Explain Bible

What does the Bible say about taking care of the earth?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible teaches that the earth belongs to God, and people are His stewards, called to cultivate and guard His creation responsibly rather than exploit it selfishly. In Genesis 1:26-28 and 2:15, humanity receives dominion under God, a delegated rule marked by service, wisdom, and care. Psalm 24:1 declares that the whole earth is the Lord's, while Leviticus 25:23-24 reminds Israel that even the land was God's gift and not their absolute possession. Scripture also warns that sin defiles the land and brings judgment, as seen in Numbers 35:33-34, Jeremiah 2:7, and Isaiah 24:4-6. Revelation 11:18 affirms that God will judge those who destroy the earth.

Top passages, ranked by readers

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

  • Genesis 2:15

    Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

  • Numbers 35:33

    So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.

  • Genesis 1:28

    God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

  • Jeremiah 2:7

    I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

  • 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."

  • Psalms 24:1

    > The earth is Yahweh's, with its fullness; The world, and those who dwell therein.

  • Numbers 35:33-34

    [33] So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it. [34] You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.

  • Revelation 11:18

    The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

  • Leviticus 25:23-24

    [23] "'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me. [24] In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

  • Isaiah 24:4-6

    [4] The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the lofty people of the earth do languish. [5] The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants of it; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. [6] Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Related topics

Go deeper

Ask Explain Bible AI about taking care of the earth and get a fuller answer from a Reformed theological perspective.

Ask what the Bible says about taking care of the earth