Are dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible?

Dinosaur-like creatures are mentioned in the Bible. The Bible uses ancient names like “behemoth” and “tannin.” Behemoth means kingly, gigantic beasts. Tannin is a term which includes dragon-like animals and the great sea creatures such as whales, giant squids, and marine reptiles like the plesiosaurs that may have become extinct.

The Bible’s best description of a dinosaur is in Job chapter 40.

Copyrighted image. Dinosaur statues in Kalasin province, Thailand. © Myibean | Dreamstime.com

Dinosaur park in Thailand

“Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God…” (Job 40:15-19).

The book of Job is very old, probably written around 2,000 years before Jesus was born. Here God describes a great king of the land animals like some of the biggest dinosaurs, the Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. It was a gigantic plant-eater with great muscles and very strong bones. The long Diplodocus had leg bones so strong that he could have held three others on his back.

The behemoth were not afraid. They did not need to be; they were huge. Their tails were so long and strong that God compared them to cedars—one of the largest and most spectacular trees of the ancient world.

Behemoth Dinosaur. Illustration copyrighted, Films for Christ.

After all the behemoth had died out, many people forgot them. Dinosaurs were extinct and the fossil skeletons that are in museums today did not begin to be put together until about 150 years ago. Today, some people have mistakenly guessed that the behemoth mentioned in the Bible might be an elephant or a hippopotamus. But those animals certainly do not have tails like the thick, tall trunks of cedar trees!

Copyrighted image. © Myibean | Dreamstime.com

It should not seem strange that the Bible mentions dinosaurs. After all, God tells us that He created all the land animals on the 6th day of creation, the same day that he created mankind. Man and dinosaurs lived at the same time. There was never a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. From the very beginning of creation, God gave man dominion over all that was made, even over the dinosaurs.

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For more information about dinosaurs, we recommend the best selling children’s book by Paul S. Taylor, The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible.