Bible Verses About Youth — and What They Are Actually Asking

Scripture addresses the young directly more often than people expect, and it rarely does it gently. Here are the verses worth having, and what they are actually asking.

The one everybody quotes

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

It is usually quoted for the first half. The second half is the instruction, and it is not a consolation — it is a list of five areas in which a young person is expected to be the example rather than receive one.

The ones about starting early

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

The chapter that follows is one of the bleakest passages in Scripture — an extended picture of a body failing, written as a series of images: the keepers of the house trembling, the grinders ceasing, those looking through the windows growing dim.

It is an old man’s honest account of what is coming, offered to people who cannot yet imagine it.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. (Lamentations 3:27)

The ones about not waiting

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.” (Jeremiah 1:7)

Jeremiah has just tried the obvious excuse and it has not worked. The rest of his life was not enviable, which the book does not hide.

And David, in the field with the sheep, is the one his father does not think to call in when the prophet asks to see the sons (1 Samuel 16:11).

The ones about what to do with strength

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14)

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

Three verbs there: flee, pursue, and with other people. The third is the one most often dropped.

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. (Psalm 119:9)

The ones about parents, honestly

Honour your father and mother. (Exodus 20:12) The Hebrew word for honour is built on weight: to treat someone as substantial rather than easily set aside.

And the instruction that runs the other way, which is quoted far less: Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

Colossians puts it more starkly: Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:21)

The young people in Scripture

They are not decorative. Josiah is crowned at eight and begins clearing the high places at twenty. Mary is a teenager when Gabriel arrives, and her reply is a question about mechanics before it is anything else. The boy with five loaves is the only person in the crowd who brought anything.

Timothy, to whom 1 Timothy 4:12 is written, was being told this because people were in fact looking down on him.

Frequently asked

What does the Bible say about young people?

That they are to be examples rather than exceptions (1 Timothy 4:12), to remember their Creator before the difficult years (Ecclesiastes 12:1), and not to plead youth as a reason to decline (Jeremiah 1:7).

What does 1 Timothy 4:12 actually ask?

Its second half is the instruction: to set an example in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. It was written because people were looking down on Timothy.

What does Ecclesiastes 12:1 mean?

Remember your Creator while young, because the chapter that follows describes, unflinchingly, a body beginning to fail.

Is there a verse for parents?

Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21 both tell fathers not to exasperate or embitter their children, and are quoted far less than the command to honour parents.