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 tzaddik regardeth the nefesh (life) of his behemah (beast), but the compassion of the rashah is cruel.
And G-d said, Let Us make man in Our tzelem, after Our demut: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon ha'aretz (the earth).
He causeth the khatzir (grass) to grow for the behemah, and esev for the avodas ha’adam; that he may bring forth lechem out of ha'aretz;
But ask now the behemot, and they shall teach thee, and the oph haShomayim (birds of the air), and they shall tell thee;Or speak to ha'aretz, and it shall teach thee; and the dagim of the yam shall declare unto thee.Of all of these, who lacketh da'as that the yad Hashem hath wrought this?In whose yad is the nefesh of every living thing, and the ruach of kol basar ish.
Look to the OPH HASHOMAYIM (birds of heaven, IYOV 35:11), for they do not sow nor reap nor gather into storehouses, and your Av shbaShomayim feeds them. Are you yourselves not worth more than they?
Be thou diligent to know the condition of thy tzon, and look well to thy adarim (flocks).
He giveth to the behemah her lechem, and to the bnei orev (young ravens) when they cry out.
If thou see the chamor of him that hateth thee lying under his massa, and wouldest refrain from helping him, thou shalt surely help with him.
(7) Thy tzedakah is like the great mountains; Thy mishpatim are tehom rabbah (a great deep); Hashem, Thou preservest adam (man) and behemah (beast).
But the Yom HaShevi'i is the Shabbos of Hashem Eloheicha; in it thou shalt not do any melachah, thou, nor thy ben, nor thy bat, thy eved, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy ger that is within thy gates;
And I, hineni, I establish My brit (covenant) with you, and with your zera after you;And with kol nefesh that is with you, of the bird, of the behemah, and of every animal of ha'aretz with you; from kol yotzei hatevah (all that go out of the ark), to every creature of ha'aretz.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and aphar shall be the lechem of the nachash. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Har Kadosh, saith Hashem. [T.N. This last chapter makes a reference to Gehinnom and the just retribution coming.]
Go to the nemalah (ant), thou atzel (sluggard, lazy one); consider her drakhim (ways), and be chacham (wise);Which having no katzin (officer, leader) or shoter (policeman) or moshel,Prepareth her lechem in the kayitz (summer), and gathereth her food in the katzir (harvest).
Are not chamesh sparrows sold for two assarion? And not even one of them has been overlooked in the eynayim of Hashem.
Hashem, how manifold are Thy ma'asim! In chochmah (wisdom; cf Psa 33:6; Yn 1:1) hast Thou made them all; ha'aretz is full of Thy creatures.
[2:20] And in Yom Hahu will I make a brit (covenant) for them with the beasts of the sadeh and with the fowls of Shomayim, and with the creeping things of the adamah; and I will abolish the keshet and the cherev and the milchamah from ha'aretz, and will make them to lie down in safety.
And should not I spare Nineveh, that ir hagedolah, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their yamin (right hand) and their semol (left hand); and also much cattle?
If a bird's ken (nest) chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the mother is roosting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young;But thou shalt in any wise let the mother go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy yamim.
Sheshet yamim thou shalt do thy work, and on the yom hashevi'i thou shalt rest; that thine shor (ox) and thine chamor (donkey) may rest, and the ben of thy amah (handmaid), and the ger, may be refreshed.
And Hashem Elohim took the adam and put him in the Gan Eden la'avod (to till, to work) it and to be shomer over it.
The ze'ev (wolf) also shall dwell with the keves, and the namer (leopard) shall lie down with the gedi (young goat); and the egel and the lion whelp and the fatling together; and a na'ar shall lead them.
And for thy cattle, and for the wild animal that are in thy land, shall all the tevuah (increase) thereof be to eat.
Who provideth for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto El, they wander about for lack of okhel.
But the shevi'it thou shalt leave it shamat (unplowed) and let it lie fallow; that the evyon (poor) of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the sadeh shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy kerem (vineyard), and with thy zayit (olive) grove.
Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself; thou shalt give it unto the ger that is in thy she'arim, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien; for thou art an Am Kadosh unto Hashem Eloheicha. Thou shalt not boil a young goat in its mother's cholov.
For every beast of the ya'ar (forest) is Mine, and the behemot upon a thousand hills.I know kol oph (every bird) of the harim; and the animals of the wild are Mine.
He shall feed His Eder like a Ro'eh; He shall gather the tela'im (lambs) with His zero'a, and carry them in His kheyk, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
(7) Thou madest him to have dominion over the ma'asim of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet:(8) All sheep and oxen, yea, and the behemot sadeh;(9) The fowl of the air, and the dag (fish) of the yam, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
And whether it be an ox or seh, ye shall not slaughter (shachat) it and her young both in yom echad.
And to them Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said, Who of you having a ben or an ox fall into a well and will not ofen ort (immediately) pull him out on Shabbos?
He who loveth musar loveth da'as, but he that hateth tokhakhat (reproof, correction) is ba'ar (a boorish, ignorant person).
Will the wild ox be willing to be thy eved, or stay the night by thy evus (animal feeding trough)?Canst thou bind the wild ox to the furrow with a rope, or will it behind thee till the amakim (valleys)?Wilt thou depend on him, because his ko'ach is great, or wilt thou hand over thy heavy work to him?Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring in thy zera (grain), and gather it into thy goren (threshing floor)?
The animal of the wild shall honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give mayim in the midbar, and neharot in the desert, to give drink to My People, My Bachir.
And when this Shomroni approached, he bandaged the man's wounds, pouring shemen and yayin over them; and when he had placed him upon his own donkey, he brought the man to a malon and cared for him.
For, in the Torah of Moshe [Rabbenu] it has been written, LO TACHSOM SHOR BEDISHO ("You shall not muzzle an ox treading grain" DEVARIM 25:4). Surely it is not for oxen that Hashem is concerned.
I will not reprove thee for thy zevakhim. And thy olot are before Me tamid.I will accept no par (bull) from thy bais, nor he-goats out of thy folds.
For bnei haAdam and beheimah share one and same mikreh (fortune); as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that the adam hath no advantage above the beheimah; for all is hevel.
There shall the kipoz (bittern) nest, and lay eggs, and hatch and care for young under her tzel; there shall the dayyot (kites, vultures) also be gathered, every one with its mate.
But Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, What man will there be among you, who owns a keves (lamb), and if it falls into a pit on Shabbos, will not take hold of it and lift it out?Therefore, how much more valuable is a man than a keves. For this reason, it is mutar (permissible) on Shabbos to do HaTov.
Dost thou have da'as of the et (time) when the mountain goats give birth, or art thou shomer to watch when the doe bears her fawn?
Who covereth Shomayim with clouds, Who prepareth matar (rainfall) for ha'aretz, HaMatzemi'ach (Who maketh to spring up) the khatzir (grass) upon the harim (hills, mountains).
And the parah (cow) and the dov (bear) shall feed together; their yeladim shall lie down together; and the aryeh shall eat teven (straw) like the ox.
The kevasim (lambs) are for thy clothing, and the goats are the purchase price of the sadeh.
And if an ish shall open a bor (pit), or if an ish shall dig a bor and not cover it, and an ox or a donkey fall therein;The ba'al habor shall make restitution, and give kesef unto their ba'alim; and the carcass shall be his.
I will give them feeding of a roeh in a mireh tov (good pasture) and upon the high harim of Yisroel shall their naveh (fold, abode of sheep) be; there shall they lie in a naveh tov, and in a mireh shamen (fat pasture) shall they feed upon the harim of Yisroel.
Ayin The eyes of all look to Thee; and Thou givest them their okhel (food) in its season.
And out of the adamah Hashem Elohim formed every beast of the sadeh, and every oph HaShomayim; and brought them unto the adam to see what he would name them; and whatsoever the adam named kol nefesh chayyah, that was shmo.
Open thy peh (mouth) for the illem (mute) in the cause of all such as are bnei chalof (sons of destitution).
Consider the ravens! They do not sow nor reap, they have no storeroom or asam (granary), yet Hashem feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the OPH HASHOMAYIM [IYOV 38:41; TEHILLIM 147:9]
And G-d blessed them, and G-d said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And I will throw thee out into the midbar, thee and all the dag (fish) of thy river channels; thou shalt fall upon the open sadeh; thou shalt not be picked up together, nor gathered; I have given thee for food to the beasts of ha’aretz and to the oph HaShomayim.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Har Kodesh; for ha'aretz shall be full of the da'as Hashem, as the mayim cover the sea.
(8) How precious is Thy chesed, O Elohim! Therefore the Bnei Adam find refuge under the shadow of Thy wings.
But they that wait upon Hashem shall renew their ko'ach; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not grow weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
(4) Yea, the sparrow hath found a bais, and the swallow a ken (nest) for herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine mizbechot, O Hashem Tzva'os Malki v'Elohai.
And Elohim remembered Noach, and every living thing, and all the behemah that was with him in the tevah (ark); and Elohim made a ruach to pass over ha’aretz, and the waters subsided;
And the Malach Hashem said unto him, Why hast thou beaten thine donkey these shalosh regalim? Hinei, I came l'satan (as adversary, opposer) to thee, because thy derech is perverse before me;And the donkey saw me, and turned from me these shalosh regalim; had she not turned from me, surely now also I would have slain thee, and saved her alive.
And of every living thing of kol basar, two of every kind shalt thou bring into the tevah (ark), to keep them alive with thee; they shall be zachar and nekevah.Of birds after their kind, and of behemah after their kind, of every remes of ha'adamah after its kind, two of every kind shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Thou shalt not see thy brother's chamor or his shor fall down by the road, and ignore them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
(29) Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy tzon; shivat yamim it shall be with its em; on the yom hashemi'ni thou shalt give it Me.
Who covereth Shomayim with clouds, Who prepareth matar (rainfall) for ha'aretz, HaMatzemi'ach (Who maketh to spring up) the khatzir (grass) upon the harim (hills, mountains).He giveth to the behemah her lechem, and to the bnei orev (young ravens) when they cry out.
Speak unto the Bnei Yisroel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on ha'aretz.Whatsoever spliteth the hoof, and separateth into double hooves, and cheweth the cud, among the behemah (animals), that shall ye eat.
Thou shalt not see thy brother's shor or his seh go astray, and ignore them; thou shalt in any case bring them back unto thy brother.
There are four things which are little upon eretz, but they are exceeding chachamim:The nemalim (ants) are an am (people) not strong, yet they store up their lechem in the kayitz (summer);
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the orevvim (ravens) to feed thee there.
Of every behemah hatehorah thou shalt take to thee by sevens; the male and his mate; and of behemah that are not tehorah by two, the male and his mate.Of also Oph HaShomayim by sevens, the zachar and the nekevah; to keep zera alive upon the face of kol ha’aretz.
That thou shalt set apart unto Hashem all that openeth the rechem (womb), and every firstling that is born of a behemah which thou hast; hazecharim (the males) shall be Hashem's.
But the Yom HaShevi'i is the Shabbos of Hashem Eloheicha: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy ben, nor thy bat, nor thy eved, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine donkey, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy ger that is within thy she'arim; that thy eved and thy amah may rest as well as thou.
And she bore her ben, her Bechor (firstborn); and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in an evus (animal feeding trough), because there was no place for them in the malon (inn).
(5) What is enosh (mankind), that Thou art mindful of him? And the ben adam, that Thou visitest him?(6) For Thou hast made him a little lower than elohim [or Elohim, Gn 1:27], and hast crowned him with kavod and hadar.(7) Thou madest him to have dominion over the ma'asim of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet:(8) All sheep and oxen, yea, and the behemot sadeh;(9) The fowl of the air, and the dag (fish) of the yam, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
Every remes that liveth shall be food for you; even as the yarok esev (green plant) have I given you all.But basar with the nefesh thereof, which is the dahm thereof, shall ye not eat.
Hast thou given the sus gevurah? Hast thou clothed his neck with a flowing mane?Canst thou make him leap like an arbeh (locust)? The hod (glory) of his snorting strikes terror.He paweth in the emek (valley), and rejoiceth in his koach; he chargeth into the fray.He laugheth at pachad, and nothing fears; neither turneth he back from the cherev.The quiver rattleth at his side, the glittering spear and the kidon (scimitar, curved sword).He eats up the eretz with fierceness and rogez (rage); neither standeth he still at the sound of the shofar.As often as the shofar, he snorts Aha! and he smelleth the milchamah afar off, the shout of the sarim, and the teru'ah (battle cry).
Ye shall be shomer over My chukkot. Thou shalt not mate different kinds of animals; thou shalt not sow thy sadeh with mingled zera; neither shall a garment with shaatnez (mixed fibers) come upon thee [see Devarim 22:11].
There are shloshah which are majestic in stride, indeed, four are stately in walk:A lion which is gibbor among behemah (beasts), and retreateth not from any;The strutting rooster; the he-goat also; and a melech, when his army is with him.
Who hath da'as of the ruach bnei haAdam that goeth upward, and the ruach habeheimah that goeth downward to ha'aretz [see 12:7]?
And G-d said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind; and it was so.
For as for the nefesh of all basar, the dahm of it is its nefesh; therefore I said unto the Bnei Yisroel, Ye shall eat the dahm of no manner of basar: for the nefesh of all basar is the dahm thereof; whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
He that slaughtereth the bull is the slayer of a man; he that sacrificeth a seh, is a strangler of dogs; he that offereth a minchah, it is dahm chazir; he that burneth incense, blesseth idols. As they have chosen their own ways, and their nefesh delighteth in their shikkutzim (abominations),
But ask now the behemot, and they shall teach thee, and the oph haShomayim (birds of the air), and they shall tell thee;
He causeth the khatzir (grass) to grow for the behemah, and esev for the avodas ha’adam; that he may bring forth lechem out of ha'aretz;And yayin that maketh glad levav enosh, and shemen to make panim (faces) to shine, and lechem which strengtheneth levav enosh.
For, hinei, I create Shomayim Chadashim and eretz Chadashah; and the rishonot shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Joyfully flapping are the wings of the ostrich, but are her wings and feathers like the khasidah (stork)?For the ostrich layeth her betzim (eggs) la'aretz (on the ground), and warmeth them in the sand,And forgetteth that the regel may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.She treats harshly her banim, as though they were not hers; though her labor should be in vain, yet she is without pachad (fear, care),Because Elo’ah hath deprived her of chochmah, neither hath he imparted to her binah.Yet at the et (time) she flaps her wings [to run], she laughs at the sus and his rider.
As behemah goeth down into the valley, the Ruach Hashem caused them to rest; thus didst Thou lead Thy people, to make for Thee a Shem Tiferet.