Psalm 147:9

Hebrew Bible

6 The Lord lifts up the oppressed, but knocks the wicked to the ground. 7 Offer to the Lord a song of thanks. Sing praises to our God to the accompaniment of a harp. 8 He covers the sky with clouds, provides the earth with rain, and causes grass to grow on the hillsides. 9 He gives food to the animals and to the young ravens when they chirp. 10 He is not enamored with the strength of a horse, nor is he impressed by the warrior’s strong legs. 11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers and in those who wait for his loyal love.

Matthew 6:26

New Testament

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? 27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!

 Notes and References

"... t is probably impossible to tell whether, in Jesus’ saying, Matthew’s ‘the birds of the air’ or Luke’s ‘the ravens’ is more original, but the latter gives a more precise Old Testament allusion to Job 38:41 or Psalm 147:9. The reason why both these Old Testament texts single out the ravens for mention is that the cry of the young ravens, to which they both refer, was especially raucous. Young ravens ‘squawk for food with louder and longer cries than almost any other species’. In the context of Jesus’ saying, it might also be significant that, according to the dietary laws, the raven is an unclean animal (Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14). The point would then be that God takes care to provide even for an unclean bird like the raven. (We have already noticed that Philo, On the Virtues 160, extols the Mosaic law’s compassion for animals by pointing out that it extends even to unclean animals.) ..."

Bauckham, Richard Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology (p. 89) Baylor University Press, 2011

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