10 Key Proverbs on Children

Since there are hundreds of proverbs in the book we know as Proverbs, it can be helpful to condense or distill some of them down into a more manageable list. This can also help because often the proverbs are not arranged by topic. Instead, they are scattered throughout the book. With that in mind, here are 10 key proverbs on children. We adapted this list and notes from the MacArthur Bible Commentary. May this list instruct and encourage you as you seek to raise your children in the Lord.

1. Proverbs 10:1

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.

This parental grief is most deeply felt by the mother, who plays a more intimate role in raising a child.

2. Proverbs 13:1

A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

3. Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he grows older he will not abandon it.

There is only one right way, God’s way, the way of life. That way is specified in great detail in Proverbs. Since it is axiomatic that early training secures lifelong habits, parents must insist on this way, teaching God’s Word and enforcing it with loving discipline consistently throughout the child’s upbringing (cf. Deuteronomy 4:9; 6:6–8; 11:18–21; Joshua 24:15; Ephesians 6:4).

4. Proverbs 22:15

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

Early childhood teaching requires both parental discipline, including corporal punishment (cf. 10:13; 19:18; 22:15; 29:15, 17), and balanced kindness and love. There is great hope that the use of the “divine ordinance” of the rod will produce godly virtue (cf. 23:13, 14) and parental joy (cf. 10:1; 15:20; 17:21; 23:15, 16; 28:7; 29:1, 17). Such discipline must have the right motivation (Heb. 12:5–11) and appropriate severity (Eph. 6:4). One who has genuine affection for his child, but withholds corporal punishment, will produce the same kind of child as a parent who hates his offspring.

5. Proverbs 23:22–25

Listen to your father, who fathered you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Buy truth, and do not sell it, get wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

Buy the truth. Obtain the truth at all costs (cf. 4:5–7; Matthew 13:44–46). Then, never relinquish it at any price (see Dan. 1:8ff.).

6. Proverbs 24:21, 22

My son, fear the Lord and the king; Do not get involved with those of high rank, for their disaster will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that can come from both of them?

The king. Loyalty to the king is proper because he is the agent of the Lord’s wisdom (cf. Deut. 17:14–20; Rom. 13:1–7). That loyalty includes having no part with rebels who seek to subvert or overthrow him (“change”). Peter draws on this verse in his call to good citizenship in 1 Peter 1:17; 2:17.

The ruin those two can bring. A reference to the retributive power of the king and the Lord (cf. Job 31:23).

7. Proverbs 27:1

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Boast . . . tomorrow. Fools think they know the future or can affect its outcome, but the future rests with the sovereign God.

8. Proverbs 28:7

He who keeps the Law is a discerning son, but he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.

The son who obeyed God’s law would not be a glutton and shame his father.

9. Proverbs 29:3

A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

10. Proverbs 29:15

The rod and a rebuke give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

Keep Reading the One-Volume MacArthur Bible Commentary

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