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47 Bible verses about caring for animals
Think about the Old Testament, how animal sacrifices were the norm. But even then, there are so many verses showing God pushing back against those sacrifices and calling for animal care. It really makes you think.
Proverbs 12:1010, for instance, says, "The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." That's powerful. God's word includes advocating for animals. It's right there in the Bible.
If you really dig into the prophets, you'll find tons of verses urging care for animals. Hosea 8:1313 puts it plainly: "They offer sacrifices of animals and eat the meat, but the Lord is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins." It's a good reminder that true worship goes beyond rituals and involves how we treat all of God's creation.
God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.
Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?
And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” It was so.
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along.
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
A righteous person cares for the life of his animal, but even the most compassionate acts of the wicked are cruel.
Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard.When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside.Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him.So he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves he will be to his brothers.”He also said, “Worthy of praise is the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem!May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!”After the flood Noah lived 350 years.The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.
“If you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return it to him.If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.
A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake’s food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain,” says the Lord.
the ibex, the gazelle, the deer, the wild goat, the antelope, the wild oryx, and the mountain sheep.
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates.
Pay careful attention to the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds,for riches do not last forever, nor does a crown last from generation to generation.When the hay is removed and new grass appears, and the grass from the hills is gathered in,the lambs will be for your clothing, and the goats will be for the price of a field.And there will be enough goat’s milk for your food, for the food of your household, and for the sustenance of your servant girls.
Your justice is like the highest mountains, your fairness like the deepest sea; you preserve mankind and the animal kingdom.
You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and any hired help may refresh themselves.
Pay careful attention to the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds,
When you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; you must return it without fail to your neighbor.You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.You must not wear clothing made with wool and linen meshed together.You shall make yourselves tassels for the four corners of the clothing you wear.Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and then rejects her,accusing her of impropriety and defaming her reputation by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations with her I discovered she was not a virgin!”Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity for the elders of the city at the gate.The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected her.Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out before the city’s elders.The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish him.They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.If the owner does not live near you or you do not know who the owner is, then you must corral the animal at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him.But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin,the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge evil from among you.If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge evil from Israel.If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets her in the city and has sexual relations with her,you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated his neighbor’s fiancée; in this way you will purge evil from among you.But if the man came across the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped her, then only the rapist must die.You must not do anything to the young woman – she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person and murders him,for the man met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered.The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.You shall do the same to his donkey, his clothes, or anything else your neighbor has lost and you have found; you must not refuse to get involved.(23:1) A man may not marry his father’s former wife and in this way dishonor his father.When you see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; instead, you must be sure to help him get the animal on its feet again.
For the fate of humans and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted;Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return.
If you happen to notice a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them, you must not take the mother from the young.You must be sure to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.
A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along.A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.A baby will play over the hole of a snake; over the nest of a serpent an infant will put his hand.They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.
Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me, as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.I keep track of every bird in the hills, and the insects of the field are mine.
Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; he leads the ewes along.
Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
Then he said to them, “Which of you, if you have a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God.For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in hopethat the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!”
How many living things you have made, O Lord! You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; the earth is full of the living things you have made.Over here is the deep, wide sea, which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, living things both small and large.
The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing is perverse before me.The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive.”
So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.
that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.
“Are you acquainted with the way the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?Can you bind the wild ox to a furrow with its rope, will it till the valleys, following after you?Will you rely on it because its strength is great? Will you commit your labor to it?Can you count on it to bring in your grain, and gather the grain to your threshing floor?“The wings of the ostrich flap with joy, but are they the pinions and plumage of a stork?For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and lets them be warmed on the soil.She forgets that a foot might crush them, or that a wild animal might trample them.She is harsh with her young, as if they were not hers; she is unconcerned about the uselessness of her labor.For God deprived her of wisdom, and did not impart understanding to her.But as soon as she springs up, she laughs at the horse and its rider.“Do you give the horse its strength? Do you clothe its neck with a mane?Do you count the months they must fulfill, and do you know the time they give birth?Do you make it leap like a locust? Its proud neighing is terrifying!It paws the ground in the valley, exulting mightily, it goes out to meet the weapons.It laughs at fear and is not dismayed; it does not shy away from the sword.On it the quiver rattles; the lance and javelin flash.In excitement and impatience it consumes the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet is blown.At the sound of the trumpet, it says, ‘Aha!’ And from a distance it catches the scent of battle, the thunderous shouting of commanders, and the battle cries.“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south?Is it at your command that the eagle soars, and builds its nest on high?It lives on a rock and spends the night there, on a rocky crag and a fortress.From there it spots its prey, its eyes gaze intently from a distance.They crouch, they bear their young, they bring forth the offspring they have carried.And its young ones devour the blood, and where the dead carcasses are, there it is.”Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open; they go off, and do not return to them.
you appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority,including all the sheep and cattle, as well as the wild animals,the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea and everything that moves through the currents of the seas.