The Bible and Science: 7 – “Dinosaurs & the Bible”

Posted on July 12, 2015September 2, 2015 by Anton Artemyev

Dinosaurs & the Bible
John Doughty
July 12, 2015

Mentions of Dinosaurs in the Bible

Tannin

Strong’s Concordance #8577
tannin: serpent, dragon, sea monster
Original Word: תַּנִּין
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: tannin
Phonetic Spelling: (tan-neen’)
Short Definition: monster

Dragons

Encyclopaedia Britannica (1949 edition) noted that dinosaurs are “astonishingly dragonlike…”

World Book Encyclopedia: The dragons of legend are strangely like actual creatures that have lived in the past. They are much like the great reptiles which inhabited the earth long before man is supposed to have appeared on earth. Dragons were generally evil and destructive. Every country had them in its mythology.” (Knox, Wilson, “Dragon,” The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 5, 1973, p. 265.)

“Dragon”
Strong’s Concordance # 1404
drakón: a dragon (a mythical monster)Original Word: δράκων, οντος, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: drakón
Phonetic Spelling: (drak’-own)
Short Definition: a dragon or huge serpent
Definition: a dragon or huge serpent; met: Satan.

Biblical Dragons

Land Dragons [x]
Sea Dragons [x]
Large Dragons [x]
Small Dragons [x]
Poisonous Dragons [x]
Flying Dragons [x]

1. Great Whales

King James: Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
New American Standard Bible God created the great sea monsters…
New International Version So God created the great creatures of the sea…
English Standard Version So God created the great sea creatures…
Holman Christian Standard Bible So God created the large sea-creatures…
International Standard Version So God created every kind of magnificent marine creature…
Jubilee Bible 2000 And God created the great dragons…

2. Lived in Desolate Places

Jeremiah 49:33 “And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.” KJV

3. Made “snuffing” sound

Jeremiah 14:6 “And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.” KJV

4. Made “Hissing” Sound

Jeremiah 51:37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. KJV

5. Wailing Sound

Micah 1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

6. Venomous Dragons

Deuteronomy 32:33 “Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.” KJV

7. Dragons of the Deep

Job 7:12

New International Version: Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?
New Living Translation: Am I a sea monster or a dragon that you must place me under guard?
English Standard Version: Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?
New American Standard Bible: Am I the sea, or the sea monster, That You set a guard over me?

8. Dragons Praise the LORD

Psalm 148:7

New International Version: Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
New Living Translation: Praise the LORD from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths,
English Standard Version: Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,
New American Standard Bible: Praise the LORD from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps;
King James Bible: Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

9. Dragon (in the New Testament)

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon….And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and satan, which deceiveth the whole world….And they worshipped the dragon. (Revelation 12:3, 9; 13:4)

10. Figurative Based on Literal

Satan/Devil is a:

Serpent, Genesis 3:1, Rev. 12:9, 20:2
Roaring Lion, 1 Peter 5:8
Dragon, Rev.12:9

11. Behemoth Job 40

15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.

Cedrus libani is an evergreen coniferous tree growing up to 40 m (130 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in diameter. The crown is conic when young, becoming broadly tabular with age with fairly level branches.

18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.

12. Leviathan Job 41

1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
3 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
11 Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18 By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
26 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
27 He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

13. playing with the ships

Psalm 104:25 There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great. 26 There the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it. 27 They all wait for You To give them their food in due season.… NASB

14. Unicorn? KJV = H. ?Ream?

Job 39

9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

horns

Psalm 22:21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Deuteronomy 33:17 “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

arrows

Numbers 24:8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.

Contrasted with bulls

Isaiah 34:7

7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

15. Fiery flying serpent

Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

Isaiah 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent

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