There are many bible verse about being a good father. God is a good father and he expects the earthly fathers to also be good fathers. 

Being a good father is not only about providing for the household, a good father plays an active role in raising his kids. 

A good father teaches and instructs his children, but he also leads by example. A good father is able to control his temper that is why Ephesians 6:4 says “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” 

Children will make mistakes but a good father has a forgiving heart, but he is also expected to discipline them when they have done wrong.

The Bible also says in Numbers 14:18 that the LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Table of Contents

1. Bible Verse About Being A Good Father
2. Bible Verse About Being A Good Father And Husband 
3. Examples Of Good And Bad Fathers In The Bible

Bible Verse About Being A Good Father

1.     A good father directs his children to do what is right (Genesis 18:18-19)

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:18-19)

A good father leads by example and guides his children and household to serve God and choose the right path so that the promises of God may be fulfilled in their lives.

2. A good father walks in integrity (Proverbs 20:7)

“The righteous who walks in his integrity– blessed are his children after him!” (Proverbs 20:7)

When the father walks with integrity, the bible says that he will be blessed and also his children will be blessed. This means that when you are a good father, God’s favor shines on your children. 

3. A good father teaches his children (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

Sometimes parents become too busy to the point where they no longer have time to teach their kids what is right and what is wrong. But a good father is involved in teaching his children things that will be beneficial to them.

4. A good father fears the Lord (Proverbs 14:26)

“Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.” (Proverbs 14:26)

When a father fears God, his children will be covered, meaning that he is being considerate of the lives of his children. 

5. A good father is a faithful husband (1 Timothy 3:2)

“Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2)

The Bible expects a father who is married to be faithful to his wife and to be self-controlled. This is because children are watching and if they see him behaving otherwise, they will lose respect for him and even copy his ways. 

6. A good father is not a drunk and he is not violent (1 Timothy 3:3)

“not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.” (1 Timothy 3:3)

7. A good father manages his family well and children obey him (1 Timothy 3:4)

“He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.” (1 Timothy 3:2)

8. A good father does not provoke his children to wrath (Ephesians 6:4)

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

This means that a good father is careful on how he interacts with his children because if he can embitter his children, they will no longer be teachable. 

9. A good father allows his child to leave the nest (Genesis 2:24)

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

10. A good father trains his children (Proverbs 22:6)

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

11. A good father provides for his family (1 Timothy 5:8)

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8)

A good father provides for his family, his own family should be his priority. Some fathers provide for everyone else but neglect the needs of their own household.

12. A good father shows compassion (Luke 15:20)

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

This was the prodigal son who asked his father for his portion of the inheritance and went and squandered it. But when the child came back, instead of rejecting him or being angry at him the father had compassion on him.

13.  A good father forgives his children (Luke 15:21-24)

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:21-24)

The prodigal son had messed up big time, but the father was willing to forgive him despite being a bad child and causing pain to his father. So a good father doesn’t stay angry at his child and neither does he chase his children away.

14. A good father loves all his children and has a relationship them (Luke 15:28-32)

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:28-32)

When the father realised that his older child was angry, he decided to go and speak to him. He didn’t want him to feel neglected just because his other son was back. He gave his son a chance to pour out his feelings and talked through his emotions with him. So a good dad communicates with his children. 

15.  A good father’s heart is on his children (Malachi 4:6)

“And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:6)

16. A good father pities his children (Psalm 103:13)

“As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.” (Psalm 103:13)

A good father is compassionate. He puts himself in the shoes of his children and pities them. 

17.  A good father instructs his children (Proverbs 1:8)

“My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother” (Proverbs 1:8)

We live in a time where there is so much free will, but it is still the father’s duty to instruct his children so that they can do what is right.

18. A good father disciplines his children (2 Samuel 7:14-15, Proverbs 3:11-12, Proverbs 13:24)

“I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him” (2 Samuel 7:14-15)

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12) 

“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” (Proverbs 13:24)

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?” (Hebrews 12:7)

19. A good father speaks a blessing over his children (Genesis 27:4)

“And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” (Genesis 27:4)

It was Isaac saying these words. Isaac was the kind of father who declared blessings upon his children. 

20. A good father celebrates his children’s milestones (Genesis 21:8)

The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. (Genesis 21:8)

21. A good father carries his child (Deuteronomy 1:31)

“and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” (Deuteronomy 1:31)

A good father doesn’t leave the role of carrying a child only to the mother, he also carries the child. 

22. A good father is a father to the fatherless (Esther 2:7-8)

Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. (Esther 2:7-8)

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” (Proverbs 68:5)

Mordecai took Esther in and became a father figure to her because she had lost both parents. 

23. A good father allows his child to take up opportunities (Esther 2:8,10)

When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. (Esther 2:8,10)

Mordecai allowed Esther to be brought to the Citadel. And he also advised her not to mention her background because she would ruin her chances of being chosen as queen. 

24. A good father checks up on his child (Esther 2:11)

“Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.” (Esther 2:11)

The Bible says Mordecai would check up on Esther every day, and that is what a good caring father does. Even when she is married, he did not stop being her father.

Bible Verse About Being A Good Father And Husband 

Genesis 27 and 28 teaches us some traits of a good father and husband. When Rebekah told her husband that she doesn’t want Jacob to marry Hittite women, her husband listened to her.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.” Genesis 27:46

Isaac then blessed Jacob his son and advised him on where he can find the woman that he should marry. 

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. (Genesis 28:1-2)

This means that Jacob was a good father and husband because he prayed for his child, directed and instructed him, but at the same time, he listened to his wife. He still wanted to make his wife happy.

Read more: 20 Bible verse about a good husband

Examples Of Good And Bad Fathers In The Bible

Lot is an example of a bad father in the bible, because he was willing to sacrifice his daughters in order to save the two men who were in his house. 

Genesis 19:8 says, “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

And because he was a bad father, this despicable thing happened in Genesis 19:31-32

“One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

So because he was not a good father, and he allowed himself to be given to drunkenness, his daughters slept with him and had his children.

Luke 15:11-31 is an example of a good father in the bible. He loved both his children and wanted to see them happy. When the younger one asked him for his share of the inheritance he granted it to him. Although after receiving it he went away and squandered it. But when he finally returned the father still had compassion on him and welcomed him back with open arms.