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Just for Kidz - Animals in the Bible |
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God created animals before he created people. Animals have been with us since the very beginning and that means they are in the Bible too. On this page you'll find just a few of the animals in the Bible. Don't forget to hold your mouse over the pictures to learn some extra facts.
And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens."
So God created the great sea monsters 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.
And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle 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 cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
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 air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." -- Genesis 1:20-26
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Noah's Ark Full of Animals |
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The story of Noah's Ark is a popular animal story in the Bible. When God was angry with the people He created, He decided to destroy the world with a flood. God saved Noah and his family because they still loved God. God told Noah to build an ark and fill it with animals. Then it began to rain for 40 days and 40 nights.
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth. -- Genesis 7: 1-3
After a long time, the waters flooding the earth were going down. Noah sent out a dove to see if there was any land and it returned with a branch of the olive tree.
Again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. -- Genesis 8: 10-11
Noah, his family and the animals could soon return to life on firm ground. God sent Noah a rainbow and promised never to destroy the whole earth again.
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More Bible Animals
The snake has a bad reputation because it was the serpent that tempted Eve to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. -- Genesis 3
God tested Abraham and asked him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. When Abraham he was willing to obey God, God told Abraham to stop and sacrifice a ram caught in the bushes instead. -- Genesis 22: 1-19
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said that God's followers will receive strength and will be able to soar like the eagle. -- Isaiah 40: 28-31
Isaiah also foretold that someday children would be able to play with snakes, and the lion would lie down with the calf.
-- Isaiah 11: 6-9
Jesus went out in Simon's (Peter) boat after a night of fishing. Simon had not caught a fish all night but when he put his net in the water where Jesus told him to, the net was bursting with fish. -- Luke 5: 1-11
Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to get through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. -- Matthew 19: 23-24
Jesus said that we should not worry. If God feeds the ravens who do not store food away, he will feed us too.-- Luke 12: 22-26
On Palm Sunday, Jesus sent his disciples to get a colt that had not been ridden before. Jesus rode the colt into Jerusalem while the crowds cheered. -- Mark 11: 1-11
Jesus told the apostle Peter that he would deny that he knew Jesus before the rooster crowed. Peter said he would never do that but by the time he heard the rooster crow the next morning, he had said he didn't know Jesus 3 times.
-- Luke 22: 54-62
The last book of the Bible is about the visions of the apostle John. The Lamb in the book is usually considered to symbolize Jesus. -- Revelations
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You can read about lions in several places in the Bible. Two of the more well-known stories are about David and Daniel. David tells a story of protecting his sheep from lions and bears to King Saul when David asks to try to defeat the giant Goliath.
And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth."
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 smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him.
Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing 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!" -- I Samuel 17: 33-37
Some government officials tricked the King of Babylon into forcing all people to stop praying to their gods. Daniel continues to pray to God and is thrown into a den full of lions. But, because he was faithful to God, Daniel escapes unhurt. God protected him.
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!"
And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
Then the king went to his palace, and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
When he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish and said to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?"
Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live for ever!
My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong."
Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of hurt was found upon him, because he had trusted in his God. -- Daniel 6: 16-24
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The prophet Jonah was angry with God for wanting the sinful people of Nineveh to repent. Jonah wasn't as forgiving as God, so God needed to teach Jonah a lesson.When Jonah tried to run away from God, God sent a whale to swallow Jonah up. After Jonah repented, the whale left Jonah on a beach.
Jonah went in a ship but God sent a terrible storm that nearly drowned the whole crew. Jonah told them to throw him overboard. When the sailors did, the storm quieted.
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish. -- Jonah 1: 17-2: 1
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Jesus liked to tell parables or stories about the God's Kingdom. Often these stories included sheep or shepherds. The Parable of the Lost Sheep shows how Jesus thinks every single one of us is special.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.
So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
-- Matthew 18: 10-14
There are many more animals and great stories in the Bible. Get your parents to read some of these stories to you or try reading them yourself. The Bible teaches us about God's unending love for us.
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