Bible Resources

7 Memorable Animals of the Bible

Jon Woodhams

Here are seven of the most remarkable animals mentioned in Scripture.

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Scripture is chock full of animals. Close to 100 varieties are mentioned—almost A to Z, including everything from the addax (a type of antelope named in Deuteronomy 14:5 NLT) to the lowly worm (sorry—there’s no zebra) mentioned in Isaiah and Jonah. But references to individual animals who played a role in the Bible’s narrative are rarer, especially if you omit those who are cited only in parables or prophecy. Here are some of the most remarkable animals mentioned in Scripture.

The Return of the Dove to the Ark. Oil on canvas, 1855 Public Domain

1 ^{of 6} A Dove from the Ark

Noah sent a dove to survey the area around the ark after the floodwaters had begun to recede. When the bird returned to the ark, Noah knew there was still no dry ground on which it could rest. Seven days later, Noah released the dove again—and this time it came back with an olive leaf in its mouth. Seven more days passed, and when Noah sent the dove out, it didn’t return, meaning that most of the water had receded. (Noah and his family waited two more months before finally disembarking, until the water had dried up again.)

An artist's painting of the talking donkey from the Bible; Wikimedia Commons

2 ^{of 6} The Talking Donkey

Arguably the most memorable animal in biblical history is a famous donkey. As outlined in Numbers 22, this donkey saw the angel of the Lord blocking the path (while his master, Balaam, was unaware) and bolted off to the side. When Balaam beat his donkey to make it get back on the road, God gave it the ability to speak, and it challenged Balaam. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times? Balaam told him, “You made me look like a fool!” After the two conversed, God opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel on the road and complimented the donkey’s sense: “Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; . . . otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.” Chastised, Balaam repented and did what the Lord told him to do.

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An artist's painting of The Great Fish; Wikimedia Commons

3 ^{of 6} The Great Fish

While we often think of it as a whale, the sea creature that swallowed Jonah is identified in virtually every Bible translation as a great fish (Jonah 1:17). Was it a whale? A whale shark? Or a species that has since gone extinct? Though scholars speculate and postulate, we will probably never know the answer this side of heaven.

4 ^{of 6} The Fish with the Coin in Its Mouth

One of Jesus’s most unusual miracles involved a fish. In Matthew 17 (the only record of this story in the Gospels), Jesus and Peter were discussing taxes, specifically the required temple tax. Jesus instructed Peter to “go out to the lake and throw in a line” (Matthew 17:27 NLT) and he would catch a fish, which would have a four-drachma coin (enough to pay both Jesus’s and Peter’s temple tax) in its mouth.

The Denial of Peter by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Frederiksborg Castle

5 ^{of 6} The Rooster Who Crowed Twice

In another account involving Jesus and Peter, during Jesus’s darkest hours, a rooster fulfilled Jesus’s chilling words to Peter that, “this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me” (Mark 14:30 NLT). Only hours before, Peter had declared that he would never deny Jesus, but now, after this rooster’s second crowing and his third denial, the reality of what Peter had done hit home, and “he broke down and wept” (v. 71).

6 ^{of 6} The Donkey’s Colt

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention another donkey—a “donkey’s colt” (Matthew 21:5–6 NLT). Unlike its Old Testament counterpart, this young donkey has no speaking role, but it carried the King of Kings into Jerusalem on what we now commemorate as Palm Sunday. This donkey was even mentioned in the prophecy fulfilled that day: “Look, your king is coming to you. . . . riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9).

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