Bible verses about "vegetarianism" | ISV

¹ Clean and Unclean Animals
The LORD told Moses and Aaron, ² “Tell the Israelis that these are the living creatures that you may eat among the animals of the earth: ³ You may eat any animal that has divided hooves with cloven feet and that ruminates its cud, ⁴ except you are not to eat the following animals that have divided hooves or ruminate their cud: the camel (because it chews the cud but doesn’t have divided hooves, it is to be unclean for you), ⁵ the rock badger (because it chews its cud but its hooves aren’t divided, it is to be unclean for you), ⁶ the hare (because it chews its cud, but its hooves aren’t divided, it is to be unclean for you), ⁷ and the pig (because it has divided hooves and is therefore cloven-footed, but it doesn’t ruminate its cud, it is to be unclean for you). ⁸ You are not to eat their flesh or even touch their carcasses. They are to be unclean for you.”
⁹ Clean and Unclean Seafood“You may eat anything that lives in the water—that is, you may eat anything that has fins and scales either from the seas or from the rivers. ¹⁰ But anything that doesn’t have fins or scales—whether from the seas or the rivers—any of the swarming creatures and living creatures in the waters are detestable for you. ¹¹ They are to remain detestable for you. You are not to eat of their meat and you are to detest their carcasses. ¹² Anything that doesn’t have fins or scales in the waters is a detestable thing for you.”
¹³ Clean and Unclean Winged Creatures“These are detestable things for you among winged creatures that you are not to eat, because they are detestable for you: the eagle, vulture, osprey, ¹⁴ red kite, falcons of any kind, ¹⁵ every kind of raven, ¹⁶ ostrich, nighthawk, seagull, hawks of every kind, ¹⁷ owls, cormorants, the ibis, ¹⁸ water-hens, pelicans, carrion, ¹⁹ storks, herons of every kind, the hoopoe, bata, ²⁰ and any winged insect that crawls on four legs is detestable for you. ²¹ However, you may eat winged creatures that crawl on four legs that extend over its head and by which it hops on the ground. ²² These creatures that you may eat include the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. ²³ But any other winged insect that has four legs is detestable for you ²⁴ and is unclean. Anyone who touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening. ²⁵ And anyone who carries their carcasses is to wash his clothes, since he will remain unclean until evening.”
²⁶ Summary of Clean and Unclean“Any animal that has divided hooves and is cloven-footed but doesn’t chew the cud is unclean for you. Anyone who touches them is unclean. ²⁷ Among the animals, anything that walks on their paws and on four legs is unclean for you. Anyone who touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening. ²⁸ Whoever carries their carcass is to wash their clothes, because they’ve become unclean until evening. They’re unclean for you.
²⁹ “These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures that crawl over the land: the rat, mouse, lizards of every kind, ³⁰ the gecko, crocodile, lizard, sand lizard, and chameleon. ³¹ These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures, so anyone who touches them when they’re dead becomes unclean until evening. ³² Furthermore, anything on which they fall when they’re dead becomes unclean, whether on an article of wood, clothing, skin, or a sack. And any vessel used for any work is to be washed in water, because it has become unclean until evening. ³³ Any earthen vessel into which any of these things fall becomes unclean, along with everything in it. You are to destroy it, along with all its contents.”
³⁴ Clean and Unclean Vessels“Any food that may be eaten, but into which water has soaked, becomes unclean. Any drink that may be drunk in any of these vessels becomes unclean, ³⁵ and anything into which their carcass falls becomes unclean. An oven or stove is to be broken in pieces. They’re unclean and therefore unclean for you.
³⁶ “A spring or a cistern that holds water is clean, but whoever touches the carcass of an unclean animal will be unclean. ³⁷ If their carcass falls on a seed, which is for sowing, what is to be sown is clean. ³⁸ But if water is put on the seed and part of their carcass falls on it, then it has become unclean for you.
³⁹ “If any of the animals that you may eat dies, the one who touches its carcass becomes unclean until evening. ⁴⁰ The one who eats from its carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening. Even the one who carries the carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening.”
⁴¹ Unclean Swarming Animals“Every swarming thing that swarms the land is detestable for you. It is not to be eaten. ⁴² You are not to eat anything that crawls on its belly, anything that walks on four legs, anything that has many legs, or any of the swarming creatures that swarm the land, because they’re detestable. ⁴³ You are not to make yourselves detestable on account of any swarming creature that swarms the land, and you are not to defile yourselves and become unclean due to them, ⁴⁴ because I, the LORD, am your God. Set yourselves apart and be holy, because I am holy. You are not to defile yourselves with any of the swarming creatures that swarm the earth. ⁴⁵ I am the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You are to be holy, because I am holy. ⁴⁶ This is the law concerning animals, every living creature that moves on the waters or swarms on land. ⁴⁷ You are to differentiate between the clean and unclean, between the living creature that can be eaten and the living creature that is not to be eaten.”

¹⁷ A vegetarian meal served with love is better than a big, thick steak with a plateful of animosity.

²⁵ “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; but as for the serpent— its food will be dust! They won’t harm or destroy on my entire holy mountain,”
says the LORD.

¹⁴ “Now, Lord GOD,” I replied, “I’ve never been defiled, ever since I was young until now. I haven’t eaten an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts, and no unclean meat has ever entered my mouth!”

¹¹ It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean.”

¹ How to Treat Weak BelieversAccept anyone who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of arguing over differences of opinion. ² One person believes that he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ The person who eats any kind of food must not ridicule the person who does not eat them, and the person who does not eat certain foods must not criticize the person who eats them, for God has accepted him.

⁶ The one who observes a special day, observes it to honor the Lord. The one who eats, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. And the one who does not eat, refrains from eating to honor the Lord; yet he, too, gives thanks to God.

¹ A Prophecy about the FutureNow the Spirit says clearly that in the last times some people will abandon the faith by following deceitful spirits, the teachings of demons, ² and the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences have been burned by a hot iron. ³ They will try to stop people from marrying and from eating certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

⁴ However, you are not to eat meat with its life—that is, its blood—in it!

⁶ A Transformed Ecology“The wolf will live with the lamb; the leopard will lie down with the young goat. The calf and the lion will graze together, and a little child will lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear will graze, and their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The nursing child will play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on vipers’ dens. ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

¹² “Please test your servants for ten days and let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare how we look with the young men who ate the king’s rich food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you observe.”
¹⁴ So he listened to what Daniel said and tested them for ten days. ¹⁵ At the end of ten days their appearance was better and their faces were well-nourished compared to the young men who ate the king’s rich food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away their rich food and wine, giving them vegetables.

³ “Every living, moving creature will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants before, so now you have everything.

¹⁷ For God’s kingdom does not consist of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy produced by the Holy Spirit.

¹ How to Treat Weak BelieversAccept anyone who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of arguing over differences of opinion. ² One person believes that he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ The person who eats any kind of food must not ridicule the person who does not eat them, and the person who does not eat certain foods must not criticize the person who eats them, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? He stands or falls before his own Lord—and stand he will, because the Lord makes him stand.
⁵ One person decides in favor of one day over another, while another person decides that all days are the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind: ⁶ The one who observes a special day, observes it to honor the Lord. The one who eats, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. And the one who does not eat, refrains from eating to honor the Lord; yet he, too, gives thanks to God.
⁷ For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. ⁸ If we live, we live to honor the Lord; and if we die, we die to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this reason the Messiah died and returned to life, so that he might become the Lord of both the dead and the living.
¹⁰ Why, then, do you criticize your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For all of us will stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written, “As certainly as I live, declares the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will praise God.”
¹² Consequently, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
¹³ Acting in LoveTherefore, let’s no longer criticize each other. Instead, make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴ I know—and have been persuaded by the Lord Jesus—that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it is unclean to a person who thinks it is unclean. ¹⁵ For if your brother is being hurt by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not destroy the person for whom the Messiah died by what you eat. ¹⁶ Do not allow what seems good to you to be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For God’s kingdom does not consist of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy produced by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the person who serves the Messiah in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people. ¹⁹ Therefore, let’s keep on pursuing those things that bring peace and that lead to building up one another.
²⁰ Do not destroy God’s action for the sake of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make another person stumble because of what you eat. ²¹ The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that makes your brother stumble, upset, or weak. ²² As for the faith you do have, have it as your own conviction before God. How blessed is the person who has no reason to condemn himself because of what he approves! ²³ But the person who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not act in faith; and anything that is not done in faith is sin.

³⁰ I have given all green plants as food for every wild animal of the earth, every bird that flies, and to every living thing that crawls on the earth.” And that is what happened.

²⁹ God also told them, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout the earth, along with every tree that grows seed-bearing fruit. They will produce your food. ³⁰ I have given all green plants as food for every wild animal of the earth, every bird that flies, and to every living thing that crawls on the earth.” And that is what happened.

²¹ The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that makes your brother stumble, upset, or weak.