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What does the Bible say about animals going to heaven?

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The Bible does not clearly promise that particular animals, including our pets, will go to heaven, but it does portray God’s care for animals and a renewed creation in which they share in his peace. Psalm 36:6 and Job 12:10 affirm that every creature depends on God’s preserving hand, while Proverbs 12:10 commends righteous care for them. Isaiah 11:6-9 and 65:25 use peaceful animal life to picture the blessing of God’s coming kingdom. Revelation 5:13 shows all creation praising God, and Romans 8 teaches that creation itself will be delivered from its bondage. Christians may therefore hope that God’s new creation will include animals, while leaving the destiny of individual creatures to his wise and merciful will.

Top passages, ranked by readers

Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • Isaiah 11:6-9

    [6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. [7] The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. [8] The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. [9] They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

  • Isaiah 65:25

    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 Yahweh.

  • Luke 3:6

    All flesh will see God's salvation.'"

  • Revelation 5:13

    I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!"

  • Psalms 36:6

    Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.

  • Revelation 19:11

    I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war.

  • Job 12:10

    In whose hand is the life of every living thing, The breath of all mankind?

  • Isaiah 11:6

    The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.

  • 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.

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