Bible Strands
Colossians 3:21
Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author addresses fathers within a household code, placing this directive between instructions for children to obey their parents and for slaves to obey their masters.
The words — The command centers on ἐρεθίζετε (erethizete), translated literally as "do not provoke" or irritate, directed at fathers regarding their children.
The thread — This warning aligns with Ephesians 6:4, which explicitly forbids provoking children to wrath, and reflects the broader scriptural pattern of paternal compassion seen in Psalms 103:13.
Why it lands — Fathers must exercise restraint in discipline to prevent breaking their children's spirit, recognizing that authority requires measured correction to sustain a child's willingness to follow.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
- Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Psalms 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
- Proverbs 3:12 for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:11 For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children—
- Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.