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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.
And Elohim created great sea creatures and every living being that moves, with which the waters teemed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.
Look at the birds of the heaven, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father does feed them. Are you not worth more than they?
And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping creature on the earth, in which there is a living being, every green plant is for food.” And it came to be so.
And Elohim said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the ground.”
And Elohim said, “Let the earth bring forth the living being according to its kind: livestock and creeping creatures and beasts of the earth, according to its kind.” And it came to be so.
And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creeping creatures on the earth.”
And a wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and a leopard lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child leads them.
And Elohim said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the ground.”And Elohim created the man in His image, in the image of Elohim He created him – male and female He created them.And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creeping creatures on the earth.”
The righteous regards the life of his beast, But the compassion of the wrong is cruelty.
“And the fear of you and the dread of you is on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the heavens, on all that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea – into your hand they have been given.And Noaḥ, a man of the soil, began and planted a vineyard.And he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.And Ḥam, the father of Kena‛an, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.So Shĕm and Yapheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, but their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.And Noaḥ awoke from his wine, and he knew what his younger son had done to him,and he said, “Cursed is Kena‛an, let him become a servant of servants to his brothers.”And he said, “Blessed be יהוה, the Elohim of Shĕm, and let Kena‛an become his servant.“Let Elohim enlarge Yapheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shĕm. And let Kena‛an become his servant.”And Noaḥ lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.So all the days of Noaḥ were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.“Every creeping creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants.
And יהוה Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Ěḏen to work it and to guard it.
“When you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall certainly return it to him.“When you see the donkey of him who hates you lying under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall certainly help him.
“Wolf and lamb feed together, a lion eats straw as an ox, and dust is the snake’s food. They shall do no evil, nor destroy in all My set-apart mountain,” said יהוה.
deer, and gazelle, and roebuck, and wild goat, and mountain goat, and antelope, and mountain sheep.
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of יהוה your Elohim. You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
Know well the state of your flocks; Set your heart to your herds;For riches are not forever, Nor a diadem to all generations.Grass vanishes, and new grass appears, And the vegetation of the mountains is gathered in.The lambs are for your garments, And the goats for the price of a field;And goats’ milk enough for your food, For the food of your household, And sustenance for your girls.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains; Your right-rulings are a great deep; O יהוה, You save man and beast.
“And of all the living of all flesh, two of each, you are to bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you – a male and a female.
“Six days you are to do your work, and on the seventh day you rest, in order that your ox and your donkey might rest, and the son of your female servant and the sojourner be refreshed.
“When you see your brother’s ox or his sheep straying away, you shall not hide yourself from them. Return them to your brother without fail.“Do not plough with an ox and a donkey together.“Do not put on a garment of different kinds, of wool and linen together.“Make tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.When any man takes a wife, and shall go in to her, and shall hate her,”and shall make abusive charges against her and bring an evil name on her and say, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I did not find her a maiden,’then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the proof of the girl’s maidenhood to the elders of the city at the gate.“And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he hates her.“And see, he has made abusive charges against her, saying, I did not find your daughter a maiden,” and yet these are the proofs of my daughter’s maidenhood.’ And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city.“And the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him,and fine him one hundred pieces of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name on a maiden of Yisra’ĕl. And she is to be his wife, he is not allowed to put her away all his days.“And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall be with you until your brother seeks it, then you shall return it to him.But if the matter is true, that the girl was not found a maiden,”then they shall bring out the girl to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done wickedness in Yisra’ĕl, to whore in her father’s house. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.“When a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman. Thus you shall purge the evil from Yisra’ĕl.When a girl who is a maiden is engaged to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,”then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and shall stone them to death with stones, the girl because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has humbled his neighbour’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.“But if a man finds the girl who is engaged in the field, and the man takes hold of her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.But you shall do no matter to the girl. The girl has no sin worthy of death – for the matter is like a man who rises against his neighbour and murders him – a being - ”for he found her in the field, and she cried out, the engaged girl, but without anyone to save her.“When a man finds a girl who is a maiden, who is not engaged, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out,then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she is to be his wife because he has humbled her. He is not allowed to put her away all his days.“And so you do with his donkey, and so you do with his garment, and so you do with whatever your brother loses, which he has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to hide yourself.A man does not take his father’s wife, nor uncover his father’s skirt.“When you see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down on the way, you shall not hide yourself from them. Help him raise them without fail.
For the event of the sons of men is also the event of beasts – one event befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Indeed, they all have one breath – man has no advantage over beasts. For all is futile.A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot;All are going to one place – all came from the dust, and all return to dust.
“When you come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young –“let the mother go without fail, and take the young for yourself, so that it might be well with you, and that you shall prolong your days.
“When you see the donkey of him who hates you lying under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall certainly help him.
And a wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and a leopard lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child leads them.And cow and bear shall feed, their young ones lie down together, and a lion eat straw like an ox.And the nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the adder’s den.They do no evil nor destroy in all My set-apart mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of יהוה as the waters cover the sea.
And Noaḥ built a slaughter-place to יהוה, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and offered ascending offerings on the slaughter-place.
For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.”“I know all the birds of the mountains, And all moving in My field are Mine.
He feeds His flock like a shepherd, He gathers the lambs with His arm, and carries them in His bosom, gently leading those who are with young.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground without your Father.
And to them He said, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, shall not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”
“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before Elohim.“But even the hairs of your head have all been numbered. Do not fear, you are worth more than many sparrows.
For the intense longing of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of Elohim.For the torah of the Spirit of the life in Messiah יהושע has set me free from the torah of sin and of death.For the creation was subjected to futility, not from choice, but because of Him who subjected it, in anticipation,that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage to corruption into the esteemed freedom of the children of Elohim.
“And should I not pardon Ninewĕh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand beings who have not known their right hand from their left, and much cattle?”
O יהוה, how many have been Your works! You have made all of them in wisdom. The earth is filled with Your possessions.There is the sea, great and wide, In which are innumerable swarms, Living creatures, small with great.
And the Messenger of יהוה said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? See, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is reckless before Me.And the donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, I certainly would have killed you by now, and let her live.
So then, as we have occasion, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of the belief.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before Elohim.
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage to corruption into the esteemed freedom of the children of Elohim.For we know that all the creation groans together, and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
“Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or do you observe when the deer gives birth?If you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes, would he plough the valleys behind you?Would you rely on his great strength? Or would you leave your labour to him?Would you trust him to bring home your grain, and gather it to your threshing-floor?The wings of the ostrich flap joyously, but they are not the pinions and plumage of a stork!She leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust;and she forgets that a foot might crush them, or a wild beast tread on them.She treats her young harshly, as if not hers; her toil is in vain, without fear,because Eloah has made her forget wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding.When she lifts herself on high, she laughs at the horse and its rider.Have you given the horse strength? Have you covered his neck with a mane?Do you number the months they complete? Or do you know the time when they bear young?Would you make him leap like a locust? His splendid snorting is frightening.He paws in the valley, and rejoices in strength. He gallops into the clash of arms.He laughs at fear, and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword.The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and lance.He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, and he does not stand still because of a voice of a shophar.At the blast of the shophar he says, ‘Aha!’ And from afar he smells the battle, the thunder of commanders and shouting.Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, spreading its wings toward the south?Does the eagle mount up at your mouth, and make its nest on high?It dwells on the rock, and lodges on the crag of the rock and the stronghold.From there it searches out the prey, its eyes see it from afar.They bow down, they bring forth their young, their labour pains are ended.And its young ones suck up blood. And where the slain are, there it is!”Their young ones are thriving, they grow up in the field. They shall leave and shall not return to them.
You made him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all under his feet,All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field,The birds of the heavens, And the fish of the sea, Passing through the paths of the seas.