Bible Verses about Family

What does the Bible say about family? Family scriptures run throughout both the Old and New Testaments, from God's design for family in Genesis to Paul's instruction to raise children "in the training and instruction of the Lord." Scripture doesn't promise family will be easy, but it calls us to protect, forgive, and love the people closest to us, even when that's hardest to do.

It's no surprise that our best memories and our hardest moments often happen within our family relationships. We're bound to experience both joy and hurt with the people we spend the most time with as parents, as children, as spouses, and as siblings.

Whether you're looking for Bible verses about family unity to strengthen the bond in your home, scripture on parenting to guide how you raise your children, or encouragement after being hurt by someone in your family, these Bible verses will give you wisdom and hope for whatever season your family is in.

Want to keep God's promises close at hand? Download your free printable of the 15 Bible verses every Christian should know by heart.

A Prayer for Family

How strong our bonds are with our families depends on You, Lord. Which is why we ask You to always be the center of our family relationships. Enable our families to be as a triple-braided cord that cannot easily be broken. Let Your Spirit fill our hearts so we can love each other just as Christ loves us. Preserve our good relationships, Father, whenever we are with our beloved families. Let peace reign in our homes and let compassion fill each of our hearts. Teach us what it is to experience real joy and enable us to show each other what this means. Amen.

Discover the best Bible verses about family in this collection of scripture quotes.

Photo credit:Pexels

Proverbs 22:6 NIV

6 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Read Proverbs 22

Colossians 3:20 NIV

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

Read Colossians 3

Exodus 20:12 NIV

12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Read Exodus 20

1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Read 1 Timothy 5

1 Timothy 3:5 NIV

5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)

Read 1 Timothy 3

Genesis 2:24 NIV

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Read Genesis 2

Psalm 128:3 NIV

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Read Psalm 128

Joshua 24:15 NIV

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Read Joshua 24

Psalm 127:3-5 NIV

3 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Read Psalm 127

John 15:12-17 NIV

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit-fruit that will last-and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.