What does the Bible say about child abuse?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible condemns the harming, exploitation, and cruel treatment of children, calling adults to protect, nurture, and discipline them with godly love. Jesus gives a severe warning against causing little ones to stumble in Mark 9:42 and Matthew 18:6, while Mark 10:14 shows His tender welcome of children. Fathers are commanded not to provoke or discourage their children, but to raise them in the Lord's instruction (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21). Proverbs commends faithful correction and training, never harshness or violence (Proverbs 19:18; 22:6, 15). God sees wrongdoing, judges the unrepentant, and calls His people to defend the vulnerable with truth, care, repentance, and justice.
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Ephesians 6:4
You fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Mark 9:42
Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he was thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.
- Proverbs 19:18
Discipline your son, for there is hope; Don't be a willing party to his death.
- Matthew 18:6
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.
- Colossians 3:21
Fathers, don't provoke your children, so that they won't be discouraged.
- Mark 10:14
But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, "Allow the little children to come to me! Don't forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
- Exodus 21:22
"If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow.
- Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
- Revelation 21:8
But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
- Proverbs 22:15
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: The rod of discipline drives it far from him.
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