Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Parallel translations
- WEB Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.
- BSB Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become 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 4:1–4Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
- Eph 6:4And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
- Ps 103:13Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
- Prov 3:12For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
- 1 Th 2:11As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,
- Heb 12:5–11And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.