Bible Strands
Ephesians 6:2
“Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise),
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Ephesian church, addressing children within the household code (6:1–9), moving from the general call to obedience in v. 1 to the specific command and its promise.
The words — τίμα (timá), a noun meaning "value, price, worth," carries the verse; it is not an action word but a thing to be rendered, making "honor" a substance rather than a gesture.
The thread — The command is the fifth of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:12), echoed in the curse for dishonor (Deuteronomy 27:16) and quoted by Jesus in a dispute with the Pharisees (Matthew 15:4); Paul's gloss "first commandment with a promise" is his own, tying it to the longevity promise in v. 3.
Why it lands — It is a command addressed to a specific group, not a general virtue, and the attached promise means the obligation is not merely moral but carries a stated consequence for neglect.
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
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Deuteronomy 27:16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Matthew 15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Proverbs 20:20 Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
- Ezekiel 22:7 Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
- Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
- Jeremiah 35:18 Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites: “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have obeyed the command of your forefather Jonadab and have kept all his commandments and have done all that he charged you to do,
- Mark 7:9 He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.
- Romans 13:7 Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.