You heard right. Mermaids are mentioned in the Bible. In fact, they’re mentioned twice: once in Psalm 104:24, and once in Job 41:1-3.
In Psalm 104:24, it says: “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” The words “creatures” and “mermaids” are very similar in Hebrew. It’s possible that this verse refers to mermaids as one of God’s creatures.
Right here on Churchgist, you are privy to a litany of relevant information on mermaids in the bible youtube,mermaids in history and so much more. Take out time to visit our catalog for more information on similar topics.
In Job 41:1-3, it says: “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?” Leviathan is a sea monster from the Old Testament that seems to be similar to a whale. It could also represent other large sea creatures that we don’t know about today.
So if you’ve ever wondered whether there were mermaids in the Bible or not, now you know—there definitely were!
In the Bible, there are mentions of mermaids and sirens. These were not mythical creatures but rather real people. The Bible tells us that these women were tall and had long hair. They were also very beautiful and had a hypnotic voice that would cause sailors to get lost at sea.
The Bible also tells us that these women would seduce men and then kill them by drowning them or feeding them to sharks. They could even turn into sirens and fly away if they wanted to escape from their victims.
These women can be found in many different cultures around the world as well as in other religions such as Islam and Hinduism. Some people believe that they actually existed while others think they were just stories made up by sailors who wanted to scare other sailors so they wouldn’t get killed while out at sea!
Mermaid In The Bible
You actually won’t find mermaids mentioned anywhere in the Bible. These mythical creatures who have human upper bodies, and fish lower bodies, are in fact just that – myths and folklore.
History and Origin of Mermaids
While there is no mention of mermaids in the Bible, we do see them in other sources. Some consider the image of the ancient Philistine god Dagon (half man/ half fish) that is mentioned in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 5:2) a resemblance to a modern merman. These believe that the word translated “Dagon” is linked to the Hebrew word dag, meaning “fish,” and that the god was shaped like a man above the waist, and like a fish below the waist.
Tales of such creatures first appeared in ancient Assyria—the Assyrian goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for unintentionally committing murder.
The mention of creatures like mermaids also appeared in Layard’s Nineveh. There is an account of a bas-relief from Khorsabad representing a war between the Assyrians and the inhabitants of the Syrian seacoast. The relief portrays a figure, the upper half of which is man with a beard, and the lower half a fish like creature.
Mythology and Stories of Mermaids
Mermaids are also associated with Sirens in Greek mythology, specifically in Homer’s The Odyssey.
Later on, Christopher Columbus and other sailors mentioned seeing half woman/half fish creatures in their Caribbean excursions. But it is believed that these reports were basically only encounters with sea creatures such as manatees and dugongs.
Hans Christian Andersen’s popular fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” that was written in 1836 started a new craze for such legendary creatures in the literature and media.
Mermaids Today
It wasn’t until July 2012 the National Ocean Service (NOS) settled this question when it issued a statement that “no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.” They gave this statement in response to public inquiries following a pseudo scientific documentary on mermaids which was aired in May 2012 on the Animal Planet program. Many people actually mistook the fictional film as an actual documentary.