'Fathers' in the Bible

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,And saw My works for forty years.

Not like the covenant which I made with their fathersOn the day when I took them by the handTo lead them out of the land of Egypt;For they did not continue in My covenant,And I did not care for them, says the Lord.

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?