Words used for Dinosaurs in the Bible

# # Gen. 1:21:  “And God created the great tanninim (keetee^LXX) and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind.”  These “great tanninim” must have been the most remarkable creatures in the sea to be singled out in this way, above all other sea creatures, in the Creation account.  These are clearly the great dinosaur-like sea monsters of which legends abound around the world.  The word “great” indicates that they were of remarkable size, but also implies that there were other kinds of tanninim that were not as large.  (NAS has here “great sea monsters”; NKJ has “great sea creatures.”)

# Gen. 3:1:  “Now the serpent was crafty, more than any animal of the field.”  The serpent in the Garden of Eden must originally have been some kind of dinosaur-like creature.  Why?  Because he only began to slither on the ground after the curse (“on your belly you will go,” Gen. 3:14).  Before that, he must have had some other way of getting around, likely feet.  This is certainly how the ancient rabbis understood the story.  They said that before the curse, the serpent “stood upright like a reed, and he had feet” (Gen. Rab. 19:1, 20:5).  An upright snake with legs is a good description of certain types of dinosaur.  By the way, Scripture says nothing about the snake being in the tree, as we usually picture it.

Ex. 7:9:  “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a tannin (drakon^LXX)” (also 7:10).  While most of us are used to thinking of Aaron’s rod turning into a snake, both the Greek and Hebrew agree that it turned into some kind of dinosaur-like creature, though whether small or large it doesn’t say.

# Ex. 7:12:  “Each one threw down his staff and they turned into tanninim (drakontes^LXX).  And the staff of Aaron swallowed their staffs.”  Swallowing whole is a distinctly reptilian way to eat a meal.  And it’s just possible that this might indicate cannabalism among certain species of dinosaurs, though it’s hard to tell from the context if this was considered normal or abnormal behavior for tanninim.

# Job 3:8:  “May they curse it who curse a day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan (keetos^LXX).”  The description of Leviathan in Job 41 makes the meaning clear:  rousing Leviathan is suicidal, the undertaking of fools (41:8).  Here, this suicidal behavior is used to describe those “who curse a day,” implying that enchanters, who deal with similarly dangerous forces, are likewise fools.

# # Job 7:12:  “Am I the sea, or a tannin (drakon^LXX), that you set a guard over me?”  Here, tannin is in poetic parallel with the sea, with both referring to large, unstoppable forces that only God can control.  A “guard” over the sea most likely refers to the divinely ordained limit imposed on the sea after the Flood (Psa. 104:9).  The parallel “guard” over the tanninim therefore implies a divine limitation to the range of dinosaurs.  This may indicate that a least certain types of tanninim did not stray far from the sea.

# # # Job 40:15:  “Behold now Behemoth (wild beasts^LXX), which I made with you...”  See the Description in Job above.

# # # Job 41:1:  “Can you draw out Leviathan (drakon^LXX) with a fishhook?…”  See the Description in Job above.

# # Ps. 74:13,14:     “You have broken apart the sea by your strength;
                     You crushed the heads of the tanninim (drakontes^LXX)
on the waters.
You dashed the heads of Leviathan (the drakon^LXX);
You gave him as food for a people of desert-dwellers
Ethiopia^LXX).”

The theme of a battle between God on one side and the dragon(s) and the sea on the other appears in several places in the Bible.  The imagery in these passages often points to the Flood, which could easily be interpreted as a battle between God and the sea.  And why dragons?  The association of dragons with the sea, as mentioned above, is the result of their being the most notable inhabitants of the sea, and therefore uniquely identified with it (as in Gen. 1:21).  At the time of the Flood, millions of dinosaurs were killed.  The bodies of those not trapped in the sediments were seen floating in the water.  The evidence of their widespread destruction is the millions of bones found in Flood sediments all over the world, the massive bands of sedimentary rock that cover much of  the earth’s surface.  This massive destruction would naturally have led many to see in the Flood not just a battle between God and the sea, but also between God and the dinosaurs.

In pagan nations, this originally poetic association took on an increasingly mythological coloring.  This “battle” came to be represented as a struggle between one of the gods and a dragon goddess of chaos.  It also came to be seen as a description of the Creation, rather than simply of the Flood.  It’s easy to see how this could happen:  a creation out of chaos is a pretty fair description of what the Flood was like.  It was very much a new Creation, a palingenesia (Genesis again), in which everything was made new.  This poetic resonance between Creation and the Flood can also be seen among the Biblical writers, as here in Psalm 74.

Some have attempted to trace the imagery of this battle in the Bible to an Israelite appropriation of (or conversely a critique of) these pagan Creation mythologies (as those of Babylonia, Ugarit, and Canaan).  But in the Bible, this “battle” retains a very naturalistic, non-mythological flavor, with clear associations with the Flood. Here in Psalm 74, the crushing of the “heads” of the dinosaurs “on the waters” is an obvious allusion to the massive death and destruction of the Flood.  While the breaking apart of the sea is allusive of both the Creation and the parting of the Red Sea, the specific verb chosen (“you have broken apart” from the root parar) is not associated with either the Creation (“and God separated the waters,” badal; Gen. 1:7) or the Exodus (“and God caused the sea to go back…so the waters were divided,” baqa’; Ex. 14:21).  In context, this seems to refer to the dividing of the Flood waters as the land rose up in some places and sank in others, breaking the sea apart into the present oceans of the world.  This left the remains of the many animals that had avoided burial scattered about on the surface of the ground, including many dinosaurs.  These remains could be found even in remote desert regions, prompting the comment that they were given “as food for a people of desert-dwellers.”*  While the following verses are strongly allusive of the Creation and the Exodus (as well as the Flood), at least these two verses appear to be a direct historical reference to the Flood.

* It’s hard to imagine what this passage could possibly have had to do with either the Creation or the Exodus, if this section does not concern the Flood, as some would maintain.

# # Ps. 104:25,26:  “Here, the sea, great and wide in both directions; where there are creeping things without number, living things, the small with the great.  There go the ships; and here Leviathan (this drakon^LXX) that you formed to play in it.”  Here again is a poetic identification of dinosaurs and the sea.  The poetic parallelism identifies Leviathan as one of the “creeping things” of the sea.  But of most interest is the description of Leviathan “playing” in the water.  This tells us that this animal could be seen splashing around near the surface.  It also implies quick movement and an agility in the water.  The parallel with ships (going here while Leviathan goes there) implies that it, too, could travel great distances at a fair speed.

# Ps. 148:7:  “Praise the Lord from the earth, tanninim (drakontes^LXX) and all watery depths.”  This identification of dinosaurs with the sea specifies the depths of the sea.  This implies not only that they preferred deep water, but also (as in the identification with ships above) that they moved in the open sea.  It might also imply that they could dive to great depths in the water.

# Ps. 91:13:  “You will tread on the lion and the cobra, you will trample on the young lion and the tannin (drakon^LXX).”  This is a description of God’s empowerment of the righteous.  The dinosaur is included in a list of dangerous animals that could kill a man.  This is another indication that dinosaurs were dangerous and could be deadly.

# Job 9:13:  “God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab (the keetee under heaven^LXX) lie prostrate beneath him.”

This is an expression of the awesome power of God, who reigns over (or has defeated) even the dinosaurs.  Rahab is a controversial dragon that resembles the dragon goddess of chaos found in the mythology of surrounding nations (Babylonia, Ugarit, and Canaan; though the specific name Rahab for this dragon has not been found outside the Bible).  The defeat of this divine chaos dragon served in these other cultures as a description of the Creation.  This took place through a battle between one of the gods and this dragon goddess and her “helpers” (as the helpers of Tiamat in the Enuma Elish).  Because of this, some have imagined that the Rahab of the Bible is also a divine personality, and that Job and others have either simply appropriated the pagan myth as their own, or at least adopted its language as commonly understood, or perhaps are using it to confront the surrounding pagans.  Isaiah, according to this interpretation, proclaims that it was YHWH (and not Baal) who defeated Rahab (see Isa. 51:9 below).

But that Rahab was understood in this way is not certain.  As described above, this pagan Creation myth is rooted in an originally poetic description of the Flood, as a battle between God on one side and the dinosaurs and the sea on the other.  While the references to Rahab are the closest the Bible comes to the pagan myth, these still have a poetic, naturalistic flavor as compared to the pagan tales, and remain strongly connected with the Flood (see the other Rahab passages below).

One piece of evidence for identifying Rahab with the Flood rather than the Creation is that the Biblical writers who mention Rahab, including Job, were not ignorant of a Creation preceding the Flood.  Job often alludes to Creation and Flood themes in naturalistic, non-mythological language.  Later writers had access to the Creation account in Genesis.  This makes it highly unlikely that Rahab had for them the fully developed mythological character of the dragon goddess found in surrounding cultures.  A more likely explanation, and more consistent with the Biblical evidence, is that Rahab is a poetic personification of the dinosaurs killed in the Flood, similar to the use of Leviathan in Psa. 74:13,14 above.

Another evidence for identifying Rahab with the Flood rather than the Creation is her name:  “Rahab” means “pride.”  This brings to mind what is often called the “angelic rebellion” that preceded the Flood.  But from the Bible’s point of view, it was not just immaterial angels, but “all flesh,” specifically including all the animals, that had become corrupt and filled with violence before the Flood.  As a result, the Flood was sent to destroy them all (Gen. 6:11-13).  Violent attacks by dinosaurs would have been a notable part of this general rebellious violence that the Flood came to punish and stop.  (The covenant made with Noah and his descendants, which was intended to right the wrongs of the time before the Flood, specifically includes the death penalty for animals that take man’s life; Gen. 9:2,5,6.)

The Septuagint translators understood this verse in this naturalistic sense, taking “the helpers of Rahab” to be a poetic description of sea monsters or aquatic dinosaurs (keetee).

# Job 26:12,13:  “He stirred up the sea by his power, and by his understanding he shattered Rahab (keetos^LXX).  By his Spirit the heavens are clear; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent (drakon^LXX).”  Here is another description of the power of God, with the destruction of Rahab in a naturalistic context that suggests the Flood.

Neh. 2:13:  “So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Spring of the Tannin (fig trees^LXX).”  This “Spring of the Dragon” refers to the outlet of Hezekiah’s tunnel at the southern tip of the city of Jerusalem.  This was at a time when the city still lay in ruins after the destruction by the Babylonians.  Why this water outlet was associated with dragons—whether literal or symbolic—is unknown.  It may be an example of the recurrent theme of dragons/dinosaurs inhabiting ruined cities (though in most other cases, the word tannim is used in this context—see Job 30:29 below).

# Ps. 89:9,10:  “You rule the swelling of the sea; at the lifting up of its waves, you still them.  You crushed Rahab (the proud^LXX) as one who is pierced; you scattered your enemies with your strong arm.”  Here is another description of the destruction of Rahab in the context of the Flood, which suggests a rebellion against God.

# Is. 51:9,10:  “Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the Lord; awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago.  Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the tannin?  Was it not you who dried up the sea...for the redeemed to cross over?”  Here the usual association of Rahab with the Flood is poetically merged into an identification of Rahab with Egypt, who was likewise defeated by God at the time of the Exodus (see also Psa. 87:4, Isa. 30:7).  Here, too, the defeat of Rahab is associated with a defeat of the sea, in this case, the Red Sea.  This is an early example of what came to be the common symbolic association of dinosaurs with great empires.

# Deut. 32:33:  “Their wine is the poison of tanninim (drakontes^LXX), and the cruel venom of asps.”  This appears in a description of Israel’s enemies.  It tells us that dinosaurs (or at least some of them) were known to be poisonous.

# Ps. 44:19:  “For you have crushed us in a place of tannim (cruel suffering^LXX), and you have covered us with the shadow of death.”  The poetic parallel (“shadow of death”) implies the threat of certain destruction.  Jackals are not that threatening, but some dinosaurs certainly were, which is surely the correct translation here.  This means that a “place where there are dinosaurs” was understood to be a dangerous and threatening place, another indication that dinosaurs were dangerous and even deadly.

# # # Ps. 68:30:  “Rebuke the animal of the reed (the animals of the reed^LXX),
The swarm of the mighty that come against the bull-calves of the peoples,
The one trampling down with crushers [i.e. legs] of silver.
He has scattered peoples, they delight in battles.”

This verse has suffered in many translations.  But if we understand this to be an allusion to large, dinosaur-like creatures, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.  The association of dinosaurs with reeds (“animal of the reed”) is spelled out clearly in Job 40:21, as is the massive, metal-like strength of their legs (“crushers of silver”) in Job 40:18.  Young calves would be the natural prey of carnivorous dinosaurs.  That people would run away at the attack of one of these creatures (“he has scattered peoples”) would be be quite natural.  Perhaps most interesting of all is the indication that they had a nasty disposition: “they delight in battles.”  But in context, this naturalistic sounding description of dinosaurs is used to describe Egypt and her war-like intentions.

# Is. 27:1:  “In that day, the Lord will punish, with his fierce and great and mighty sword, Leviathan (drakon^LXX) the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan (drakon^LXX) the twisted serpent, and he will kill the tannin (drakon^LXX) that lives in the sea.”  This enigmatic prophecy preserves the association of dinosaurs with the sea, as well as the theme that only God can destroy these mighty creatures.  But it appears in association with the end-times judgment of God at the time of the resurrection of the dead (Isa. 26:19-21).  A prophetic interpretation of this strange image appears in the Book of Revelation, which describes three great dragons (the Red Dragon, the Beast from the Sea, and the Beast from the Earth; Rev. 12,13) that will be destroyed at Jesus’ return (Rev. 19:20, 20:2).  Though interpretations of these beasts as they appear in Revelation vary, they most likely are another example of dinosaurs being used to represent great empires and nations (see below).

# Jer. 51:34:  “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon...has swallowed me like a tannin (drakon^LXX).”  The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army is here pictured as a huge dinosaur swallowing down an “inhabitant of Zion” (vs. 35).  The use of the verb, “swallowed,” implies a very reptilian mode of ingestion, with little chewing on the way down, as well as the huge size of the beast. This is another example of great nations being described as dinosaurs, in this case, Babylon (the Babylonian Empire), as epitomized by Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled her.

# Ez. 29:3:  “I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great tannim (drakon^LXX) that lies in the midst of his rivers.”  This is one of the places where tannim clearly refers to dinosaurs, and not jackals.  Though the use here is symbolic, it nevertheless maintains the ancient association of dinosaurs and large bodies of water.  It’s also another example of the symbolic use of dinosaurs to represent large human empires.

# Ez. 32:2:  “[Pharaoh] you are like the tannim (drakon^LXX) in the seas; and you burst forth in your rivers, and muddied the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.”  This is another place where tannim clearly refers to dinosaurs, and preserves their association with water.

Apocryphal addition to Esther^LXX:  “And behold, two great drakontes, both ready to battle…”  These great creatures, which appear in a vision, are later interpreted as referring to Mordecai and Haman.

Rev. 12:3:  “And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red drakon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems” (also 12:4,7,9,13,16,17; 13:2,4,11; 16:13; 20:2).  This heavenly dragon, which attacks the child of the woman (Jesus), is an allusion to the first Messianic prophecy in the Bible, in Gen. 3:15 (“And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed [Jesus]; he will bruise you on the head, and you will bruise him on the heel”).  The connection between these two passages is even more direct than some have imagined:  As we saw above, before the curse, the serpent in the Garden of Eden had legs, like a dinosaur or dragon (see Gen. 3:1 above).  The identification of the dragon of Revelation with the serpent in the Garden of Eden is directly stated in Rev. 12:9:  “the great dragon…the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan.”  The battle between the dragon and the child is therefore a symbolic picture of the spiritual battle between Jesus and Satan.  Revelation also identifies this dragon with the Roman Empire, the fourth beast of the book of Daniel, through shared imagery and veiled allusions (see Dan. 7:7).  This is a continuation of the ancient prophetic tradition of using dinosaurs as images of powerful earthly kingdoms.

Job 4:10^LXX:  “The voice of the lioness and the exulting cry of drakontes (kephirim^MT) are brought to an end.”  This description of God’s life-and-death power over strong predators such as the lion is used to illustrate God’s life-and-death power over the wicked.  If it’s describing a type of dinosaur (as the LXX understands it; see also Micah 1:8), it tells us that some dragons/dinosaurs made a loud calling sound.  But since the Hebrew is in doubt (kephirim is usually translated “young lions), we have put it in the “possible” category.  (Though as mentioned above, kephirim may have originally referred to a type of dinosaur.)  (Physical Reference.)

Job 20:16^LXX:  “Let him suck the wrath [the poison] of drakontes (cobras^MT).”  Another possible indication that some dinosaurs were poisonous.  (Symbolic Reference.)

Job 30:29:  “I have become a brother to tannim (monsters^LXX) and a friend to the daughters of the ostrich.”  This is a good example of a place where tannim may refer to jackals, which like ostriches are associated with desert places, especially ruined cities.  But then again, certain kinds of dinosaurs may also have lived in the desert, to which this may be referring.  Similar examples appear in Isa. 13:22, 34:13, 35:7, 43:20; Jer. 9:11 (drakontes^LXX), 10:22, 14:6, 49:33, 51:37; Micah 1:8 (drakontes^LXX); Mal. 1:3.  In all these, tannim appears as part of a stock expression used to describe desolate places, and contains no further information.  (Physical Reference.)

Job 38:39^LXX:  “Will you hunt food for lions, will you satisfy the desire of drakontes (kephirim^MT)?”  This is to illustrate man’s inability compared with God’s abilities.  If this is describing a type of dinosaur (as the LXX understands it), it implies that they had a healthy appetite.  (Physical Reference.)

Jer. 50:8 (27:8)^LXX:  “…And be as drakontes (male goats^MT) that come upon sheep.”  If this is describing a dinosaur (as the LXX understands it), it indicates that sheep were a standard part of the diet of carnivorous dinosaurs (as were the young calves mentioned in Psa. 68:30 above).  (Symbolic Reference.)

Lam. 4:3:  Even a tannin (tannim alternate reading; drakon^LXX) offers the breast, they nurse their young.”  Uncertainty over this verse can be seen in the presence of an alternate reading.  This may be because in later years, long after dinosaurs had become extinct, it seemed inappropriate for reptiles to be described as nursing their young (the textual corrections in the margins of the Hebrew text date to the Masoretes in the 6^th to 10^th centuries A.D.).  But the original Hebrew text, followed by the Septuagint (LXX) had no such qualms.  Could it be that some types of dinosaur actually did nurse their young?  This would be no stranger than the alternately reptilian and mammalian characteristics of certain marsupial species.  (Physical Reference.)

Amos 9:3^LXX:  “And if they go down out of my sight into the depths of the sea, there I will command the drakon (serpent^MT), and he will bite them.”  While there are snakes that live underwater, dinosaurs have an even greater claim to be associated with the depths of the sea, as here in the LXX.  But since the MT does not agree, we have put it in the “possible” category.  (Physical Reference.)

Bel and the Dragon (an addition to the book of Daniel found in the LXX) 1:23^LXX:  “And there was a great drakon, and the Babylonians worshiped it.”  According to this late addition to the book of Daniel, the Babylonians kept a living dinosaur as a sacred animal and worshipped it.  This was not simply an idol, for as it says in the story, “he eats and drinks” (1:24).  But Daniel cleverly shows the king that it is not a god by feeding it lumps of tar, fat, and hair, which killed it (1:27).  No details are given about the shape or appearance of the animal.  And all that can be deduced about its behavior is that it was not a picky eater.

Is there any historical reality behind this story, which first appears hundreds of years after the time of Daniel?  Though the Greek Septuagint (LXX), compiled by Jews in Alexandria, includes it among the writings of Scripture (as do modern Catholics), it seems not to have been as popular among the Jewish people in Israel itself, who did not include it in the Hebrew Scriptures (MT).  The Protestant Church also rejected this writing as Scripture, considering it not to be inspired.  Modern scholars reject that this was an actual historical event in the life of Daniel, because of historical inaccuracies in the text.  But it is just possible that the story, though historically inaccurate, preserves the memory of a real sacred animal once kept in Babylon.

The Babylonians’ reverence for dragons is well documented:  Images of a dragon, for example, can be seen all over the ancient Ishtar gate of the city.  The presence of a living dinosaur in Babylon at some time in the past would help to explain this religious devotion.  Other Middle Eastern peoples, the Egyptians for example, were known to keep sacred animals in pens near their temples.  But because of the questionable historical reliability of this document, we have put it in the “possible” category.  (Physical Reference.)

Jonah 1:17^LXX:  “And the Lord commanded a great keetos (fish^MT) to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the keetos (fish^MT) three days and three nights” (also in 2:1 and 2:10).  Jonah’s remarkable experience requires that whatever swallowed him was large.  And he encountered it out in the deep ocean.  But beyond this no information is given.  The identification of this large animal as a “fish” (dag) in the MT does not necessarily rule out that it was a large aquatic reptile of some kind, since dag is a general term that can be used to refer to all sea creatures (see Gen. 1:26, 28).  But it does raise some uncertainty, which is why we have put it in the “possible” category.  (Physical Reference.)

Matt. 12:40:  “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the keetos.”  The New Testament follows the LXX in identifying the animal that swallowed Jonah as a large sea monster of some kind.  Early Christian art depicts it as a dragon-like aquatic reptile.  This was a popular artistic theme during the time of Roman persecution of Christianity, because it was a covert reference to Jesus’ burial and resurrection (the “sign of Jonah;” Matt. 12:39).  The idea of a dragon-like creature attacking a type (or foreshadowing) of Jesus traces all the way back to the first Messianic prophecy of the Bible, in Gen. 3:16 (“And I will put enmity between you [the serpent, which before the curse had legs, like a dinosaur; see Gen. 3:1 above] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he will bruise you on the head, and you will bruise him on the heel”).  This theme is picked up again in Revelation 12:4, where a great red dragon tries to devour the woman’s child, Jesus (see Rev. 12:3 above).  (Physical Reference.)

Conclusions

So what were dinosaurs like, according to the Bible? They were dangerous, deadly creatures, that one was wise to avoid. A "place of dinosaurs" was a place of death (Psa. 44:19). But it was not difficult to avoid them, since they were associated with environments that were distinct from the primary areas of human habitation: the sea, fresh water rivers, and marshes (and perhaps the desert; Job 30:29). The Bible says that God had set a "guard" over them, implying a limitation in their range of movement (Job 7:12). There is no indication that these animals preyed on man himself, but only that they became violent when people entered their natural habitat and disturbed or attacked them, just as with other dangerous animals that exist today (Job 3:8, Psa. 91:13). However, dinosaurs do seem to have attacked man's herds and flocks from time to time (Ps. 68:30, Jer. 50:8), and occasional deadly attacks on people cannot be ruled out (especially before the Flood, see discussion of Job 9:13).

Meat-eating dinosaurs are described as "swallowing" their food whole (Ex. 7:12; Jer. 51:34); while other dinosaurs are described as being herbivorous (Job 40:15). At least some types of dinosaurs were poisonous, though it's not entirely clear whether this refers to venom or to toxins in their meat (Deut. 32:33, Job 20:16). They may also have nursed their young, though this reading is disputed (Lam 4:3).

The question of the habitat of these creatures is one area in which the Bible can correct currently popular views about dinosaurs. Though dinosaurs are often represented as wandering freely across the land, the Bible portrays them as closely bound to bodies of water, especially the sea, from which they did not stray far (Job 7:12). This makes sense, especially for the larger varieties. It can't have been very comfortable moving all that mass around on land. They were probably much more comfortable in the water, coming out only when necessary.

In Greek, there is a distinction made between the aquatic reptiles (keetee in Greek), which are associated with salt water, and dinosaurs proper (drakontes in Greek), which are associated with fresh water (Psa. 68:30; Job 40:21,22; reeds grow only in fresh water). But both alike are associated in Hebrew with a howling sound (Job 4:10, and the meaning of the word tanninim).

The strong association of the destruction of dinosaurs with the Flood may imply that many species of dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles did not survive the Flood or never fully recovered after the Flood. Though many have presented strong arguments as to how dinosaurs might have been included in the Ark of Noah, if the tanninim were primarily sea creatures, as depicted in the Bible, this may not have been necessary, since sea creatures were not included in the Ark.*

* Job 40:23 specifically mentions Behemoth (a four-footed dinosaur) as being undisturbed when trapped by the annual flooding of the Jordan river.

An interesting chronological observation that can be drawn from this study is that references to literal, physical dinosaurs predominate in the earlier books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, and Job), whereas symbolic references predominate in the later books of the Bible (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets).  This implies that living dinosaurs were still known in the first half of the 2^nd millennium B.C. (before 1500 B.C.) in the Middle East, but had become rare, if not extinct, by the second half of the 2^nd millennium B.C. (after 1500 B.C.).  Needless to say, this is a radically different timetable for the extinction of the dinosaurs than is currently popular among evolutionists.  But it would not be the first time that several generations of scientists proved to be radically mistaken in their beliefs.  Theories about the past come and go.  But written historical evidence, like the Bible, will always have the upper hand when it comes to reliably understanding the past.