6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.^{(A) 2} “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”^[a](B)

⁴ Fathers,^[b] do not exasperate your children;^(C) instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.^(D)

The Little Children and Jesus^(A)

¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them^(B) and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs^(C) to such as these.”^{(D) 15} When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,^(A) no mercy.

¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.^(A) Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’^(B)