What does the Bible say about cruelty to animals?
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The Bible teaches that God’s people should treat animals with merciful care, rejecting needless cruelty because all creatures belong to and depend upon their Creator. Proverbs 12:10 commends the righteous person who cares for an animal’s needs, while Deuteronomy 25:4 protects even a working ox from harsh deprivation. God rebuked Balaam for striking his donkey in Numbers 22:32, showing that human authority over animals is not a license for abuse. Genesis 1 presents animals as God’s good creatures, and Psalms 50 and 147 remind us that He knows and feeds them. Christians therefore exercise stewardship with gratitude, compassion, and reverence for God’s wise providence.
Top passages, ranked by readers
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.
- Deuteronomy 25:4
You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out [the grain].
- Psalms 147:9
He provides food for the cattle, And for the young ravens when they call.
- 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.
- Genesis 1:21
God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
- Matthew 6:26
See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they?
- Numbers 22:32
The angel of Yahweh said to him, Why have you struck your donkey these three times? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because your way is perverse before me:
- Psalms 50:10
For every animal of the forest is mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.
- Psalms 50:11
I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.
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