11 Bible Verses about Boys

In the days of Herod king of Judaea there was a priest called Zechariah, who belonged to the division of Abijah; he had a wife who belonged to the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both just in the sight of God, blameless in their obedience to all the commands and regulations of God; but they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren. Both of them were advanced in years.read more.
Now while he was officiating before God in the due course of his division, it fell to him by lot, as was the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense, the mass of the people all remaining in prayer outside at the hour of incense. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him he was troubled, and fear fell on him; but the angel said to him, "Fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard; your wife Elizabeth will bear a son to you, and you must call his name John. It will be joy and gladness for you, and many will rejoice over his birth: for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, he will drink neither wine nor strong drink, he will be filled with the holy Spirit from his very birth; he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, he will go in front of Him with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make a people ready and prepared for the Lord." Zechariah said to the angel, "But how am I to be sure of this? I am an old man myself, and my wife is advanced in years." The angel replied, "I am Gabriel, I stand before God; I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. But you will be silent and unable to speak till the day this happens, because you have not believed what I told you; it will be accomplished, for all that, in due time." Now the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering that he stayed so long inside the sanctuary. When he did come out he could not speak to them, so they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary; he made signs to them and remained dumb. Then, after his term of service had elapsed, he went home. After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and for five months she concealed herself. "The Lord has done this for me," she said, "he has now deigned to remove my reproach among men."

Now the time for Elizabeth's delivery had elapsed, and she gave birth to a son. When her neighbours and kinsfolk heard of the Lord's great mercy to her they rejoiced with her, and on the eighth day came to circumcise the child. They were going to call it by the name of its father Zechariah,read more.
but the mother told them, "No, the child is to be called John." They said to her, "None of your family is called by that name." Then they made signs to the father, to find out what he wanted the child to be called, and he asked for a writing-tablet and wrote down, "His name is John," to the astonishment of all. Instantly his mouth was opened, his tongue loosed, and he spoke out blessing God. Then fear fell on all their neighbours, and all these events were talked of through the whole of the hill-country of Judaea. All who heard of it bore it in mind; they said, "Whatever will this child become?" For the hand of the Lord was indeed with him.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazaret, to a maiden who was betrothed to a man called Joseph, belonging to the house of David. The maiden's name was Mary. The angel went in and said to her, "Hail, O favoured one! the Lord be with you!"read more.
At this she was startled; she thought to herself, whatever can this greeting mean? But the angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary, you have found favour with God. You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must call his name Jesus. He will be great, he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father; he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and to his reign there will be no end." "How can this be?" said Mary to the angel, "I have no husband." The angel answered her, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence what is born will be called holy, Son of God. Look, there is your kinswoman Elizabeth! Even she has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month; for with God nothing is ever impossible." Mary said, "I am here to serve the Lord. Let it be as you have said." Then the angel went away.

but after he had planned this, there appeared an angel of the Lord to him in a dream saying, "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary your wife home, for what is begotten in her comes from the holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you will call him 'Jesus,' for he will save his people from their sins."

and on the eighth day came to circumcise the child. They were going to call it by the name of its father Zechariah,

When the eight days had passed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus ??the name given by the angel before he had been conceived in the womb.

Every year his parents used to travel to Jerusalem at the passover festival; and when he was twelve years old they went up as usual to the festival. After spending the full number of days they came back, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know of this;read more.
they supposed he was in the caravan and travelled on for a day, searching for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. Then, as they failed to find him, they came back to Jerusalem in search of him. Three days later they found him in the temple, seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, till all his hearers were amazed at the intelligence of his own answers. When his parents saw him they were astounded, and his mother said to him, "My son, why have you behaved like this to us? Here have your father and I been looking for you anxiously!" "Why did you look for me?" he said, "Did you not know I had to be at my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said.

When they reached the crowd, a man came up and knelt to him. "Ah, sir," he said, "have pity on my son; he is an epileptic and he suffers cruelly, he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."read more.
Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long must I still be with you? How long have I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." So Jesus checked the daemon and it came out of him, and from that hour the boy was healed.

When they reached the disciples they saw a large crowd round them, and some scribes arguing with them. On seeing him the whole crowd was thunderstruck and ran to greet him. Jesus asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"read more.
A man from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you; he has a dumb spirit, and whenever it seizes him it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth. He is wasting away with it; so I told your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." He answered them, "O faithless generation, how long must I still be with you? how long have I to bear with you? Bring him to me." So they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw Jesus it at once convulsed the boy; he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he said; "it has thrown him into fire and water many a time, to destroy him. If you can do anything, do help us, do have pity on us." Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! Anything can be done for one who believes." At once the father of the boy cried out, "I do believe; help my unbelief." Now as Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he checked the unclean spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "leave him, I command you, and never enter him again." And it did come out, after shrieking aloud and convulsing him violently. The child turned like a corpse, so that most people said, "he is dead"; but, taking his hand, Jesus raised him and he got up.

Next day, when they came down the hill, a large crowd met him. "Teacher," shouted a man from the crowd, "look at my son, I beg of you, for he is my only boy, and a spirit gets hold of him till he suddenly shrieks; it convulses him till he foams; indeed it will hardly leave off tearing him to pieces.read more.
I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long must I still be with you and bear with you? Fetch your son here." Before the boy could reach Jesus, the daemon dashed him down and convulsed him, but Jesus checked the unclean spirit, cured the boy, and handed him back to his father. And all were astounded at this grand display of God. But while all marvelled at all he did, he said to his disciples,

Then Herod saw the magicians had trifled with him, and he was furiously angry; he sent and slew all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the neighbourhood who were two years old or under, calculating by the time he had ascertained from the magicians.