Children – A Gift

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. … They are the children God has graciously given you.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. … He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased. … May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

Then God … listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. … God has granted me another child.

You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children—peace be on Israel. … Children’s children are a crown to the aged.

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken. … Their children will be a blessing.

Ps 127:3, Ge 33:5; Ps 127:4-5; Ge 1:28, Ps 107:38, Ge 28:3; Ge 30:22-23, Ge 4:25; Ps 128:2-6, Pr 17:6; Ps 37:25, Ps 37:26