A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

You must not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry. My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. . . .

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!” “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.

to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be party to his death.

Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.

But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

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.

For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ. . . .

Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.

Assyria will not save us, nor will we ride on horses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our own hands. For in You the fatherless find compassion.”

Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.”

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.

A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.

The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control. . . .

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Honor the widows who are truly widows.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.”

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.