12 Bible Verses for Hunters and Fishermen
Anyone who has sat in a deer stand before light or drifted a quiet creek at dawn knows the feeling: the world goes still, and God feels close. Scripture is full of fields, rivers, birds and fish, and the men who met God among them. Here are twelve verses to carry into the blind, the boat and the long quiet hours in between. All quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
Creation declares His glory
1. Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
Every sunrise over the marsh is a sermon without words. We don't go outside to escape God. We go outside and find Him already there.
2. Romans 1:20
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
3. Psalm 104:24
“O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”
4. Job 12:7–8
“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.”
Dominion is stewardship
5. Genesis 1:28
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
6. Genesis 9:3
“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”
Dominion was never a license to be careless. It is a charge to care for what we've been given. (We wrote more about this in Why Christians Hunt.)
7. Proverbs 12:10
“Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”
On the water
8. Matthew 4:19
“And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’”
9. John 21:6
“He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.”
The disciples had fished all night and caught nothing. One word from Jesus changed everything. Every fisherman knows a long night with an empty net, and every believer knows what it is to be met in it.
Stillness and strength
10. Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Few things teach stillness like a morning in the blind. The waiting is part of the gift.
11. Isaiah 40:31
“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Sent out
12. Luke 9:2
“and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”
This is the verse our name comes from. Faith was never meant to stay indoors. It goes with you to the field, the water and the tailgate, wherever you're sent.
If you want a reminder of that to wear, the Sent Out Tee carries Luke 9:2 across the back, and the rest of the Nine2 Line is made for the same places these verses take you.