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Originally posted by Joe Average
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Does the Bible Mention Dinosaurs?
If people saw dinosaurs, you would think ancient historical writings, such as the Bible, should mention them. The King James Version was first translated in 1611. {17} Some people think that because the word ?dinosaur? is not found in this, or other translations, the Bible does not mention dinosaurs.
However, it was not until 1841 that the word ?dinosaur? was invented. {18} Sir Richard Owen, a famous British anatomist and first superintendent of the British museum and a staunch anti-Darwinist, on viewing the bones of Iguanodon and Megalosaurus, realized these represented a unique group of reptiles that had not yet been classified. He coined the term ?dinosaur? from Greek words meaning ?terrible lizard.? {19}
Thus, one would not expect to find the word ?dinosaur? in the King James Bible the word did not exist when the translation was done.
Is there another word for ?dinosaur?? There are dragon legends from around the world. Many ?dragon? descriptions fit the characteristics of specific dinosaurs. Could these actually be accounts of encounters with what we now call dinosaurs?
The Hebrew word commonly translated ?dragon? in the KJV (Hebrew: tan, tannin, tannim, tannoth) appears in the Old Testament some 30 times. There are passages in the Bible about ?dragons? that lived on the land:?he [Nebuchadnezzar] has swallowed me like a dragon?, {#Jer 51:34} ?the dragons of the wilderness?. {#Mal 1:3} Many biblical creationists believe that in many contexts these could refer to what we now call dinosaurs. {20} Indeed, Strong?s Concordance lists ?dinosaur? as one of the meanings of tannin/m.
In #Ge 1:21, the Bible says: ?And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind.? The Hebrew word here for ?sea monsters? (?whales? in KJV) is the word translated elsewhere as ?dragon? (Hebrew: tannin). So, in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible God may be describing the great sea dragons (sea-dwelling dinosaur-type animals) He created.
There are other Bible passages about dragons that lived in the sea: ?the dragons in the waters?, {#Ps 74:13} ?and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea?. {#Isa 27:1} Though the word ?dinosaur? strictly refers to animals that lived on the land, the sea reptiles and flying reptiles are often grouped with the dinosaurs. The sea-dragons could have included dinosaur-type animals such as the Mosasaurus. {21}
#Job 41 describes a great animal that lived in the sea, Leviathan, that even breathed fire. This ?dragon? may have been something like the mighty 55-foot (17 m) long Kronosaurus, { 22} or the 82-foot 25 in longLiopleurodon.
There is also mention of a flying serpent in the Bible: the ?fiery flying serpent?. {#Isa 30:6} This could be a reference to one of the pterodactyls, which are popularly thought of as flying dinosaurs, such as the Pteranodon, Rhamphorhynchus or Ornithocheirus. {23}
Not long after the flood, God was showing a man called Job how great He was as Creator, by reminding Job of the largest land animal He had made:
?Behold now behemoth, which I made with you; he eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly. He moves his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are like tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: his maker brings near his sword.? {#Job 40:15-19}
The phrase ?chief of the ways of God? suggests this was the largest land animal God had made. So what kind of animal was ?behemoth??{ Was ?behemoth,? seen by Job, one of the big dinosaurs? Illustration by Steve Cardno. See Picture 244}
Bible translators, not being sure what this beast was, often transliterated the Hebrew, and thus the word ?behemoth?( e.g., KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV). However, in many Bible commentaries and Bible footnotes, ?behemoth? is said to be ?possibly the hippopotamus or elephant.? {24} Some Bible versions actually translate ?behemoth? this way. {25} Besides the fact that the elephant and hippo were not the largest land animals God made (some of the dinosaurs far eclipsed these), this description does not make sense, since the tail of behemoth is compared to a cedar tree (verse 17).
Now an elephant?s tiny tail (or a hippo?s tail that looks like a flap of skin!) is quite unlike a cedar tree! Clearly the elephant and the hippo could not possibly be ?behemoth.? No living creature comes close to this description. However, behemoth is very like Brachiosaurus, one of the large dinosaurs.