'Children' in the Bible

"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter lamentation: It was Rachel bewailing her children, and she refused to be comforted because there were no more."

If you then, imperfect as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Brother will betray brother to death, and father, child; and children will rise against their own parents and will put them to death.

"But to what shall I compare the present generation? It is like children sitting in the open places, who call to their playmates.

Those who had eaten were about 5,000 adult men, without reckoning women and children.

Those who ate were 4,000 adult men, without reckoning women and children.

"Yes," he replied, and then went into the house. But before he spoke a word Jesus said, "What think you, Simon? From whom do this world's kings receive customs or capitation tax? from their own children, or from others?"

"From others," he replied. "Then the children go free," said Jesus.

said, "In solemn truth I tell you that unless you turn and become like little children, you will in no case be admitted into the Kingdom of the Heavens.

and was unable to pay. So his master ordered that he and his wife and children and everything that he had should be sold, and payment be made.

Then young children were brought to Him for Him to put His hands on them and pray; but the disciples interfered.

Jesus however said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them; for it is to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs."

And whoever has forsaken houses, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children or lands, for my sake, shall receive many times as much and shall have as his inheritance the Life of the Ages.

But when the High Priests and the Scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done and the children who were crying aloud in the Temple, "God save the Son of David," they were filled with indignation.

"Do you hear," they asked Him, "what these children are saying?" "Yes," He replied; "have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and of babes at the breast Thou hast brought forth the praise which is due'?"

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee! how often have I desired to gather thy children to me, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not come!

"His blood," replied all the people, "be on us and on our children!"

"Let the children first eat all they want," He said; "it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

One day people were bringing young children to Jesus for Him to touch them, but the disciples interfered.

Jesus, however, on seeing this, was moved to indignation, and said to them, "Let the little children come to me: do not hinder them; for to those who are childlike the Kingdom of God belongs.

The disciples were amazed at His words. Jesus, however, said again, "Children, how hard a struggle is it for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God!

"In solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that there is no one who has forsaken house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father, or children or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the Good News,

but will receive a hundred times as much now in this present life--houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, lands--and persecution with them--and in the coming age the Life of the Ages.

"Brother will betray brother to be killed, and fathers will betray children; and children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.

and he will be His forerunner in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn fathers' hearts to the children, and cause the rebellious to walk in the wisdom of the upright, to make a people perfectly ready for the lord."

They are like children sitting in the public square and calling out to one another, 'We have played the flute to you, and you have not danced: we have sung dirges, and you have not shown sorrow.'

"And he from indoors shall answer, "'Do not pester me. The door is now barred, and I am here in bed with my children. I cannot get up and give you bread.'

If you then, with all your human frailty, know how to give your children gifts that are good for them, how much more certainly will your Father who is in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

"If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

Jesus however called the infants to Him. "Let the little children come to me," He said; "do not hinder them; for it is to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of God belongs.

"I solemnly tell you," replied Jesus, "that there is no one who has left house or wife, or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of God's Kingdom,

And they will dash thee to the ground and thy children within thee, and will not leave one stone upon another within thee; because thou hast not recognized the time of thy visitation."

"Rabbi, Moses made it a law for us that if a man's brother should die, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.

and all seven, having done the same, left no children when they died.

But Jesus turned towards them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

For a time is coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the women who never bore children, and the breasts which have never given nourishment.'

But all who have received Him, to them--that is, to those who trust in His name--He has given the privilege of becoming children of God;

"Our father is Abraham," they said. "If you were Abraham's children," replied Jesus, "it is Abraham's deeds that you would be doing.

You are doing the deeds of your father." "We," they replied, "are not illegitimate children. We have one Father, namely God."

He who is a child of God listens to God's words. You do not listen to them: and why? It is because you are not God's children."

and not for the nation only, but in order to unite into one body all the far-scattered children of God.

Dear children, I am still with you a little longer. You will seek me, but, as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' so for the present I say to you.

He called to them. "Children," He said, "have you any food there?" "No," they answered.

For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whoever the Lord our God may call."

that God has amply fulfilled it to our children in raising up Jesus; as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'Thou art My Son: to-day I have become Thy Father.'

When, however, our time was up, we left and went on our way, all the disciples and their wives and children coming to see us off. Then, after kneeling down on the beach and praying,

Now what they have been repeatedly told about you is that you teach all the Jews among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, and that you forbid them to circumcise their children or observe old-established customs.

The Spirit Himself bears witness, along with our own spirits, to the fact that we are children of God;

and if children, then heirs too--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; if indeed we are sharers in Christ's sufferings, in order that we may also be sharers in His glory.

Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation itself would also be set free from the thraldom of decay so as to enjoy the liberty that will attend the glory of the children of God.

nor because they are Abraham's true children. But the promise was "Through Isaac shall your posterity be reckoned."

In other words, it is not the children by natural descent who count as God's children, but the children made such by the promise are regarded as Abraham's posterity.

Nor is that all: later on there was Rebecca too. She was soon to bear two children to her husband, our forefather Isaac--

I am not writing all this to shame you, but I am offering you advice as my dearly-loved children.

For, in such cases, the unbelieving husband has become--and is--holy through union with a Christian woman, and the unbelieving wife is holy through union with a Christian brother. Otherwise your children would be unholy, but in reality they have a place among God's people.

Brethren, do not prove yourselves to be children in your minds. As regards evil, indeed, be utter babes, but as regards your minds prove yourselves to be men of ripe years.

If, however, the service that proclaims death--its code being engraved in writing upon stones--came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face--a vanishing brightness;

who used to throw a veil over his face to hide from the gaze of the children of Israel the passing away of what was but transitory.

And in just requital--I speak as to my children--let your hearts expand also.

See, I am now for the third time prepared to visit you, but I will not be a dead weight to you. I desire not your money, but yourselves; for children ought not to put by for their parents, but parents for their children.

So we also, when spiritually we were children, were subject to the world's rudimentary notions, and were enslaved.

It is always an honourable thing to be courted in an honourable cause; always, and not only when I am with you, my children--

All this is allegorical; for the women represent two Covenants. One has its origin on Mount Sinai, and bears children destined for slavery.

This is Hagar; for the name Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage together with her children.

For it is written, "Rejoice, thou barren woman that bearest not, break forth into a joyful cry, thou that dost not travail with child. For the desolate woman has many children--more indeed than she who has the husband."

But you, brethren, like Isaac, are children born in fulfilment of a promise.

Therefore, brethren, since we are not the children of a slave-girl, but of the free woman--

Therefore be imitators of God, as His dear children.

Children, be obedient to your parents as a Christian duty, for it is a duty.

And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up tenderly with true Christian training and advice.

so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless--irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights in the world,

Children be obedient to your parents in everything; for that is right for Christians.

Fathers, do not fret and harass your children, or you may make them sullen and morose.

On the contrary, in our relations to you we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children.

For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,

but ruling his own household wisely and well, with children kept under control with true dignity.

A deacon must be true to his one wife, and rule his children and his own household wisely and well.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to show piety towards their own homes and to prove their gratitude to their parents; for this is well pleasing in the sight of God.

She must have been true to her one husband, and well reported of for good deeds, as having brought up children, received strangers hospitably, washed the feet of God's people, given relief to the distressed, and devoted herself to good works of every kind.

I would therefore have the younger women marry, bear children, rule in domestic matters, and furnish the Adversary with no excuse for slander.

wherever there is a man of blameless life, true to his one wife, having children who are themselves believers and are free from every reproach of profligacy or of stubborn self-will.

They should school the young women to be affectionate to their husbands and to their children, to be sober-minded, pure in their lives,

and again, "As for Me, I will be one whose trust reposes in God;" and again, "Here am I, and here are the children God has given Me."

Since then the children referred to are all alike sharers in perishable human nature, He Himself also, in the same way, took on Him a share of it, in order that through death He might render powerless him who had authority over death, that is, the Devil,

In accordance with His will He made us His children through the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.

The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed women in their time of trouble, and to keep one's own self unspotted from the world.

Thus, for instance, Sarah obeyed Abraham, acknowledging his authority over her. And you have become Sarah's children if you do what is right and permit nothing whatever to terrify you.

Dear children, I write thus to you in order that you may not sin. If any one sins, we have an Advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ the righteous;

I am writing to you, dear children, because for His sake your sins are forgiven you.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

Dear children, the last hour has come; and as you once heard that there was to be an anti-Christ, so even now many anti-Christs have appeared. By this we may know that the last hour has come.

And now, dear children, continue in union with Him; so that, if He re-appears, we may have perfect confidence, and may not shrink away in shame from His presence at His Coming.

See what marvellous love the Father has bestowed upon us--that we should be called God's children: and that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us--because it has not known Him.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

Dear children, let no one lead you astray. The man who acts righteously is righteous, just as He is righteous.

By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.

Dear children, let us not love in words only nor with the lips, but in deed and in truth.

As for you, dear children, you are God's children, and have successfully resisted them; for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

They are the world's children, and so their language is that of the world, and the world listens to them. We are God's children.