These bible passages point to our divinely ordained role of being faithful and wise stewards of the whole earth who lead every creature in the way of love and peace.
| Genesis | ||
| Gen 1:29 | Eat only fruit and vegetation | |
| Gen 1:30 | Feed the animals green plants | |
| Gen 2:15 | Tend and keep garden | |
| Gen 6:5 | how great wickedness of human race has become, every inclination of heart is evil continually | |
| Gen 6:11-12 | all flesh corrupt and filled with violence | |
| Gen 8:21 | every inclination of the human heart is evil from youth | |
| Gen 9:2 | animal fear | |
| Gen 9:4 | don’t eat flesh b/c of blood | |
| Gen 9:15 | covenant includes animals | |
| Gen 30:37-43 | selective breeding for profit to serve our own interests, corrupting God’s animals | |
| Gen 49:5-7 | instruments of cruelty, self-will, hurting animals, violence | |
| Exodus | ||
| Exodus 20:13 | do not kill | |
| Leviticus | ||
| Leviticus 3:17 | never eat any fat or blood | |
| Numbers | ||
| Num 11:19-20 | if you crave meat, eat until it is loathsome to you | |
| Num 11:33 | while meat was still in teeth, struck them with plague | |
| Num 22:28 | donkey asks Balaam, “What have I done to you?” | |
| 1 Samuel | ||
| 1 Sam 15:22 | Better to obey than to sacrifice animals | |
| 2 Chronicles | ||
| 2 Chronicles 7:14 | God will forgive us and heal our land if we humbly repent and return to God | |
| Job | ||
| Job 5:23 | covenant with stones, wild amimals at peace with you | |
| Job 12:7-10 | animals teach that the life of every creature is in God’s hand | |
| Psalms | ||
| Psalm 8:4-8 | what is man that you gave him dominion? | |
| Psalm 24:1 | the whole earth and all its inhabitants belong to God | |
| Psalm 36:6 | you preserve man and beast | |
| Psalm 40:6 | God did not desire or require animal sacrifice | |
| Psalm 50:10-12 | The world and all the animals belong to God | |
| Ps 51:16-17 | you do not desire sacrifice but rather a contrite heart | |
| Ps 145:8-9 | God is full of compassion and merciful toward all | |
| Ps 147:9 | God feeds the beasts and the young ravens that cry | |
| Ps 150:6 | let everything that has breath praise God! | |
| Proverbs | ||
| Prov 6:16-18 | God hates shedding innocent blood, devising wicked schemes, feet that rush quickly to evil | |
| Prov 10:11 | violence covers mouth of the wicked | |
| Prov 12:10 | righteous regard life of animal, mercies of wicked are cruel | |
| Prov 13:2 | soul of unfaithful feeds on violence | |
| Prov 15:17 | better is dinner of herbs where love is, than fatted calf with hatred | |
| Prov 21:3 | righteousness and justice more acceptable to God than sacrifice | |
| Prov 23:20 | do not mix with drunkards or gluttonous eaters of flesh | |
| Prov 31:8 | open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die | |
| Ecclesiastes | ||
| Eccl 3:18-19 | humans have no advantage over animals: same origin, same fate, same breath from God | |
| Isaiah | ||
| Isa 1:11 | I do not delight in blood of bulls or lambs or goats | |
| Isa 2:4 | beat their swords into plowshares | |
| Isa 11:6-9 | animals in harmony, child leads, no harm on holy mountain, knowledge of God | |
| Isa 58:6 | fast I have chosen is to loose bonds of wickedness, undo burdens, break yokes, liberate captives | |
| Isa 60:18 | violence shall no longer be heard in your land | |
| Isa 65:25 | animals in harmony, no hurt on holy mountain | |
| Isa 66:3 | those who kill bulls are as those who kill people; they delight in following their own ways | |
| Jeremiah | ||
| Jer 7:22-24 | did not command sacrifices but obedience, but instead followed own evil imagination | |
| Jer 12:4 | Because those who live in the land are wicked, the animals and birds have perished | |
| Jer 29:13 | you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart | |
| Ezekiel | ||
| Ezekiel 22:30 | God looked for someone to plead for mercy and found no one | |
| Ezekiel 34:25 | Covenant of peace and safety, no predatory behavior | |
| Daniel | ||
| Daniel 1:8 | Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s delicacies | |
| Daniel 1:12-20 | Daniel eating only vegetables and water for 10 days and became 10x wiser than everyone else | |
| Hosea | ||
| Hosea 2:18 |
Covenant with animals that bow and sword of battle will be banished from earth, let animals lie down safely
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| Hosea 6:6 | For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. | |
| Jonah | ||
| Jonah 4:11 | God has pity on the ignorant and on animals | |
| Micah | ||
| Micah 4:3 | swords to plowshares | |
| Micah 6:8 | God has shown you what is good, to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God | |
| Micah 7:18 | God delights in mercy | |
| Habakkuk | ||
| Habakkuk 2:17 | Woe because of the violence of the land and the plunder of beasts that made them afraid | |
| Zechariah | ||
| Zechariah 11:4-6 | If you sell animals for slaughter without guilt or pity for the animal, God will do likewise to you | |
| Malachi | ||
| Malachi 3:6 | God does not change | |
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New Testament
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| Matthew | ||
| Matt 3:2 | Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand | |
| Matt 6:10 | your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven | |
| Matt 6:26 | God feeds the birds and will likewise feed you | |
| Matt 6:33 | seek first kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and everything will be added to you | |
| Matt 9:13 | But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ | |
| Matt 11:12 | kingdom suffers violence and the violent take it by force | |
| Matt 18:3-4 | must humble yourself like a child to enter the kingdom | |
| Matt 19:26 | with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible | |
| Matt 21:43 | kingdom will be taken away and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it | |
| Matt 24:45-46 | faithful and wise servant is one whose master finds him doing master’s will upon his return | |
| Mark | ||
| Mark 1:15 | The kingdom has drawn near. Repent and believe in the good news! | |
| Mark 12:31 | You shall love your neighbor as yourself | |
| Mark 16:15 | go into all the world and preach the good news to every creature | |
| Luke | ||
| Luke 6:36 | Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful | |
| Luke 9:62 | whoever puts their hand to the plow and turns back is not fit for the kingdom | |
| Luke 12:6 | five sparrows sold for a copper coin, none forgotten by God | |
| John | ||
| John 2:15 | Jesus overturned tables and drove out the animals being sold in the temple | |
| John 4:34 | my food is to do the will of God and to finish the work | |
| John 10:10 | Thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy | |
| John 10:11 | I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. | |
| John 13:34-35 | Love one another. This is how my disciples will be known. | |
| John 14:12 | whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and also greater works | |
| John 15:17 | These things I command you, that you love one another | |
| Romans | ||
| Romans 8:21 | creation will be delivered from bondage of corruption into glorious liberty of children of God | |
| Romans 12:2 | be transformed and prove the good and perfect will of God | |
| Romans 13:14 | clothe yourselves with Christ and do not seek to gratify the desires of the flesh | |
| Romans 14:15 | if your food causes distress, you are no longer walking in love | |
| Romans 14:17 | kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit | |
| 1 Corinthians | ||
| 1 Cor 3:16 | you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you | |
| 1 Cor 6:19 | your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and you are not your own | |
| 1 Cor 8:13 | if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never again eat meat | |
| 1 Cor 10:23 | all things are lawful but not all things are helpful or build up. | |
| 1 Cor 13:13 | now abide faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love. | |
| 1 Cor 15:33 | do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits | |
| 1 Cor 16:14 | let all that you do be done with love | |
| 2 Corinthians | ||
| 2 Cor 6:2 | behold NOW is the accepted time and NOW is the day of salvation | |
| Galatians | ||
| Galatians 5:13 |
you have liberty, but do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another
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| Galatians 5:17 | flesh lusts against spirit and spirit is contrary to the flesh | |
| Galatians 5:22-23 | fruit of spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control | |
| Ephesians | ||
| Ephesians 5:2 | walk in love, the aroma that is truly pleasing to God | |
| Philippians | ||
| Phil 2:4 | Let each of you look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. | |
| Phil 3:19 | whose god is their belly | |
| Phil 4:13 | I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me | |
| Colossians | ||
| Colossians 1:23 | Gospel proclaimed to every creature | |
| Colossians 3:12-15 | put on mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, patience… above all love. | |
| Titus | ||
| Titus 1:16 | they profess to know God but in works deny him, being disqualified for every good work. | |
| Philemon | ||
| Philemon 1:21 | confidence in your obedience, knowing you will do even more than I say | |
| Hebrews | ||
| Hebrews 10:4 | not possible that blood of animals take away sins | |
| Hebrews 10:5-9 | no pleasure in sacrifices but in doing God’s will | |
| James | ||
| James 2:8 | if you love your neighbor as yourself you do well | |
| James 2:13 | judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment | |
| James 2:17 | faith without works is dead | |
| James 4:17 | To whoever knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin | |
| 1 Peter | ||
| 1 Peter 4:8 | have fervent love for one another for love covers a multitude of sins | |
| 2 Peter | ||
| 2 Peter 1:4 | partakers of divine nature, having escaped corruption that is in the world through lust | |
| 2 Peter 3:13 | new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells | |
| 1 John | ||
| 1 John 4:8 | he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. | |
| 1 John 4:16 | God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. | |
| 3 John | ||
| 3 John 1:2 | be in good health | |
| Revelation | ||
| Rev 2:5 | Remember from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works | |
| Rev 5:13 | every animal on earth praising God | |
| Rev 11:18 | God will destroy those who destroy the earth | |
| Rev 21:4 | God will wipe away every tear, no more death, sorrow, crying, pain. Former things passed away. |
Swords to Plowshares 