What does the Bible say about animal souls?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible teaches that animals are living creatures made and sustained by God, worthy of humane care, yet distinct from human beings, who alone bear God’s image and have a unique calling before him. Genesis 1:24 and 1:30 describes animals as living creatures receiving God’s provision, while Proverbs 12:10 commends the righteous person’s concern for an animal’s welfare. Genesis 1:26 grounds human dignity and stewardship in the image of God. Ecclesiastes 3:21 humbly acknowledges the limits of human knowledge about the spirit of man and beast, while Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 emphasize humanity’s special relation to God. Christians may therefore love and protect animals without assigning them the same covenantal status or promised destiny Scripture gives to people.
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Proverbs 12:10
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
- Genesis 1:30
To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food." And it was so.
- Ecclesiastes 3:21
Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?"
- Genesis 1:26
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 cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
- Genesis 2:7
Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
And the dust returns to the earth as it was, And the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Genesis 1:24
God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind," and it was so.
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