What does the Bible say about hunting?
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The Bible permits the responsible taking of animals for food and other lawful human needs, while calling people to gratitude, restraint, and compassionate stewardship under God. After the flood, God gave animals for food in Genesis 9:3, and hunting appears as an ordinary activity in the lives of Isaac, Esau, and Nimrod in Genesis 27:3 and Genesis 10:9. Yet Scripture also commends care for animals, teaching that the righteous regard their lives (Proverbs 12:10), and warns against wasteful laziness (Proverbs 12:27). Hunting must therefore not be cruel, reckless, or driven by pride. God remains the Creator and owner of every creature, and believers should receive his provision with thanksgiving and exercise dominion as accountable servants.
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Genesis 27:3
Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison.
- Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you.
- Genesis 10:9
He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh."
- Genesis 21:20
God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
- Jeremiah 16:16
Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Yahweh, and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
- Acts 10:13
A voice came to him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat!"
- Genesis 1:29-30
[29] God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. [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.
- Proverbs 12:27
The slothful man doesn't roast his game, But the possessions of diligent men are prized.
- Proverbs 12:10
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
- Genesis 27:33
Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."
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