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100 Bible Verses about Animal Cruelty

Proverbs 12:10 ESV / 1,191 helpful votes

Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

Ecclesiastes 3:19 ESV / 923 helpful votes

For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

Exodus 23:5 ESV / 454 helpful votes

If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

Proverbs 27:23 ESV / 441 helpful votes

Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,

Deuteronomy 25:4 ESV / 364 helpful votes

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Psalm 145:9 ESV / 326 helpful votes

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Matthew 6:26 ESV / 289 helpful votes

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 273 helpful votes

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Luke 12:6 ESV / 270 helpful votes

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Genesis 1:30 ESV / 264 helpful votes

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Numbers 22:32 ESV / 250 helpful votes

And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me.

Isaiah 1:11 ESV / 241 helpful votes

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

Luke 15:4-7 ESV / 192 helpful votes

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Isaiah 66:3 ESV / 179 helpful votes

“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations;

Proverbs 31:8 ESV / 171 helpful votes

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

Deuteronomy 22:6-7 ESV / 166 helpful votes

“If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.

Genesis 1:26 ESV / 132 helpful votes

Then 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 heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Deuteronomy 22:4 ESV / 127 helpful votes

You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.

Job 12:7-10 ESV / 125 helpful votes

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

Isaiah 11:6 ESV / 122 helpful votes

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

Exodus 23:11 ESV / 122 helpful votes

But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

Exodus 20:10 ESV / 117 helpful votes

But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

Psalm 36:6 ESV / 115 helpful votes

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:39 ESV / 108 helpful votes

For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

Matthew 10:29 ESV / 106 helpful votes

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

Job 38:41 ESV / 106 helpful votes

Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?

Exodus 23:12 ESV / 101 helpful votes

“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Jonah 4:11 ESV / 100 helpful votes

And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Genesis 1:21 ESV / 98 helpful votes

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Psalm 150:6 ESV / 96 helpful votes

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 32:20 ESV / 93 helpful votes

Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV / 93 helpful votes

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Genesis 9:3 ESV / 91 helpful votes

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Genesis 2:19 ESV / 91 helpful votes

Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

Proverbs 6:6-8 ESV / 89 helpful votes

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

Hosea 2:18 ESV / 88 helpful votes

And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

Psalm 147:9 ESV / 87 helpful votes

He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.

Genesis 9:1-6 ESV / 84 helpful votes

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. ...

Genesis 3:21 ESV / 81 helpful votes

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Genesis 1:24 ESV / 81 helpful votes

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

Leviticus 25:7 ESV / 77 helpful votes

And for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.

Matthew 10:29-31 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

1 Samuel 17:34 ESV / 72 helpful votes

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,

Proverbs 2:22 ESV / 71 helpful votes

But the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 69 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Psalm 50:10 ESV / 68 helpful votes

For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

1 Timothy 5:18 ESV / 66 helpful votes

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

Exodus 23:4 ESV / 63 helpful votes

“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

Luke 14:5 ESV / 62 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”

Proverbs 11:17 ESV / 62 helpful votes

A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.

Exodus 23:4-5 ESV / 62 helpful votes

“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

Psalm 148:1-13 ESV / 60 helpful votes

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. ...

Isaiah 65:25 ESV / 59 helpful votes

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Deuteronomy 22:10 ESV / 59 helpful votes

You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

2 Samuel 12:2-6 ESV / 58 helpful votes

The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Genesis 49:5-7 ESV / 58 helpful votes

“Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Genesis 6:19 ESV / 57 helpful votes

And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Job 38:39-41 ESV / 55 helpful votes

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?

James 3:7 ESV / 54 helpful votes

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,

Genesis 33:13-14 ESV / 54 helpful votes

But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 54 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

Isaiah 13:9 ESV / 52 helpful votes

Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

Isaiah 13:11 ESV / 51 helpful votes

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

Genesis 9:2 ESV / 51 helpful votes

The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.

Genesis 10:9 ESV / 49 helpful votes

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”

Psalm 104:14 ESV / 48 helpful votes

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth

Exodus 21:28 ESV / 48 helpful votes

“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

Revelation 11:18 ESV / 47 helpful votes

The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

1 Timothy 4:4 ESV / 47 helpful votes

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

Genesis 1:24-25 ESV / 47 helpful votes

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Revelation 19:11-14 ESV / 43 helpful votes

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

Isaiah 34:14-16 ESV / 43 helpful votes

And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place. There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. Seek and read from the book of the Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 42 helpful votes

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Luke 1:37 ESV / 40 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Matthew 3:4 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

1 Samuel 17:34-37 ESV / 40 helpful votes

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

Genesis 9:6 ESV / 40 helpful votes

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Genesis 9:4 ESV / 40 helpful votes

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

1 Kings 19:19 ESV / 39 helpful votes

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 38 helpful votes

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Habakkuk 2:17 ESV / 38 helpful votes

The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

Genesis 1:31 ESV / 38 helpful votes

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Revelation 4:11 ESV / 37 helpful votes

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Exodus 22:19 ESV / 37 helpful votes

“Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 36 helpful votes

Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

Exodus 23:9 ESV / 36 helpful votes

“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 35 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Ezekiel 34:25 ESV / 33 helpful votes

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

Genesis 9:1-29 ESV / 32 helpful votes

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. ...

Numbers 22:30 ESV / 31 helpful votes

And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”

Isaiah 31:3 ESV / 30 helpful votes

The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 30 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ...

Isaiah 3:1-26 ESV / 29 helpful votes

For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. ...

2 Peter 2:7-3:18 ESV / 27 helpful votes

And if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ...

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 23 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Acts 11:5-10 ESV / 21 helpful votes

“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ ...

Genesis 1:26-28 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Then 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 heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 20 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

1 Timothy 4:1-3 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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