Category
VERSES ABOUT NATURE
Think about this: God created everything. The earth, the sky, the whole world—it all belongs to Him. He made it all, just like Exodus 20:11 says: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." He created it all perfectly, and He deserves all the praise for the amazing things He's done.
You know, we should really stand in awe of God and give Him glory. The time is coming when He will judge the world, so let's worship the One who made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.
When you're out enjoying nature – at the beach, in the mountains, or just looking at a beautiful tree – remember who made it all so beautiful and perfect. Let's give God all the glory He deserves.
Righteous people take care of their animals. But wicked people are cruel even when they think they are kind.
Then God said, ‘We will make humans so that they are very much like us. They will rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky. They will rule over the farm animals. They will rule over the whole earth and all the animals that move along the ground.’
You give grass for farm animals to eat. You give crops for people to plant. In that way, people get food from the ground.
Think about the wild birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God, your Father in heaven, gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds.
Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain to prepare it for you.
Perhaps you may see your enemy's donkey when it is carrying a heavy load. If the donkey has fallen down, do not refuse to give help. Do not leave the donkey there.
Your justice is like the strongest mountains. You always do what is right, as sure as the seas are deep. You take care of people and animals and you keep them safe.
But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is special for the Lord your God. You must not do any work on that day. Your son and your daughter must not work on that day. Your servants, male or female, must not work on that day. The foreign person who lives among you and even your animals must not work on that day.
At that time, wolves and lambs will eat together. Lions will eat straw like cows. A snake's food will be dirt. Nothing will hurt or destroy anything else anywhere on my holy mountain.’ That is what the Lord says.
Learn a lesson from the ants, you lazy person! See how hard they work.They have no leader or ruler,but they get their food during the summer. At the time of harvest they store food to prepare for winter.
Think about this. People sell five birds for two small coins. But each little bird is valuable to God. He knows about them all and he takes care of them.
Lord, you have made very many different things! You were very wise in the way that you have made them all. The earth is full of the living things that you have made.
At that time, I will make a promise that nothing will hurt my people. I will make an agreement with the wild animals, with the birds in the fields and with the animals that move along the ground. I will remove from their land all the weapons that soldiers use to fight wars. I will destroy their swords and their bows and arrows. I will allow my people to live safely in peace.
So it is right for me to be sorry about Nineveh. It is a great city. More than 120,000 people live in it. They cannot understand the difference between what is right and what is wrong. They also have many farm animals.’
You may find a bird's nest beside the road. It may be in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is sitting on eggs or on young birds, you must not take the mother away from them.You may take the young birds for yourself. But you must let the mother bird go free. If you do that, everything will be well with you. You will have a long life.
Do your work for six days each week, but do not work on the seventh day. Then your oxen and your donkeys will have time to rest. Any slave who was born in your home and any foreigner who works for you may also have time to rest. That will help them to be strong.
The Lord God took the man and he put him in the Garden of Eden. God wanted the man to work in the garden and to take care of it.
When he is king, wolves will live beside lambs! Leopards will lie down with young goats! Young cows and lions will feed together, and a young child will take care of them!
The land will also provide food for your farm animals and for the wild animals. You may eat any food that the land provides during that year.
You cannot find food for the ravens to eat. You cannot help them when their babies cry to me because they are weak and hungry.’
But in the seventh year, you must let your fields lie empty. Do not dig them and do not plant anything in them. Then poor people among you can eat the food that they find in your fields. After that, the wild animals can eat any food that still remains. Do the same thing with your vineyards and your fields of olive trees.
You must not eat anything that you find dead already. You may give it to a foreign person who lives in any of your towns. He may eat it. You may give it to him or sell it to him. But you yourselves are special people who belong to the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in the milk from its mother.
All the wild animals of the forest belong to me! All the cows on a thousand hills belong to me!I know every bird in the mountains, as well as all the insects.
He takes care of his people, like a shepherd who takes care of his sheep. He picks up the young lambs and he carries them near to his heart. He carefully leads the mother sheep that have lambs.
You have chosen them to rule everything that you have made. You have put everything under their authority.Yes! Humans rule them all: Farm animals and wild animals, birds, fish and all the things that swim in the sea.
Then Jesus asked the people, ‘Maybe one of you has a son or an animal that falls into a well on our day of rest. What will you do? You will pull the child or the animal out of the well immediately.’
Do you want to know the right way to live? Then you must accept it when people warn you that you have done something wrong. Only stupid people hate it when people warn them.
The wild animals in the desert praise me. The jackals and the owls praise me. They praise me because I put water in the desert, and streams in the wilderness. I am giving water to the people that I have chosen, so that they will not be thirsty.
He went across to him. He poured oil and wine on the places where he was bleeding. Then he tied those places with clean cloths. After that, he put the man on his own donkey to carry him. They arrived at a small hotel. He took the man in there and he took care of him.
The Law that God gave to Moses says this: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain.’ But God's Law does not teach this only to help oxen.
You offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to me all the time but that is not why I speak against you.I do not need a bull from your farm, or goats from your fields.
The same thing happens to humans as happens to animals. We all breathe for a time and then we die. Humans are no different to animals. Life has no purpose.
Owls will build their nests there. They will take care of their eggs until the baby birds come out. They will keep their babies safe under their wings. Hawks will meet there too. They will be together in pairs, male and female.
Jesus said to them, ‘Maybe one of you has a sheep that falls into a deep hole on our day of rest. What will you do? You will take hold of it and you will lift it out of the hole.You know that a man is much more valuable than a sheep. So it is right for us to do good things on our day of rest.’
‘Job, do you know that time when the goats on the mountains give birth? Do you watch the wild deer when their babies are born?
He fills the sky with clouds. He sends rain to make the earth wet. He causes grass to grow on the hills.
Cows and bears will feed together. Even their children will lie down side by side. Lions will eat grass, as cows do.
Then you will use the wool from your sheep to make clothes. You will sell your goats, and you will buy a field.
If a man digs a hole in the ground, he must cover it. If he leaves a hole open, a cow or a donkey might fall into it.Then the man who dug the hole must pay for the loss of the animal. He must pay money to the animal's owner, but he may keep the dead animal for himself.
I will feed them in fields on Israel's mountains where grass grows. They will lie down in the good fields. They will eat the green grass that grows on the mountains.
The Lord God took soil from the ground and he made all the animals and birds. He brought them to the man. God wanted to know what names the man would call them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name.
Even if I did become hungry, I would not tell you. All the world belongs to me, and everything that is in it.
Speak on behalf of people who cannot speak for themselves. Help helpless people to receive justice.
Think about the birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds.
You are ready to give with an open hand. You give food to every living thing, as much as they need.
God blessed them. He said to them, ‘Give birth to children. Grow in number. Fill the earth and rule over it. Rule over the fish in the sea. Rule over the birds in the sky. Rule over every different kind of living animal that moves along the ground.’
I will leave you in the wilderness with all your fish. You will lie on the ground in the open fields. Nobody will pick you up or take care of you. I will give you to the wild animals and birds to be their food.
Nothing will hurt or destroy anything else anywhere on my holy mountain. Instead, people will know the Lord all over the earth, as water fills the whole sea.
God, your faithful love has great value! You keep all humans safe, like birds protect their babies under their wings.
God teaches us more things than he teaches to the animals. He makes us wiser than the birds.”
But people who wait for the Lord to help them will receive new strength. They will rise up high, as if they have the wings of eagles. They will run and they will not become tired. They will walk and they will not become weak.
In your temple, even sparrows have their homes. Swallows build their nests there, to take care of their babies. They can be near to your altars, Lord Almighty, my king and my God.
Then God thought of Noah and all the animals that were with him in the ship. He caused a wind to blow over the earth. As a result, the water began to go down.
The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘You should not have hit your donkey like that! I have come here to stop you because you refuse to obey me.Three times the donkey saw me and turned back. If it had not done that, I would have killed you. But I would not have killed your donkey.’
You must also take two of every different kind of animal into the ship. One will be male and the other will be female. Then they will stay alive with you.The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. They chose for themselves any of them that they wanted to become their wives. Bring two of every different kind of bird, two of every different animal and two of every different living thing that moves along the ground. All these will come to you. You will take care of them so that they will stay alive.
Perhaps your neighbour's donkey or his cow has fallen on the road. If you see it there, do not look the other way. You must help the man to lift the animal so that it can stand.
Do the same thing with your cows and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days. But on the eighth day, you must give them to me.
He fills the sky with clouds. He sends rain to make the earth wet. He causes grass to grow on the hills.He gives food for the animals to eat. He feeds the young ravens when they cry.
‘Tell the Israelites, “These are the animals that you may eat from among the animals which live on the land.These are the rules about insects that fly in the air and also walk on the ground. They are disgusting and you must not eat them.But some of these insects have legs that they can use to jump. You may eat those kinds of insects.You may eat any kinds of locusts, crickets and grasshoppers.But you must not eat any other insects that fly and they also walk on the ground.All these animals will make you unclean if you touch the dead body of one of them. If you do touch one, you will be unclean until the evening.If you carry a body of one of these animals, you must wash your clothes. But you will still be unclean until the evening. Do not touch an animal that does not have feet in two completely separate parts. Do not touch an animal that does not bring food back into its mouth to eat it again. If you touch the dead body of any of these animals, you become unclean.Do not touch the dead body of an animal that has paws to walk on. If you do touch one, you will be unclean until the evening.If you carry a body of one of these animals, you must wash your clothes. But you will still be unclean until the evening. These animals are unclean for you.These are the rules about animals that move near to the ground. These animals are unclean for you: moles, rats, different kinds of lizards, geckos and chameleons.You may eat animals which have feet in two separate parts. They must also be animals which bring their food back into their mouths and eat it again.
You may see your neighbour's cow or sheep that has become lost. If so, do not look the other way. You must catch the animal. You must take it back to your neighbour.
There are four things that live on the earth which are very small, but they are also very wise:Ants are not very strong, but they prepare their food in the summer.
You will drink water from the stream. I have also commanded the ravens to feed you there.’
Take seven pairs of every different kind of clean animal. Each pair will be a male and a female. Take two of every different kind of unclean animal. Take a male and a female together.The water still became deeper so that it was more than 6 metres higher than the tops of the mountains.As a result, everything that had lived on the earth now died. The birds, the farm animals and the wild animals died. Every living thing that moved across the ground died, and so did all the people.Everything that lived on the dry land died. Nothing could breathe any more.God destroyed everything that lived on the earth. He destroyed people, animals, living things that move across the ground, and birds. God removed them from the earth. Only Noah and his family, together with the animals that were in the ship, stayed alive.The deep water covered the earth for 150 days.Take seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female together. Do this so that they will give birth to young ones. Then each different kind of animal and bird will continue to live on the earth.
You must give to the Lord all the firstborn males. That includes your own firstborn sons, and the male animals that are born first. They belong to the Lord.
But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is special for the Lord your God. You must not do any work on that day. Your son and your daughter must not work on that day. Your servants, male or female, must not work on that day. Your ox or your donkey or any of your animals must not work on that day, nor any foreign person who lives among you. Then your servants can rest in the same way as you rest.
This was her first baby, and it was a boy. She put cloths around him. Then she put him in an animal's food box. She did this because the rooms for visitors were full of people.
So why do you even think about men and women? Why do you take care of humans?You have made them a little lower than God himself. You have given them honour, like kings.You have chosen them to rule everything that you have made. You have put everything under their authority.Yes! Humans rule them all: Farm animals and wild animals, birds, fish and all the things that swim in the sea.
You may now eat anything that lives and moves. Before, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now I give you everything to eat as your food.But you must not eat meat that still has the blood of life in it.
He gives drink to people who are thirsty. He gives plenty of good things to hungry people.
Did you, Job, give horses their strength? Did you give them the long hair that they have on their necks?Can you count the number of months that these animals are pregnant? How long must they wait until they give birth?You did not make horses able to jump like locusts. They frighten people when they blow air out through their noses.They stamp their feet on the ground, as they prepare to go to a battle. They are ready to go and attack the enemy.A horse is brave and it is not afraid of anything. It does not run away from the enemy's weapons.The soldier who is riding it has his arrows ready at the horse's side. Swords and spears shine brightly in the sun.The horse shakes with joy as it runs to the battle. When the battle trumpet makes its noise, the horse wants to run even faster! When it hears the sound of the trumpet, it makes a happy noise. From far away, it recognizes the smell of the battle. It hears the army officers as they shout their commands.
You must obey my rules. You must not allow two different kinds of animals to have babies together. Do not put two different kinds of seeds in one field. Do not wear clothes that are made from two different kinds of material.
There are three things that seem great as they walk around, even four things:I have never learned wisdom. I do not know anything about God, the Holy One.Lions are the strongest of all animals, and they are not afraid of anything.Cockerels that shout proudly. Male goats. A king who has his army with him.
Do the spirits of humans go up into the sky when we die? Do the spirits of animals go down into the ground? Nobody really knows.’
God said, ‘Different kinds of animals will now appear on the land. There will be farm animals and wild animals. There will also be other small animals that move along the ground. There will be many kinds of animals and each kind will be different.’ And what God said happened.
All living things have life because of their blood. So I have told the Israelites that they must not eat the blood of any living thing. Anyone who eats blood can no longer belong among my people.
Perhaps you kill a bull as a sacrifice to me, but you also kill a man. Perhaps you offer a lamb to me as a sacrifice, but you also break a dog's neck to offer to your idols. Perhaps you give me a grain offering, but you also offer pigs' blood. Or perhaps you burn incense to worship me but you also worship false gods. Yes, these people have chosen how they want to live. They love to do these disgusting things.
You give grass for farm animals to eat. You give crops for people to plant. In that way, people get food from the ground.They grow grapes for wine, which makes them happy. They grow olive trees for oil, which makes their faces shine. They grow grain for bread, which makes them strong.
Listen! I will create new heavens and a new earth. People will not remember what things were like before. Those thoughts will not be in their minds at all.
When an ostrich is happy, it waves its wings. But it cannot use its wings to fly, as a stork can do.A mother ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground. She lets the sand cause them to be warm.She does not realize that people or wild animals might break the eggs with their feet.She does not take care of her babies, as if they did not belong to her. She does not worry that all her work might be useless.This is because I did not give wisdom to ostriches. I did not give them minds that understand things.But when an ostrich begins to run, it can run very fast. It can run faster than a horse and someone who rides on it.
The birds make their homes beside the streams. They sing from the branches of the trees.
The Lord's Spirit led them to a place of rest, like cows that go down to a quiet valley.’ Yes, Lord, you were your people's guide. In that way, you made your name great.