UNICORNS AND DRAGONS IN THE BIBLE - Unicorns and dragons are not the only fantastic creatures mentioned in the Bible. Divine beings like sea monsters, giants and supernatural heroes also have a place in Scripture. You may have thought these creatures only had a place in mythology and fairytales but they are right there in the Bible. Most scholars agree that the unicorns and dragons in question weren’t real unicorns but another more familiar animal. Some of these creatures are symbolic and poetic in nature, but others have actually walked the earth at some point or are based on creatures that did at one point. Every major ancient culture has legends and myths about giant reptiles. Many wonder how this can be when dinosaur fossils were not discovered until thousands of years after the myths of giant reptiles began. The Bible mentions two creatures that bare the resemblance to the dinosaurs. These were the leviathan and behemoth in Job chapters 40-41. Creation scientists believe that all dragon myths came from real contact between human beings and dinosaurs.

................................................................................................................................................................

Unicorns and Dragons

Are Unicorns and Dragons in the Bible?

Both fantastic creatures are mentioned in many passages in Scripture

By Lesli White

It might strike you as odd but the Old Testament contains passages that mention both unicorns and dragons.

We know that unicorns and dragons are fictitious – none of these are alive today and no scientist has ever found a fossil of one.

Yet, some of the most unique verses in the Old Testament refer to unicorns, while the Old and New Testament both mention dragons.

Unicorns are mentioned in the King James Version of the Bible nine times, in five different books by at least five different authors including Balaam, Moses, David, Isaiah and even God Himself in the book of Job.

The verses that mention unicorns include:

Numbers 23:22 (KJV): “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.”

Numbers 24:8 (KJV): “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.”

Job 39:9 (KJV): “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by the crib?”

Job 39:10 (KJV): “Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?”

Psalms 29:6 (KJV): “He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.”

Psalms 92:10 (KJV): “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.”

Deuteronomy 33:17 (KJV): “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.”

Psalms 22:21 (KJV): “Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.”

Isaiah 34:7 (KJV): “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.”

It’s important to note that unicorns are not mentioned in any of the modern Bible translations. They are only mentioned in the King James version.

The modern translations say “wild ox.” Some translations say “buffalo.”

So why does the Bible mention unicorns you might wonder?

Many Christian apologists are adamant that the King James Version of the Bible is the most accurate of all the English translations.

Atheists have used this as an argument for why the Bible is simply a book of myths and fairy tales.

What’s important to remember is that the definition of the word “unicorn” has evolved over time.

In the very first edition of the dictionary that Webster came out with (1828 Noah Webster’s Dictionary), the definition of the unicorn was, “an animal with one horn; the Monoceros. This name is often applied to the rhinoceros.”

The 200-year-old definition makes no mention of a horse with one-horn.

The scientific name of the Asian one-horned Rhinoceros is Rhinoceros unicornis.

There is also an extinct species of giant one-horned rhinoceros called Elasmotherium sibiricum. Scientists refer to this creature as “The Giant Unicorn.”

Some creation scientists believe it may be the unicorn that is mentioned in the Bible. It is likely that unicorn simply meant one-horned animal.

The Bible mentions dragons over 30 times in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

One example in the Old Testament, King James version is in Psalm 148:7: "Praise the LORD from the earth, you dragons, and all deeps.”

Another Psalm that mentions dragons is Psalm 91:13 which says, “You shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under feet.”

Jeremiah 51:34 says, “he has swallowed me up like a dragon…” which brings to mind the way many carnivorous reptiles eat their prey whole.

The prophet Jeremiah predicted that Israel would be carried away into captivity and Jerusalem would be broken and inhabited by dragons (Jeremiah 9:11).

Interestingly enough, there was a peculiar name given to a well in Nehemiah 2:13 in the King James Version called the “dragon well.”

Revelation chapters 12, 13, 16 and 20 also mentions dragons directly.

Revelation 20:2 says, “He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”

What’s important to note here is that the Bible isn’t teaching that dragons existed. The Bible is simply comparing Satan to a fire-breathing monster.

Another interesting point is that every major ancient culture has legends and myths about giant reptiles.

Many wonder how this can be when dinosaur fossils were not discovered until thousands of years after the myths of giant reptiles began.

The Bible mentions two creatures that bare the resemblance to the dinosaurs.

These two creatures were the leviathan and behemoth, mentioned in Job chapters 40-41.

Creation scientists believe that all dragon myths came from real contact between human beings and dinosaurs.

Unicorns and dragons are not the only fantastic creatures mentioned in the Bible.

Divine beings like sea monsters, giants and supernatural heroes also have a place in Scripture.

You may have thought these creatures only had a place in mythology and fairytales but they are right there in the Bible.

Most scholars agree that the unicorns and dragons in question weren’t real unicorns but another more familiar animal.

Some of these creatures are symbolic and poetic in nature, but others have actually walked the earth at some point or are based on creatures that did at one point.

All you have to do is crack open the King James Version of the Bible to find them.

Lesli White is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth with a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and a concentration in print and online journalism. In college, she took a number of religious studies courses and harnessed her talent for storytelling. White has a rich faith background. Her father, a Lutheran pastor and life coach was a big influence in her faith life, helping her to see the value of sharing the message of Christ with others. She has served in the church from an early age. Some of these roles include assisting ministry, mutual ministry, worship and music ministry and church council.  

https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/are-unicorns-and-dragons-in-the-bible.aspx

CREATURES IN THE BIBLE - There are certainly many strange creatures mentioned in the Bible. Some descriptions are symbolic and are simply meant to represent certain nations, people, or ideas in prophetic visions These creatures were never intended to be taken literally. Other passages are indeed describing a real beast, although the names provided by translators were sometimes taken from mythology.

.
.

Mythological Creatures in the Bible

There are certainly many strange creatures mentioned in the Bible.

Some descriptions are symbolic and are simply meant to represent certain nations, people, or ideas in prophetic visions

These creatures were never intended to be taken literally.

Other passages are indeed describing a real beast, although the names provided by translators were sometimes taken from mythology.

The King James Version, translated in 1611, contains several mentions of mythological creatures, including the unicorn, the dragon, and the fearsome cockatrice.

Beasts in prophetic visions
The apocalyptic portions of Daniel and Revelation contain famous visions of strange creatures.

Both books describe four creatures with the heads, bodies, limbs, and wings of different combinations of animals -heads of lions with wings of eagles, etc.

These are not mythological but symbolic descriptions of angelic beings.

Revelation predicts “locusts” with human faces, women’s hair, lions’ teeth, and scorpions’ tails, topped off with wings.

Also, in Revelation 9:13-19, an army of 200 million horsemen ride horses with the heads of lions, breathing fire and sulfur, and sporting tails like serpents with heads.

The descriptions of these strange creatures are figurative -in other words, the visions are symbolic of real beings, nations, or judgments in the future.

Dragons
Today, we associate dragons with storybook fare and medieval folklore.

There are many mentions of “dragons” in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 148:7; Isaiah 43:20; Micah 1:8), mostly in the KJV.

As we mention in our article on dinosaurs, the obscure Hebrew word tanniyn indicates some kind of very large or hideous creature.

This animal is mentioned 18 times in the Old Testament as both a land and sea dweller.

Other versions translate it variously as “great sea creature” or (in other contexts) “wolves” or “jackals.”

It is most likely a general term for undesirable creatures, possibly a reference to dinosaurs and other now-extinct reptilian creatures.

Revelation 10 mentions a dragon, as well.

In this context, the dragon is identified as Satan (Revelation 20:2).

Since his appearance as a serpent to Eve, Satan is often characterized in a reptilian manner.

The dragon metaphor helps us picture Satan, who is all too real.

Mythological Creatures in the KJV
The King James Version of the English Bible was translated in the early 1600s.

While the translation is commendable for its overall accuracy and beauty of style, it has a few weaknesses.

One is that, when the translators of the Old Testament came across a Hebrew word of uncertain meaning, they sometimes used an exotic English word to replace it.

Satyrs
In Isaiah 13:21 and 34:14, the KJV and RSV translate the Hebrew sa`iyr as “satyr.”

The Hebrew word is translated 55 times in the KJV as “he-goat” or “hairy.”

However, the word was also thought to imply demon-worship associated with goats, and so we find the word translated “devil” twice and “satyr” in the aforementioned verses.

However, based on the context of each passage in Isaiah, it is almost certain that wild goats are intended by the Hebrew sa`iyr, not the goat-man creature of legend, and certainly not the faun of classical myth.

Unicorns
Hebrew word re'em, signifies a horned animal similar to the aurochs, a now-extinct ancestor of today’s domestic cattle.

For some unknown reason, the translators of the KJV chose to substitute “unicorn” for the name of this horned animal each time it occurred: (e.g., Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalm 22:21; and Isaiah 34:7.)

The Bible, in its original languages, never actually mentions unicorns.

Cockatrices

The cockatrice is a legendary monster, half-rooster and half-snake, with the ability to turn people to stone at a glance.

It may not be so well known as other mythological beings today, but, at the time the KJV translation was made, the cockatrice was a pervasive myth in Britain.

The word cockatrice was used to translate the Hebrew tsepha, which properly means “poisonous serpent or viper,” in four of its five occurrences: (Isaiah 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; and Jeremiah 8:17.) 

John Wycliffe used cockatrice in his 1382 Bible translation, and the KJV translators retained the term.

Behemoth
In Job an animal called “behemoth” is described as an example of the many things God has accomplished that Job could not even fathom (Job 40:15-24).

Behemoth is almost certainly a real creature, although some Jewish scholars hold it is a symbol of chaos.

The beast is most popularly identified as a hippopotamus or elephant, although some of its physical characteristics, particularly the tail “like a cedar,” do not match up with either animal.

Most young-earth creationists believe behemoth is a dinosaur similar to the apatosaurus or diplodocus.

Leviathan

The leviathan is described in Job 3:8 and 41:1-34, immediately after the behemoth and for the same purpose.

Isaiah 27:1 and Psalm 74:14 and 104:24-30 also mention the leviathan.

The name itself means “coiled one,” and its description indicates a monstrous, serpentine sea creature.

The leviathan breathes fire, has scales harder than iron, can crush anything in its jaws, and, according to Psalm 74, has multiple heads.

It is possible that leviathan was a sea-dwelling dinosaur.

The book of Job certainly seems to describe an actual beast, created by God.

Elsewhere in Scripture (such as in Psalm 74), the creature is used as a symbol for evil or the enemies of Israel.

Leviathan appears in multiple legends and texts outside of Hebrew culture, including a Ugaritic text, a Hittite legend, and a pictorial representation from Tel Asmar dated around 2350 BC.

These pagan myths present a beast similar to that described in the Bible, with the same or nearly the same name, but it is used as a personification of chaos to be subdued at the end of time.

Whether these myths were based on a real sea creature, and whether the Israelites were familiar with the myths or the creature itself, is unknown.

Nephilim

One of the strangest and most disturbing beings described in the Bible is the Nephilim.

We have an article on the Nephilim explaining them in far more detail, but, in short, the Nephilim were likely the offspring of demons and human women (Genesis 6:1-4 and Jude 6).

The Nephilim are also mentioned in Numbers 13:33.

It is likely that by this time in Israel’s history “Nephilim” was used as a term for any tall, intimidating people, such as those found in Canaan at the time and elsewhere called “giants.”

https://www.gotquestions.org/mythological-creatures-Bible.html