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Psalm 36 · a question people ask

"LORD, you preserve man and animal" (36:6). Does the psalm mean God cares for animals?

In the text

The verse says so plainly: "LORD, you preserve man and animal" (36:6), in the same verse as "Your righteousness is like the mountains of God" (36:6). Other verses say the same kind of thing. "He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate" (Psalm 104:14). "The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing" (Psalm 145:15-16). And the book of Jonah ends with the LORD asking, "Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?" (Jonah 4:11). In Hebrew Jonah 4:11 has the same two words for people and animals as Psalm 36:6, adam and behemah.

The verses

“Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. LORD, you preserve man and animal.”
Psalm 36:6 · World English Bible
“He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:”
Psalm 104:14 · World English Bible
“The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
Psalm 145:15-16 · World English Bible
“Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?””
Jonah 4:11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 36

Psalm 36: The spring of life

Psalm 36 calls what it sees in the wicked a revelation, ne'um, the word of the prophets' "says the LORD", and Romans has nearly the same words, "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18). Then it looks up and says, "with you is the spring of life" (36:9): Hebrew words found elsewhere only in Proverbs, once of "the fear of the LORD" (Proverbs 14:27).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions