30 Bible Verses about Calves

Most Relevant Verses

Exodus 32:2-8

And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.read more.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get you down; for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

1 Kings 12:28-29

Therefore the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.

Exodus 32:19-24

And it came to pass, as soon as he came near unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?read more.
And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord grow hot: you know the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods, who shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

Deuteronomy 9:16-21

And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which you sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.read more.
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which the LORD was angry with you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also. And the LORD was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mount.

2 Kings 10:28-29

Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, that is, from the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan.

2 Kings 17:16

And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an idol pole and worshiped all the army of heaven, and served Baal.

2 Chronicles 11:15

And he ordained himself priests for the high places, and for the goat idols, and for the calf idols which he had made.

Nehemiah 9:16-18

But they and our fathers acted presumptuously, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to your commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is your God that brought you up out of Egypt, and had worked great provocations;

Psalm 106:19-20

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass.

Hosea 8:5-6

Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be before they attain to innocence? For from Israel is even this: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

Hosea 10:5

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for its people shall mourn over it, and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it, for its glory has departed from it.

Hosea 13:2

And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

Acts 7:41

And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Micah 6:6

With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Leviticus 9:1-4

And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; And he said unto Aaron, Take you a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD. And unto the children of Israel you shall speak, saying, Take you a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering;read more.
Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD; and a grain offering mixed with oil: for today the LORD will appear unto you.

2 Samuel 6:12-13

And it was told king David, saying, The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertains unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so, that when they that bore the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.

1 Kings 1:9-10

And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and invited all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants: But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he invited not.

Hebrews 9:11-12

But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Luke 15:22-23

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet: And bring here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

Genesis 18:6-8

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hastened to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

1 Samuel 14:31-32

And they struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint. And the people rushed upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.

1 Samuel 28:24-25

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hastened, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread of it: And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

Jeremiah 31:18

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: restore me, and I shall return; for you are the LORD my God.

Psalm 29:6

He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

Psalm 68:30

Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submits himself with pieces of silver: scatter you the people that delight in war.

Jeremiah 34:18

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between its parts,

Jeremiah 46:20-21

Egypt is like a beautiful heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north. Also her hired soldiers are in the midst of her like fatted calves; for they also are turned back, and have fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come upon them, and the time of their punishment.

From Thematic Bible


Animals » Names of » Calves

Genesis 18:7

And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hastened to dress it.

1 Samuel 28:24

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hastened, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread of it:

Amos 6:4

That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon your couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

Calves » Illustrative of » Patient endurance

Ezekiel 1:7

And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished bronze.

Revelation 4:7

And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

Calves » The young of the herd

Job 21:10

Their bull breeds, and fails not; their cow calves, and casts not her calf.

Jeremiah 31:12

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for grain, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

Calves » Illustrative of » Sacrifices of praise

Hosea 14:2

Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we offer the sacrifices of our lips.

Calves » Fattened in stalls, &c

1 Samuel 28:24

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hastened, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread of it:

Amos 6:4

That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon your couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

Calves » When fattened considered a delicacy

1 Samuel 28:24-25

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hastened, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread of it: And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

Calves » Offered in sacrifice

Leviticus 9:2-3

And he said unto Aaron, Take you a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD. And unto the children of Israel you shall speak, saying, Take you a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering;

Calves » Eaten in the patriarchal age

Genesis 18:7-8

And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hastened to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

Calves » Fed on » Milk

1 Samuel 6:10

And the men did so; and took two milk cows, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:

Calves » If first-born not redeemed

Numbers 18:17

But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy: you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet aroma unto the LORD.

Calves » Fed on » Branches of trees, &c

Isaiah 27:10

Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and strip its branches.

Calves » Illustrative of » Saints nourished by grace

Calves » Playfulness of, alluded to

Psalm 29:6

He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

Calves » Of a year old best for sacrifice

Micah 6:6

With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Calves » Names of

Genesis 18:7

And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hastened to dress it.

1 Samuel 28:24

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hastened, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread of it:

Amos 6:4

That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon your couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

Topics on Calves

Golden Calves

Exodus 32:13

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said unto them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.

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Theasaurus: Calves