Dinosaurs are something that we can only learn about in in retrospect because they no longer walk the earth. But what does the Bible say about dinosaurs? Are there Bible verses about dinosaurs?
There are actually more than you might think, Since God created Dinosaurs on day 5-6, they would have to be included in creation and flood related verses.
However, the word dinosaur does not actually appear in the Bible, because it was coined in the 1800s. But that doesn’t mean that these fantastic creatures aren’t there.
Behemoth. Leviathan. Sea monsters. Dragons. Each of these are mentioned in the Bible. And in context, with descriptions, those are, in all likelihood, what we think of today as Dinosaurs.
Since these other terms have been around for thousands of years, lets try to match them up with what we have learned of Dinosaurs in the last few centuries.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our full disclosure here.
What Does the Bible Say About Dinosaurs
Answers in Genesis has some fascinating resources on the topic of Dinosaurs, and is my favorite source for understanding how it all fits together. But for today, I’m going to go straight to scripture, and show you where the Dinosaurs are in the Bible.
So let’s look at the Scripture, and see what we can find.
Bible Verses About Dinosaurs
While dinosaurs are something we typically think about from a biblical perspective, there are actually many detailed bible verses about dinosaurs. Who would have thought?
As already mentioned, the word “dinsosaur” wasn’t even a word when the Bible was written. That means you won’t find that exact word in scripture.
But you will find other words such as dragons, serpent, Leviathan, and others that are representations of what we know dinosaurs to be: massive creatures with great strength.
Genesis 1:21, 24-25
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird–each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. … 24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind–livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:21, 24-25 NLT
God created EVERY living thing in the water, and EVERY sort of bird, and EVERY sort of land animal. ALL sorts of wild animals.
So that would automatically include Dinosaurs, in the sea, the air, and on land, created on days 5-6 of creation.
Genesis 6:18-21
18 But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat–you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal–a male and a female–into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.” Genesis 6:18-21 NLT
All “KINDS” of animals on the ark, provided for. Not every species, but a little farther up the taxonomical structure. I have read that that would probably have added up to about 50 pairs of dinosaurs, and that likely they would have been young pairs, not fully grown. Especially for the larger kinds of dinosaurs, elephants, etc.
Job 7:12
Am I a sea monster or a dragon that you must place me under guard? Job 7:12 NLT
Here Job is crying out to God, seeking understanding for his circumstances. But he is very matter of fact, talking about very powerful animals that need guarding (or to be guarded against, depending…)
Job 40:15-24
15 “Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. 16 What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly! 17 Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. 18 Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron. 19 It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword. 20 The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. 21 Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. 22 The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it. 23 A raging river does not alarm it; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth. 24 Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose? Job 49:15-21 NIV
Sounds like ‘Little Foot’ full grown, to me. What was he, a Brachiosaurus? Brontosaurus, Apatasaurus? (forgive me, it’s been a few decades since watching those movies)
Those dinosaurs are like 4x the size of an elephant, and very impressive. I think it’s pretty cool that they’re described so specifically in the Bible.
Job 41
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? 2 Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook? 3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words? 4 Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house? 6 Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants? 7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears? 8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering. 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me? 11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. 12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor? 14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth? 15 Its back hasfn rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. 17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. 18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. 21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. 23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. 24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. 25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. 27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. 28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it. 29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear. 34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.” Job 41 NIV
This one sounds big and strong and smart. And fire-breathing, which makes the Dragon-Dinosaur argument very nicely, doesn’t it?
Psalm 104:25-26
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. 26 There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. Job 104:25-26 NIV
God made the Leviathan, or aquatic dinosaurs, and they were playful! And who knows, the ocean is pretty big, there could still be some out there. Wouldn’t that be cool?
I’ve read some really good Christian fiction about dragons, that I couldn’t put down. I’d love to share it with you!
Isaiah 27:1
In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Isaiah 27:1 ESV
So not all of the leviathan/dragon of the sea/aquatic Dinosaurs were good, as we’ll see in a moment.
But God’s got it under control!
Revelation 12:1-17
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.
4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. Revelation 12:1-17 NIV
This dragon represents satan, and his war with God, Jesus, and all the people of earth who were made in God’s image. It can be a very scary passage, but for the fact that we know God Wins!
Revelation 20:2
He seized the dragon–that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan–and bound him in chains for a thousand years. Revelation 20:2 NLT
See, God’s got this well in hand. Since he’s outside of time, he can tell us now (or 2,000 years ago) what will ultimately happen.
There’s more to the story of God’s ultimate victory, but that’s outside the focus of this post on what the Bible says about Dinosaurs.
If studying the Bible better is on your list of things to do this year, be sure to visit our Bible Study Resources page where you’ll find everything you need to make Bible study a regular part of your daily routine.
So now that you know what terms to look for, I hope you’ll enjoy finding dinosaurs walking around in your daily Bible reading any time you see Behemoth, or sea monsters, Leviathan, or dragons!
God created animals, wise and strong, and most were just that. Animals. And some, it seems, allowed satan to work through them. In the Garden of Eden, and in the end times. Unfortunate, but kind of sounds familiar…
Be sure to read about more exciting and unique things that are actually in the Bible:
