Genesis 1:29-30

1:29 Then God said, “I now ¹  give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ²  1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give ³  every green plant for food.” It was so.

Job 38:41

38:41 Who prepares prey for the raven,

when its young cry out to God

and wander about ⁴  for lack of food?

Job 40:20

40:20 For the hills bring it food, ⁵ 

where all the wild animals play.

Psalms 35:6

35:6 May their path be ⁶  dark and slippery,

as the Lord’s angel chases them!

Psalms 104:27-28

104:27 All of your creatures ⁷  wait for you

to provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁸ 

104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;

you open your hand and they are filled with food. ⁹ 

Psalms 136:25

136:25 to the one who gives food to all living things, ¹⁰ 

for his loyal love endures.

Psalms 145:16

145:16 You open your hand,

and fill every living thing with the food they desire. ¹¹ 

Psalms 147:9

147:9 He gives food to the animals,

and to the young ravens when they chirp. ¹² 

Matthew 6:26

6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ¹³  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ¹⁴  them. Aren’t you more valuable ¹⁵  than they are?

¹ tn The text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh), often archaically translated “behold.” It is often used to express the dramatic present, the immediacy of an event – “Look, this is what I am doing!”

² sn G. J. Wenham (Genesis [WBC], 1:34) points out that there is nothing in the passage that prohibits the man and the woman from eating meat. He suggests that eating meat came after the fall. Gen 9:3 may then ratify the postfall practice of eating meat rather than inaugurate the practice, as is often understood.

³ tn The phrase “I give” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁴ tn The verse is difficult, making some suspect that a line has dropped out. The little birds in the nest hardly go wandering about looking for food. Dhorme suggest “and stagger for lack of food.”

⁵ tn The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yÿvul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.

⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer.

⁷ tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

⁹ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “to all flesh,” which can refer to all people (see Pss 65:2; 145:21) or more broadly to mankind and animals. Elsewhere the psalms view God as the provider for all living things (see Pss 104:27-28; 145:15).

¹¹ tn Heb “[with what they] desire.”

¹² tn Heb “which cry out.”

¹³ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

¹⁴ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “of more value.”