Bible Verses About Motherhood

““Please, my lord,” said Hannah, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this boy, and since the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him, I now dedicate the boy to the LORD. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the LORD.” So they worshiped the LORD there.”

Hannah, who had begged God for a son, brings young Samuel to serve at the sanctuary. She gives back with thanks what she received in answer to prayer.

“Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” “Go ahead,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. And the girl went and called the boy’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.””

A mother hides her baby, then places him in a basket on the river to save his life. Her courage helps set the stage for Moses to become Israel's deliverer.

“Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised. And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.” She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.””

Sarah laughs with joy at bearing Isaac in old age, after long years of waiting. The story reminds readers that God keeps promises in his own time.

“Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His name.”

Mary responds to the news that she will bear Jesus with a song of praise and humility. She marvels that God has looked on a lowly servant.

“Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” So from that hour, this disciple took her into his home.”

Jesus, in his dying hour, makes sure his mother is cared for by entrusting her to the beloved disciple. He shows that love for a parent continues to the last.

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well.”

Paul remembers the sincere faith that lived first in Timothy's grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. A household's faith can begin with quiet example.

“But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Paul reminds Timothy that from childhood he has known the sacred writings. What a child learns early can be the root of lasting faith.

“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.”

A father's instruction and a mother's teaching are both named as something a child should treasure. Parents share the task of guiding the young.

“Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the days to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband praises her as well:”

The woman of strength is described as dignified, wise in speech, and watchful over her household. Her children and husband rise up to praise her.

“Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good. In this way they can train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.”

Older women are encouraged to teach younger women, including how to love their families well. Wisdom is meant to travel between generations of women.

“Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Among the Ten Commandments is the call to honor father and mother. For adults it often means respect and care rather than obedience in every detail.

“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.”

Children are urged not to look down on a mother when she grows old. Gratitude for her life should not fade with her strength.

“Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.”

Children are called a gift from the Lord, a reward and not a burden. The psalm counts them as one of the real riches of a household.

“He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!”

God is praised for giving the childless woman a home and the joy of children. Many who long for a child find company in this hope, even when the answer takes another shape.

““Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!”

God asks whether a nursing mother could forget her child, then says he will not forget his people. The strongest human love is only a hint of his.

“As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.””

God promises to comfort his people the way a mother comforts her child. Scripture here uses a mother's care to picture divine tenderness.