Family

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Of Saints

Blessed

• Psalm 128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
• Psalm 128:6 that you may see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!

Should be taught God's word

• Deuteronomy 4:9–10 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me…

Worship God together

• 1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.

Be duly regulated

• Proverbs 31:27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
• 1 Timothy 3:4–5 An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?
• 1 Timothy 3:12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife, a good manager of his children and of his own household.

Live in unity

• Genesis 45:24 Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!”
• Psalm 133:1 A song of ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

Live in mutual forbearance

• Genesis 50:17–21 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers also came to…
• Matthew 18:21–22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!

Rejoice together before God

• Deuteronomy 14:26 Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household.

Deceivers and liars should be removed from

• Psalm 101:7 No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who tells lies shall stand in my presence.

Warned against departing from God

• Deuteronomy 29:18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

Punishment of irreligious

• Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.

Good, Exemplified

Abraham

• Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

Jacob

• Genesis 35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

Joshua

• Joshua 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”

David

• 2 Samuel 6:20 When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”

Job

• Job 1:5 And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

Lazarus of Bethany

• John 11:1–5 At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” When Jesus hea…

Cornelius

• Acts 10:2 He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.
• Acts 10:33 So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”

Lydia

• Acts 16:15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Jailor of Philippi

• Acts 16:31–34 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were bapt…

Crispus

• Acts 18:8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.

Lois

• 2 Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well.

See Children

See Husband

See Wife

See Orphan

See Widow

Instituted

• Genesis 2:23–24 And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Government of

• Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
• Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”
• Esther 1:20 The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom — and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”
• Esther 1:22 He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his own household.
• 1 Corinthians 7:10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
• 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
• 1 Corinthians 11:7–9 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
• Ephesians 5:22–24 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
• Colossians 3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
• 1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Infelicity in

• Proverbs 11:22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
• Proverbs 12:4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but she who causes shame is like decay in his bones.
• Proverbs 14:1 Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
• Proverbs 15:17 Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
• Proverbs 18:19 An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and disputes are like the bars of a castle.
• Proverbs 19:13 A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
• Proverbs 21:9 Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
• Proverbs 21:19 Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.
• Proverbs 25:24 Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
• Proverbs 27:15–16 A constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike — restraining her is like holding back the wind or grasping oil with one’s right hand.

Instances of Infelicity in

Of Abraham, on account of Hagar

• Genesis 16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”
• Genesis 21:10–11 and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!” Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.

Of Isaac, on account of the disagreement between Jacob and Esau

• Genesis 27:4–46 Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying…

Of Jacob, the bigamic jealousy between Leah and Rachel

• Genesis 29:30–34 Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years. When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD…
• Genesis 30:1–25 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?” Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep…

Moses and Zipporah

• Exodus 4:25–26 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

Elkanah, on account of bigamic feuds

• 1 Samuel 1:4–7 And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb. Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her riva…

David and Michal

• 2 Samuel 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
• 2 Samuel 6:20–23 When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.” But David said to M…

Ahasuerus, on account of Vashti's refusing to appear before his drunken courtiers

• Esther 1:10–22 On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him — Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas — to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beau…

Persian, Domestic Customs

• Esther 1:10–22 On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him — Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas — to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beau…

See Harem

Religion of the

• Genesis 12:7–8 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an a…
• Genesis 13:3–4 From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched, to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.
• Genesis 17:12–14 Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner — even those who are not your offspring. Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in…
• Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”
• Deuteronomy 4:9–10 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me…
• Deuteronomy 11:19–20 Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,
• Deuteronomy 12:5–7 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go. To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, a…
• Deuteronomy 12:11–12 then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God— you, your sons and d…
• Joshua 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
• Psalm 101:2 I will ponder the way that is blameless — when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.