Topic
Bible verses about family
The Bible talks about family from beginning to end: stories of parents and children, brothers and sisters, couples and whole households that chose to serve God. Here are the most searched Bible verses about family, with the full text and a short note on what each one teaches.
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Selected verses
Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
The decision of a whole household: faith as a family choice, not only an individual one.
Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
The command to honor father and mother, the only one of the ten that comes with a promise.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
On raising children early in the right way.
Psalm 127:1
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
A house built without God is effort in vain.
Psalm 133:1
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
The joy of living in unity, among brothers and sisters and as a family.
Ephesians 6:1–4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Duties on both sides: children who obey and parents who do not provoke them to anger.
Colossians 3:13–14
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Forgiveness and love as what holds living together.
1 Corinthians 13:4–7
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
The portrait of patient, kind love, often read at weddings.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best-known Bible verse about family?
Joshua 24:15 — “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” — is one of the most quoted, together with Exodus 20:12, on honoring father and mother.
What does the Bible say about a united family?
Psalm 133 calls living together in unity “good” and “pleasant”, and Colossians 3 points to forgiveness and love as what holds a household together.
Which verse can I use to bless my family?
Psalm 127:1 and Joshua 24:15 are often used in prayers and in the dedication of a home.