55 Bible Verses about Old Age, Attitudes To

Get up from your seats before the white-haired, and give honour to the old, and let the fear of your God be before you: I am the Lord.

And in the same way, let the younger men be ruled by the older ones. Let all of you put away pride and make yourselves ready to be servants: for God is a hater of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low.

The young men saw me, and went away, and the old men got up from their seats;

The grey head is a crown of glory, if it is seen in the way of righteousness.

The glory of young men is their strength, and the honour of old men is their grey hairs.

Do not say sharp words to one who has authority in the church, but let your talk be as to a father, and to the younger men as to brothers:

Let every man give honour to his mother and to his father and keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.

Give honour to your father and to your mother, so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death.

Every man cursing his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death; because of his curse on his father or his mother, his blood will be on him.

Cursed is he who does not give honour to his father or mother. And let all the people say, So be it.

The eye which makes sport of a father, and sees no value in a mother when she is old will be rooted out by the ravens of the valley, and be food for the young eagles.

For God said, Give honour to your father and mother: and, He who says evil of father or mother will be put to death.

For Moses said, Give honour to your father and mother, and, He who says evil of father or mother, let him have the punishment of death:

Children, do what is ordered by your fathers and mothers in the Lord: for this is right. Give honour to your father and mother (which is the first rule having a reward), So that all may be well for you, and your life may be long on the earth.

Children, do the orders of your fathers and mothers in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you. I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom.

Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people? And they said to him, If you will be a servant to this people today, caring for them and giving them a gentle answer, then they will be your servants for ever. But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, and went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him:

Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people? And they said to him, If you are kind to this people, pleasing them and saying good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever. But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, but went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him.

Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge.

With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.

Now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, give me not up; till I have made clear your strength to this generation, and your power to all those to come.

Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers:

I have been young, and now am old, but I have not seen the good man without help, or his children looking for bread. All the day he is ready to have mercy and to give; his children are a blessing.

It is not the old who are wise, and those who are full of years have not the knowledge of what is right.

To give his chiefs teaching at his pleasure, and so that his law-givers might get wisdom from him.

And the people will be crushed, every one by his neighbour; the young will be full of pride against the old, and those of low position will be lifted up against the noble.

A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young:

But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.

I was angry with my people, I put shame on my heritage, and gave them into your hands: you had no mercy on them; you put a cruel yoke on those who were old;

Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.

So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt,

So the responsible men of Moab and Midian went away, taking in their hands rewards for the prophet; and they came to Balaam and said to him what Balak had given them orders to say.

Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause, because of what is done to you in Egypt; And I have said, I will take you up out of the sorrows of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, into a land flowing with milk and honey. And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God.

Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel: And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people. And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.

And Moses came and sent for the chiefs of the people and put before them all these words which the Lord had given him orders to say.

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him: now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time.

But if any man has hate for his neighbour, and waiting for him secretly makes an attack on him and gives him a blow causing his death, and then goes in flight to one of these towns; The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death.

Then let the girl's father and mother put before the responsible men of the town, in the public place, signs that the girl was a virgin: And let the girl's father say to the responsible men, I gave my daughter to this man for his wife, but he has no love for her; And now he has put shame on her, saying that she is not a virgin; but here is the sign that she is a virgin. Then they are to put her clothing before the responsible men of the town.read more.
Then the responsible men of the town are to give the man his punishment;

But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do.

So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel.

And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together.

And they took Jesus away to the high priest; and there came together with him all the chief priests and those in authority and the scribes.

Let rulers whose rule is good be honoured twice over, specially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

This is a true saying, A man desiring the position of a Bishop has a desire for a good work. The Bishop, then, is to be a man of good name, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, serious-minded, having respect for order, opening his house freely to guests, a ready teacher; Not quickly moved to wrath or blows, but gentle; no fighter, no lover of money;read more.
Ruling his house well, having his children under control with all serious behaviour; (For if a man has not the art of ruling his house, how will he take care of the church of God?) Not one newly taken into the church, for fear that, through his high opinion of himself, he may come into the same sin as the Evil One. And he is to have a good name among those outside the church, so that nothing may be said against him and he may not be taken by the designs of the Evil One.

I did not take you with me when I went away from Crete, so that you might do what was necessary to put things in order there, placing men in authority over the churches in every town, as I said to you; Men having a good record, husbands of one wife, whose children are of the faith, children of whom it may not be said that they are given to loose living or are uncontrolled. For it is necessary for a Bishop to be a man of virtue, as God's servant; not pushing himself forward, not quickly moved to wrath or blows, not desiring profit for himself;read more.
But opening his house freely to guests; a lover of what is good, serious-minded, upright, holy, self-controlled; Keeping to the true word of the teaching, so that he may be able to give comfort by right teaching and overcome the arguments of the doubters.

Is anyone among you ill? let him send for the rulers of the church; and let them say prayers over him, putting oil on him in the name of the Lord.

I who am myself one of the rulers of the church, and a witness of the death of Christ, having my part in the coming glory, send this serious request to the chief men among you: Keep watch over the flock of God which is in your care, using your authority, not as forced to do so, but gladly; and not for unclean profit but with a ready mind;

I went on looking till the seats of kings were placed, and one like a very old man took his seat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like clean wool; his seat was flames of fire and its wheels burning fire.

I saw in visions of the night, and there was coming with the clouds of heaven one like a man, and he came to the one who was very old, and they took him near before him.

And his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

But the Lord is King for ever: he has made ready his high seat for judging.

Whose purpose and work was it? His who sent out the generations from the start. I the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he.

The Lord, the King of Israel, even the Lord of armies who has taken up his cause, says, I am the first and the last, and there is no God but me.