Use these Bible Verses on adoption for adopted children and adoptive parents to see what God’s Word says about adopting a child, His adoption of His children, and more.
What does the Bible say about adoption?
Though the process of adoption is rarely an easy one, adoption is a gift to many. Whether that is a child who was given up for adoption, who gets adopted into a loving home, or adoptive parents who have long awaited and prayed for children. Throughout scripture, God’s Word speaks favorably of adoption.
There are many Bible verses on adoption. We see various verses that speak of God’s heart towards the fatherless, and those who have been orphaned. He sets Himself up as their defender and He calls believers to care for their well-being and look after them in their distress.
Two prominent characters in Scripture who were adopted are Esther and Moses. In Exodus 2:1-10 we read of the birth of Moses, and the means through which he ends up being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. This same Moses is the one who God used to free His people from Egypt, and he became a faithful servant of God.
Similarly, Esther was adopted by her older cousin, Mordecai after her parents’ death. Esther became a queen and was used in God’s plan to bring deliverance to the Jewish people.
But it is not only physical adoption that God’s Word talks about. When we come to faith in Christ, we are adopted into the family of God in a spiritual sense. Through God’s Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, we call out to God “Abba, Father”. We are no longer regarded as children of the flesh but as children of God. Just as adoption is a loving choice that is made, God’s adoption is based on His great love for us.
You can use these verses on adoption to learn about God’s heart towards adoption and more.
29 Bible Verses About Adoption For Adopted Children and Adoptive Parents
1. Ephesians 1:5 – He Has Predestined Us For Adoption To Sonship
He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. – Ephesians 1:5
2. Romans 8:15 – Through His Spirit We Have Been Adopted To Sonship
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 8:15
3. John 1:12 – To Those Who Receive Him He Gave The Right To Become Children Of God
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:12
4. Romans 8:23 – We Wait Eagerly For Our Adoption To A Sonship
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. – Romans 8:23
5. 1 John 3:1 – We Are Called Children Of God Because Of His Lavish Love
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. – 1 John 3:1
6. Psalm 27:10 – Though My Parents Forsake Me The Lord Will Receive Me
Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. – Psalm 27:10
7. Psalm 68:5 – The Lord Is A Father To The Fatherless
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. – Psalm 68:5
8. Isaiah 43:1 – The Lord Has Called You By Name, You Are His
But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. – Isaiah 43:1
9. James 1:27 – Pure Religion Before God Is To Look After Orphans And Widows In Their Distress
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. – James 1:27
10. Deuteronomy 10:18 – He Defends The Cause Of The Fatherless
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. – Deuteronomy 10:18
11. Psalm 10:14 – God Is The Helper Of The Fatherless
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. – Psalm 10:14
12. Proverbs 31:8-9 – Speak Up For Those Who Cannot Speak For Themselves
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. – Proverbs 31:8-9
13. Psalm 146:9 – The Lord Sustains The Fatherless
The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. – Psalm 146:9
14. Matthew 18:5 – Whoever Welcomes Such A Child In His Name Welcomes Him
And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. – Matthew 18:5
15. Proverbs 14:31 – Whoever Is Kind To The Needy Honors God
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. – Proverbs 14:31
16. Zechariah 7:10 – Do Not Oppress The Widow Or The Fatherless
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other. – Zechariah 7:10
17. Exodus 22:22 – Don’t Take Advantage Of The Widow Or Fatherless
Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. – Exodus 22:22
18. Psalm 82:3-4 – Defend The Weak And The Fatherless
Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. – Psalm 82:3-4
19. Isaiah 1:17 – Take Up The Cause Of The Fatherless
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. – Isaiah 1:17
20. Malachi 3:5 – God Will Testify Against Who Oppress The Fatherless
“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. – Malachi 3:5
21. Psalm 10:17-18 – He Defends The Fatherless And The Oppressed
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 10:17-18
22. Acts 7:21 – Pharaoh’s Daughter Brought Up Moses As Her Own Son
When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. – Acts 7:21
23. Esther 2:7 – Mordecai Took Esther As His Own Daughter
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. – Esther 2:7
24. Romans 9:8 – Those Who Are In Christ Are Regarded As The Children Of God
In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. – Romans 9:8
25. John 14:18 – He Will Not Leave You As Orphans, He Will Come To You
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. – John 14:18
26. Romans 8:14-17 – Those Led By The Spirit Of God Are The Children Of God
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 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.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. – Romans 18:14-17
27. Galatians 4:4-5 – God Sent Jesus So That We Might Receive Adoption To Sonship
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. – Galatians 4:4-5
28. Hosea 14:3 – In Him The Fatherless Finds Compassion
Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion. – Hosea 14:3
29. Exodus 2:1-10 – The Adoption Of Moses
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
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.” – Exodus 2:1-10
More Bible Verses On Caring For Children:
35 Bible Verses About Parenting
22 Bible Verses About Discipleship
34 Bible Verses for Mother’s Day
30 Bible Verses About Foster Care
