'Praise the Holy One from the Earth': Scripture verses about our relationship with the planet

by Rich Heffern

View Author Profile

Join the Conversation

Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more

They put their hand to the flinty rock and overturn mountains by the roots. They cut out channels in the rocks, and their eyes see every precious thing. The sources of the rivers they probe; hidden things they bring to light. But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Job 28:9-12

Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land. Isaiah 5:8

God will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11

These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. Psalm 104:27-28

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart. Psalm 104:14-15

God said, “See what I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life. I have given every green plant for food. Genesis 1:29-30

The Holy God took the human one and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. Genesis 2:15

And he said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” Luke 11: 2-4

The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed. How the animals groan! The herds of cattle wander about because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep are dazed. Joel 1: 17-18

Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is God” or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God. Proverb 30:8-9

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. Act 4:32

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were together (God) called Seas. Genesis 1:6-10

I called heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you can your descendants may live. Deuteronomy 30: 19-20

This is the Holy One’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Holy One has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:23-24

To the thirsty, I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:6

It is not enough for you to feed on good pasture, but you must tread down with the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? Ezekiel 34:18

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus, it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. Isaiah 35: 1-2

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. John 4:13-14

They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of scandals-they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way. Amos 2:6-7

And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40

(Jesus) said to him. “You shall love the Holy One your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40

Bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who live it in languish. Hosea 4:2-3

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you, and your descendents after you, and with every living creature that is with you, and the birds, the domestic animals, and animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. Genesis 9:8-10

And the holy one planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and t here God put the human whom God had formed. Out of the ground the Holy One made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sign and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:8-9

For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage for the animals; for all its vanity. Ecclesiastes 3:19

Praise the Holy One from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling God’s command? Mountains and hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! Psalm 148

But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Job 12:7-8

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

A voice cries out: “in the wilderness prepare the way of the Holy one, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Isaiah 40:3

The land shall not be sold into perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are aliens and tenants. Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land. Leviticus 25: 23-24

If you treat gold as dust, and the gold of the Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed, and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. Job 22:24-26

God has not left God’s self without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy. Acts 14:17

I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. Jeremiah 2:7

The earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. Psalm 104:13

Latest News

Advertisement

1x per dayDaily Newsletters
1x per weekWeekly Newsletters
1x per quarterQuarterly Newsletters