39 Bible Verses About Family

God cares about family. The people to whom we are related are chosen by God, even if we feel our family is especially dysfunctional. It is important to gather as a family. What does God have to say about the family in His Word? Let’s find out.

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What Does the Bible Say About Family?

Old Testament

Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
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.

Joshua 24:15
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.

1 Kings 8:57
The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us.

Psalm 103:17-18
“But the steadfast love of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

Psalm 133:1
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!

Proverbs 6:20
My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.

Proverbs 10:1
A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers.

Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 18:24
A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 23:15
My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.

Proverbs 23:24
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

Proverbs 27:10
Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend,
and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity.
Better is a neighbor who is near
than a brother who is far away.

Isaiah 49:15-16
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.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.

New Testament

Matthew 19:19
Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Luke 2:48
And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.’

Luke 8:19–21
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, ‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.’ But he answered them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’

Luke 11:13
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!

Luke 14:26
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

John 19:26–27
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Acts 16:31
And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’

Romans 16:13
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

Ephesians 5:31
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

Ephesians 6:2–4
‘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.

1 Timothy 5:8
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.

1 John 3:2-3
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. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 John 4:20
If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.