Study Desk

May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow!

May his children roam around begging, asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home!

May no one show him kindness! May no one have compassion on his fatherless children!

May the Lord be constantly aware of them, and cut off the memory of his children from the earth!

He makes the barren woman of the family a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord !

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house; your children will be like olive branches, as they sit all around your table.

For he makes the bars of your gates strong. He blesses your children within you.

you young men and young women, you elderly, along with you children!

Listen, children, to a father's instruction, and pay attention so that you may gain discernment.

So now, children, listen to me; do not turn aside from the words I speak.

"So now, children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.

In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and it will be a refuge for his children.

Grandchildren are like a crown to the elderly, and the glory of children is their parents.

The righteous person behaves in integrity; blessed are his children after him.

Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also praises her:

A man who is all alone with no companion, he has no children nor siblings; yet there is no end to all his toil, and he is never satisfied with riches. He laments, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is futile and a burdensome task!

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years— even if he lives a long, long time, but cannot enjoy his prosperity— even if he were to live forever— I would say, "A stillborn child is better off than he is!"

Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks: "I raised children, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me!

The sinful nation is as good as dead, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord , and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.

Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped.