Adoption is a beautiful and rewarding experience that gives both the children and parents involved a chance to experience the love of a family. However, like any other parenting experience, adoption has its fair share of challenges and requires careful planning and preparation from parents.
If you are thinking about adoption but are quite intimidated by the potential challenges you might face in the journey, it’s important to seek wisdom and encouragement from the Bible. Even though there are only a few stories about adoption in the Bible, it is full of teachings that assure parents that their steps are guided by a greater purpose.
Here are 40 Bible verses about adoption
Exodus 2:10
“When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
Esther 2:7
“Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.”
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Matthew 18:5
“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Psalm 68:6
“God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”
Psalm 82:3
“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Proverbs 31:8-9
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Matthew 19:14
“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”
Mark 9:37
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Psalm 146:9
“The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
Proverbs 14:21
“Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
Isaiah 1:17
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 8:15
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
Romans 8:23
“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”
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Ephesians 1:5
“He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
1 John 3:1
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
1 John 4:9-11
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Deuteronomy 14:29
“So that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”
Deuteronomy 24:19
“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”
Job 29:10-12
“The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them.”
Psalm 10:17-18
“You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.”
Psalm 27:10
“Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”
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Psalm 68:5
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.”
Isaiah 1:23
“Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.”
Isaiah 58:6-7
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
Jeremiah 7:6
“If you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm…”
Zechariah 7:9-10
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”
Malachi 3:5
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Matthew 25:35-36
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
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2 Corinthians 6:18
“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Psalms 82:3
“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
1 John 3:17
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
John 1:12-13
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Galatians 4:4-5
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship”
John 14:18
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
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Galatians 3:26
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,”
Exodus 22:22
“You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.”
Deuteronomy 10:18
“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”
Jeremiah 3:19
“I myself said, ‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.”