– They are a blessing from God to their parents:
Gen 15:15 : Lord Yahweh, what will you give me? I will go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
Gen 30:23 : Rachel conceived and gave birth to a son.
1Sm 1,6 : Her rival afflicted her severely, provoking her to murmur against the Lord who had made her barren.
Ps 112,9 : And the woman, who was previously barren, he makes her, in his house, a happy mother of many children.
Ps 126,3-4 : See, children are a gift from God: the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Pr 17:6 : The children’s children are the crown of the old, and the glory of children is their fathers.
– Should honor their parents and obey them:
Exodus 20:12 : Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Deut 5:16 : Honor your father and mother, as the Lord commanded you.
Deut 21,18-21 : If a man has an indocile and rebellious son, let him not obey the orders of his father or his mother.
Pr 1,8s : Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction: Do not despise your mother’s teaching.
Pr 23,22-25 : Listen to your father, to him who begat you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Eclo 3,1-18 : Hear, my children, the advice of your father, follow them in such a way that you may be saved.
Mt 15,4 : Honor your father and mother; whoever curses his father or mother will be punished by death.
Lc 2,51 : Then he went down with them to Nazareth and was submissive to them.
Eph 6,2s : The first commandment accompanied by a promise is: Honor your father and mother.
Col 3:20 : Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
– They must accept the punishments:
Pr 13 :1 : A wise son loves discipline, but the incorrigible does not accept rebuke.
Pr 29,15 : Rod and correction give wisdom; child abandoned to his will becomes the mother’s shame.
Heb 12,9 : Besides, we have our parents on earth who correct us and yet we look at them with respect.
– Show gratitude:
Tob 4,1-5 : Listen, my son, to the words that I will say to you and make them a solid foundation in your heart.
Tb 9,4 : You know well that my father counts the days. If I delay a day longer, he will suffer for it.
Eclo 3,14s.18 : My son, help your father’s old age, do not grieve him during his life.
Eclo 7,29s : Honor your father with all your heart […] and do for them what they did for you.
– But they also have duties to their parents:
Exodus 20:12 : Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
– The eldest son enjoys special rights:
Deut 21,15-16 : On the day he divides up his wealth […] he will not be able to give the birthright to the son of the one he loves.
– The word can indicate belonging, so that sons of the prophets indicate a group of prophets:
1 Kings 20:35 : One of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, by the Lord’s command: “Strike me”. But the other refused.
Am 7:14 : I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I am a shepherd and a grower of sycamore trees.
– The expression children of men indicates the human condition:
1 Kings 8:39 : For you alone know the heart of all the children of men.
Job 25:6 How much less man, that worm, and the son of man, that little worm!
Ps 8,5 : What is man […] that you think of him? What are the children of Adam, that you care for them?
Ps 32:13 : The Lord looks down from heaven, he sees all the sons of men.
Ps 35 :8 : How precious is your goodness, O God! In the shadow of your wings, the sons of men take refuge.
Psalm 44 :3 : You are beautiful, the most beautiful of the sons of men.
Pr 8,31 : Playing on the globe of your earth, finding my delights among the sons of men.
Jr 32,19 : You are great in your designs […] and your eyes are open to all the destinies of men.
Jr 49,18.33 : No one else will live there and no human being will populate it.
Mk 3:28 : All sins will be forgiven the sons of men, even their blasphemies.
– The faithfulness and faith of the believer may be designated by such expressions as children of light:
Luke 16:8: For the children of this world are more prudent than the children of light in dealing with their fellow men.
Eph 5:8 : You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: behave like true lights.
– Children of peace:
Luke 10:6: If there is a peaceful man there, your peace will rest on him.
– Sons of Wisdom:
Luke 7:35 : But wisdom was justified by all her children.
– While sons of the devil identify opponents of the faith:
Acts 13:10 : Son of the devil, […] enemy of all righteousness, you never cease perverting the right ways of the Lord!
– A good son is the happiness of his parents:
Eclo 16,1-6 : Do not rejoice in having many children if they are bad.
– In a broader sense, it can mean nephew:
Gen 29:5 : Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?
Es 5,1 : The prophet Haggai and the prophet Zechariah, son of Adam, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem.
– Descendants:
Eclo 40,1 : A heavy yoke weighs down the children of Adam, from the day they leave the mother’s womb.
Mt 23:37 : How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.
Rom 9:7 : As not all the descendants of Abraham are children of Abraham; but: It is in Isaac that thou shalt have an offspring.
Gal 3:7 : Know therefore: only those who have faith are children of Abraham.
– Disciple:
1 Kings 20:35 : One of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, by the Lord’s command: “Strike me”. But the other refused.
2 Kings 2 :3 : The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel went out to meet Elisha.
Mk 10:24 : The disciples were astonished at his words […] “Little children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
Jn 13:33 : My little children, I am still with you for a little while.
Jn 21:5 : Jesus asked them: “Friends, do you have anything to eat?”.
1Cor 4,17 : For this reason I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful son in the Lord.
Gal 4:19 : My little children, for whom I am again in labor pains until Christ is formed in you.
1Tm 1,2 : To Timothy, my true son in the faith: […] Peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord!
– What is cherished with filial love:
Ex 4:22 : Thou shalt say to him, Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.
Deut 32,5s.18s : They sinned against him; they are no longer his children, but a degenerate race, a perverse, depraved generation.
Is 1,2 : I raised children and educated them; but they rebelled against me.
Jer 3,19 : I will grant you among my children, what a land of delights I will give you as an inheritance, the most beautiful jewel of the nations!
Jer 31:20 : Is not Ephraim, my dear son, eternally beloved by me?
Hos 11 :1 : Israel was still a child, and I loved him already, and out of Egypt I called my son.
– The righteous, possessing sanctifying grace, is called the son of God:
Mt 5,9.45 : Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God!
Lk 6:35 : Love your enemies, […] And your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.
John 1:12s : To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.
Rom 8:14-17 , 19, 21 : All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
2Pd 1,4 : Removing yourselves from the corruption that concupiscence has generated in the world.
Jas 1 : For he begat us by the word of truth, that we might be […] the firstfruits of his creatures.
1Jn 3,9 : Whoever is born of God does not sin, because the divine seed resides in him; and cannot sin, because he was born of God.
– The expression son of man is used in Ezekiel dozens of times to indicate the distance between God and man. In Daniel, many authors see the transcendental origin of a Son of Man as alluding to the Messiah:
Dn 7,13 : Always looking at the night vision, I saw a being, similar to the son of man, coming on the clouds of the sky.
– Jesus our Lord will call himself the Son of Man:
Mt 26:64 : I tell you that from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Almighty.
– See ADOPTION, SON OF MAN.
