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.
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth:
"But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of YHWH has done this,in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
See the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they?
If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, do not leave him, you shall surely help him with it.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. YHWH, you preserve man and animal.
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;
"As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says YHWH.
Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
YHWH, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?"
If a bird's nest chance to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young:you shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take to yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.
"Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.
Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.
You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner: for you are a holy people to YHWH your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills.I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, would not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"
"Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?
The animals of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
For it is written in the Law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it for the oxen that God cares,
I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me.I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens.
For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity.
The arrow snake will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.
And he said to them, "What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won't he grab on to it, and lift it out?Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day."
"Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?
who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.
The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox.
"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
I will feed them with good pasture; and on the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold; and on fat pasture shall they feed on the mountains of Israel.
Out of the ground YHWH God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
Consider the ravens: they do not sow, they do not reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!
God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
I'll cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You'll fall on the open field. You won't be brought together, nor gathered. I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of YHWH, as the waters cover the sea.
How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'
But those who wait for YHWH will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
Yes, the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, near your altars, YHWH Sabaoth, my King, and my God.
God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.
The angel of YHWH said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me:and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive."
Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.
You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them: you shall surely help him to lift them up again.
You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat.
You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them: you shall surely bring them again to your brother.
"There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:the ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.
It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth.
that you shall set apart to YHWH all that opens the womb, and every firstborn which you have that comes from an animal. The males shall be YHWH's.
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your God, in which you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
She brought forth her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in bands of cloth, and placed him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.
what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you.But flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat.
"Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, 'Aha!' He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
"'You shall keep my statutes. "'You shall not crossbreed different kinds of animals. "'you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; "'neither shall there come upon you a garment made of two kinds of material.
"There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:The lion, which is mightiest among animals, and doesn't turn away for any;the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.
Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?"
God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;" and it was so.
For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life: therefore I said to the children of Israel, "You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off."
He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
"But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth:wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man's heart.
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love?For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.
As the livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of YHWH caused them to rest; so you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name.