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.
Good people take care of their animals, but even the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image and likeness. And let them rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the tame animals, over all the earth, and over all the small crawling animals on the earth.”
You make the grass for cattle and vegetables for the people. You make food grow from the earth.
Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds.
Be sure you know how your sheep are doing, and pay attention to the condition of your cattle.
If you see that your enemy’s donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy, do not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.
Your goodness is as high as the mountains. Your justice is as deep as the great ocean. Lord, you protect both people and animals.
but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work: not you, your son or daughter, your male or female slaves, your animals, or the foreigners living in your cities.
Wolves and lambs will eat together in peace. Lions will eat hay like oxen, and a snake on the ground will not hurt anyone. They will not hurt or destroy each other on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
Go watch the ants, you lazy person. Watch what they do and be wise.Ants have no commander, no leader or ruler,but they store up food in the summer and gather their supplies at harvest.
Lord, you have made many things; with your wisdom you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
At that time I will make an agreement for them with the wild animals, the birds, and the crawling things. I will smash from the land the bow and the sword and the weapons of war, so my people will live in safety.
Then shouldn’t I show concern for the great city Nineveh, which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong, and many animals, too?”
If you find a bird’s nest by the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on the young birds or eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young birds.You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go free. Then things will go well for you, and you will live a long time.
“You should work six days a week, but on the seventh day you must rest. This lets your ox and your donkey rest, and it also lets the slave born in your house and the foreigner be refreshed.
Then wolves will live in peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down to rest with goats. Calves, lions, and young bulls will eat together, and a little child will lead them.
It will also be food for your cattle and the wild animals of your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
Then during the seventh year, do not plow or plant your land. If any food grows there, allow the poor people to have it, and let the wild animals eat what is left. You should do the same with your vineyards and your orchards of olive trees.
Do not eat anything you find that is already dead. You may give it to a foreigner living in your town, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Do not cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.
because every animal of the forest is already mine. The cattle on a thousand hills are mine.I know every bird on the mountains, and every living thing in the fields is mine.
He takes care of his people like a shepherd. He gathers them like lambs in his arms and carries them close to him. He gently leads the mothers of the lambs.
You put them in charge of everything you made. You put all things under their control:all the sheep, the cattle, and the wild animals,the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that lives under water.
But you must not kill the animal and its mother on the same day, either an ox or a sheep.
Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “If your child or ox falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not pull him out quickly?”
Anyone who loves learning accepts correction, but a person who hates being corrected is stupid.
Even the wild animals will be thankful to me— the wild dogs and owls. They will honor me when I put water in the desert and rivers in the dry land to give water to my people, the ones I chose.
The Samaritan went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds, and bandaged them. Then he put the hurt man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he cared for him.
It is written in the law of Moses: “When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating.” When God said this, was he thinking only about oxen? No.
I do not scold you for your sacrifices. You always bring me your burnt offerings.But I do not need bulls from your stalls or goats from your pens,
The same thing happens to animals and to people; they both have the same breath, so they both die. People are no better off than the animals, because everything is useless.
Owls will nest there and lay eggs. When they hatch open, the owls will gather their young under their wings. Hawks will gather with their own kind.
Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, you will help it out of the ditch.Surely a human being is more important than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day.”
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the deer gives birth to her fawn?
He fills the sky with clouds and sends rain to the earth and makes grass grow on the hills.
Cows and bears will eat together in peace. Their young will lie down to rest together. Lions will eat hay as oxen do.
“If a man takes the cover off a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and another man’s ox or donkey comes and falls into it,the owner of the pit must pay the owner of the animal for the loss. The dead animal will belong to the one who pays.
I will feed them in a good pasture, and they will eat grass on the high mountains of Israel. They will lie down on good ground where they eat grass, and they will eat in rich grassland on the mountains of Israel.
From the ground God formed every wild animal and every bird in the sky, and he brought them to the man so the man could name them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; defend the rights of all those who have nothing.
Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest, they don’t have storerooms or barns, but God feeds them. And you are worth much more than birds.
God blessed them and said, “Have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish from your rivers. You will fall onto the ground; you will not be picked up or buried. I have given you to the wild animals and to the birds of the sky for food.
They will not hurt or destroy each other on all my holy mountain, because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the sea is full of water.
But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again. They will rise up as an eagle in the sky; they will run and not need rest; they will walk and not become tired.
The sparrows have found a home, and the swallows have nests. They raise their young near your altars, Lord All-Powerful, my King and my God.
But God remembered Noah and all the wild and tame animals with him in the boat. He made a wind blow over the earth, and the water went down.
The angel of the Lord asked Balaam, “Why have you hit your donkey three times? I have stood here to stop you, because what you are doing is wrong.The donkey saw me and turned away from me three times. If she had not turned away, I would have killed you by now, but I would have let her live.”
Also, you must bring into the boat two of every living thing, male and female. Keep them alive with you.When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them they chose.Two of every kind of bird, animal, and crawling thing will come to you to be kept alive.
If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, don’t ignore it. Help the owner get it up.
You must do the same with your bulls and your sheep. Let the firstborn males stay with their mothers for seven days, and on the eighth day you must give them to me.
He fills the sky with clouds and sends rain to the earth and makes grass grow on the hills.He gives food to cattle and to the little birds that call.
“Tell the Israelites this: ‘These are the land animals you may eat:“ ‘Don’t eat insects that have wings and walk on all four feet; they also are to be hated.“ ‘But you may eat certain insects that have wings and walk on four feet. You may eat those that have legs with joints above their feet so they can jump.These are the insects you may eat: all kinds of locusts, winged locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.But all other insects that have wings and walk on four feet you are to hate.Those insects will make you unclean, and anyone who touches the dead body of one of these insects will become unclean until evening.Anyone who picks up one of these dead insects must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.“ ‘Some animals have split hoofs, but the hoofs are not completely divided; others do not chew the cud. They are unclean for you, and anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will become unclean.Of all the animals that walk on four feet, the animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you. Anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will become unclean until evening.Anyone who picks up their dead bodies must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; these animals are unclean for you.“ ‘These crawling animals are unclean for you: moles, rats, all kinds of great lizards,You may eat any animal that has split hoofs completely divided and that chews the cud.
If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep wandering away, don’t ignore it. Take it back to its owner.
“There are four things on earth that are small, but they are very wise:Ants are not very strong, but they store up food in the summer.
Take with you seven pairs, each male with its female, of every kind of clean animal, and take one pair, each male with its female, of every kind of unclean animal.It continued to rise until it was more than twenty feet above the mountains.All living things that moved on the earth died. This included all the birds, tame animals, wild animals, and creatures that swarm on the earth, as well as all human beings.So everything on dry land that had the breath of life in it died.God destroyed from the earth every living thing that was on the land—every man, animal, crawling thing, and bird of the sky. All that was left was Noah and what was with him in the boat.And the waters continued to cover the earth for one hundred fifty days.Take seven pairs of all the birds of the sky, each male with its female. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the flood.
you must give him every firstborn male. Also every firstborn male animal must be given to the Lord.
but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work: not you, your son or daughter, your male or female slaves, your ox, your donkey, or any of your animals, or the foreigners living in your cities. That way your servants may rest as you do.
and she gave birth to her first son. Because there were no rooms left in the inn, she wrapped the baby with pieces of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough.
But why are people even important to you? Why do you take care of human beings?You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.You put them in charge of everything you made. You put all things under their control:all the sheep, the cattle, and the wild animals,the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that lives under water.
“Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants, but now I give you everything for food.But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life.
“Job, are you the one who gives the horse its strength or puts a flowing mane on its neck?Do you count the months until they give birth and know the right time for them to give birth?Do you make the horse jump like a locust? It scares people with its proud snorting.It paws wildly, enjoying its strength, and charges into battle.It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing; it does not run away from the sword.The bag of arrows rattles against the horse’s side, along with the flashing spears and swords.With great excitement, the horse races over the ground; and it cannot stand still when it hears the trumpet.When the trumpet blows, the horse snorts, ‘Aha!’ It smells the battle from far away; it hears the shouts of commanders and the battle cry.
“ ‘Obey my laws. You must not mate two different kinds of cattle or sow your field with two different kinds of seed. You must not wear clothing made from two different kinds of material mixed together.
“There are three things that strut proudly, really four that walk as if they were important:I have not learned to be wise, and I don’t know much about God, the Holy One.a lion, the proudest animal, which is strong and runs from nothing,a rooster, a male goat, and a king when his army is around him.
Who can be sure that the human spirit goes up to God and that the spirit of an animal goes down into the ground?
Then God said, “Let the earth be filled with animals, each producing more of its own kind. Let there be tame animals and small crawling animals and wild animals, and let each produce more of its kind.” And it happened.
If blood is still in the meat, the animal’s life is still in it. So I give this command to the people of Israel: “Don’t eat meat that still has blood in it, because the animal’s life is in its blood. Anyone who eats blood must be cut off.”
But those people who kill bulls as a sacrifice to me are like those who kill people. Those who kill sheep as a sacrifice are like those who break the necks of dogs. Those who give me grain offerings are like those who offer me the blood of pigs. Those who burn incense are like those who worship idols. These people choose their own ways, not mine, and they love the terrible things they do.
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
You make the grass for cattle and vegetables for the people. You make food grow from the earth.You give us wine that makes happy hearts and olive oil that makes our faces shine. You give us bread that gives us strength.
“Look, I will make new heavens and a new earth, and people will not remember the past or think about those things.
“The wings of the ostrich flap happily, but they are not like the feathers of the stork.The ostrich lays its eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.It does not stop to think that a foot might step on them and crush them; it does not care that some animal might walk on them.The ostrich is cruel to its young, as if they were not even its own. It does not care that its work is for nothing,because God did not give the ostrich wisdom; God did not give it a share of good sense.But when the ostrich gets up to run, it is so fast that it laughs at the horse and its rider.
Like cattle that go down to the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave the people a place to rest. Lord, that is the way you led your people, and by this you won for yourself wonderful fame.