28 Bible Verses about Animal Cruelty

Proverbs 12:10 ESV / 369 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 / 317 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.

Proverbs 27:23 ESV / 118 helpful votes

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

Exodus 23:5 ESV / 112 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.

Psalm 145:9 ESV / 71 helpful votes

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

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 66 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.”

Genesis 1:30 ESV / 49 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.

Isaiah 1:11 ESV / 48 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 12:6 ESV / 47 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 25:4 ESV / 42 helpful votes

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

Luke 15:4-7 ESV / 32 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.

Matthew 6:26 ESV / 24 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?

1 Corinthians 15:39 ESV / 17 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.

Genesis 9:1-6 ESV / 17 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.

Isaiah 11:6 ESV / 15 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.

Proverbs 31:8 ESV / 15 helpful votes

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

Jonah 4:11 ESV / 12 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?”

Psalm 36:6 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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

Exodus 23:11 ESV / 10 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.

Genesis 49:5-7 ESV / 8 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 2:19 ESV / 8 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.

Isaiah 34:14-16 ESV / 7 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 9:2 ESV / 7 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.

Matthew 10:29 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

John 21:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

Numbers 22:32 ESV / 4 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.

Exodus 22:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Genesis 33:13-14 ESV / 4 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.”

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