What does the Bible say about taking care of animals?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible teaches that animals are God’s creatures, entrusted to human care under His sovereign rule, and that godly people treat them with wise, compassionate stewardship. Proverbs 12:10 commends the righteous person who considers an animal’s needs, while Proverbs 27:23 urges attentive oversight of livestock. God gave humanity dominion in Genesis 1:26, not permission for cruelty or waste, but a calling to cultivate His world faithfully. The Sabbath command extends rest even to working animals in Exodus 20:10, and Deuteronomy 25:4 protects an ox from needless deprivation. Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:26 and Luke 12:6, along with Jonah 4:11, show God’s awareness and care for His creatures.
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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.
- Proverbs 27:23
Know well the state of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds:
- 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."
- 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?
- Jonah 4:11
Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"
- Luke 12:6
"Aren't five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God.
- Deuteronomy 25:4
You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out [the grain].
- Psalms 50:10-11
[10] For every animal of the forest is mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. [11] I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.
- Genesis 2:15
Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
- Exodus 20:10
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates;
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