Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  5000 Humanity  »  5650 Human relationships  »  5664 children  »  5668 children, responsibilities to parents

Children owe their parents certain important responsibilities, including the duty to honour and obey them.

The duties of children towards their parents

They are to honour their parents

Exodus 20:12 pp Deuteronomy 5:16 See also Proverbs 17:6; Mark 7:10; Ephesians 6:1-3

They are to obey their parents

Colossians 3:20-21 See also Ephesians 6:1

They are to behave well

Proverbs 20:11

Children as a blessing and source of joy to their parents

Psalm 127:4-5; Proverbs 23:24 See also Psalm 128:3; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 27:11; Proverbs 29:3; Luke 15:23-24

Children born to barren mothers bring special joy

Sarah:

Genesis 18:11; Genesis 21:2

Rachel:

Genesis 29:31; Genesis 30:22

Manoah's wife:

Judges 13:2,24

Hannah:

1 Samuel 1:5,20

Elizabeth:

Luke 1:7,24,57

Children as a source of grief and disappointment to their parents

Proverbs 17:25 See also 1 Samuel 8:3; Proverbs 17:21; Proverbs 19:13,26; Proverbs 28:7; Proverbs 29:15

The punishment of children

The punishment of wicked children

Exodus 21:15; Leviticus 20:9; Deuteronomy 21:18-21; Proverbs 30:17; 2 Timothy 3:2

The punishment of children for the sins of their fathers

Exodus 20:5-6; Numbers 14:18; Jeremiah 31:29-30 Jeremiah here stresses the importance of individual responsibility in the present crisis without denying the notion of corporate responsibility; Jeremiah 32:18

See also

5225  barrenness
5663  childbirth
5685  fathers, responsibilities
5719  mothers, responsibilities
6160  fathers, sin of
8453  obedience