebrate it. His words communicate the powerlessness and vulnerability of God-fearing leaders—and parents—throughout time. Moses falls on God, asking for two things Moses views as vital: God’s ways and presence. Despite Israel’s clear rebellion, God knows and favors Moses, even as a friend (v. 11). He willingly grants Moses’ request.
14. Proverbs 19:18, 29:17
“Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death…Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.”
Trends in modern parenting might imply the “harm” of discipline, of talking to kids about “sin,” or of inhibiting children’s freedom of expression. And yes: Any of these can be done destructively. But key Bible verses for parenting, like this one, offer alternatives. Here, loving, emotionally-healthy correction offers train tracks to which our kids can adventure anywhere in life with God. Without that? A train wreck proves inevitable.
15. Psalm 103:13
“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
From the time they float in utero until the moment death parts us, parents offer templates of God to their children. It’s one reason many wrestle, wounded, with God’s identity as “Father.” Compassion—via bandages on a skinned knee or late-night chats with a heartbroken teenager—can powerfully paint portraits of God Himself in real-time.
16. Titus 2:7-8
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned.”
Originally written by Paul to his friend,Titus, these words pour into us as parents whose daily world shouts much louder than any words or devotionals. How we respond when we’re laid off, or a referee poorly judges a football game, or we receive too much change at the cash register, helps our kids, too, form airtight character.
17. 1 Peter 5:2-3
“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.”
Peter penned these words to overseers in the church, echoing to any of us with a “flock among [us].”
God charges us here with parenting that’s not a have-to. Like Jesus, our authority is only another opportunity to bless, to wash feet: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant…even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-26, 28).
Sure. Sometimes parenting feels like one giant dumpster fire. But with a few Bible verses for parenting tucked in your back pocket—and keeping in step with God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:25)—you might just be able to shape beauty from ashes.
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Copyright © 2024 by Janel Breitenstein. All rights reserved.
Janel Breitenstein is an author, freelance writer, speaker, and regular contributor for FamilyLife. Her work also appears with Focus on the Family and Christianity Today. After five years in East Africa, her family of six returned to Colorado, where they continue to work on behalf of the poor with Engineering Ministries International. Her book Permanent Markers: Spiritual Life Skills to Write on Your Kids’ Hearts (Harvest House), along with other books in the pipeline, empowers parents to creatively engage kids in vibrant spirituality. You can find her—“The Awkward Mom”—having uncomfortable, important conversations at JanelBreitenstein.com, and janelbreitenstein.substack.com.