Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.
Parallel translations
- WEB Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.
- KJV Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
- NKJV Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
- NASB Fathers, do not antagonize your children, so that they will not become discouraged.
- NLT Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Fathers must not exasperate their children in ways that crush their spirit. It matters because parental authority is to nurture, not embitter.
Overview
Having commanded children to obey, Paul balances the instruction by restraining the abuse of parental authority. To 'provoke' is to use harshness, nagging, or unfairness that leaves a child disheartened and resentful. The aim of godly parenting is to raise children who are encouraged rather than defeated, modeling the patient fatherly care that God himself shows his children.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 4:1–4Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
- Eph 6:4Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Ps 103:13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
- Prov 3:12for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.
- 1 Th 2:11For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children—
- Heb 12:5–11And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
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Original language
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