Werewolves and vampires were not per se a part of Hebrew mythology, so biblical texts do not specifically mention them by those names. The Hebrew Bible does include details like Nebuchadnezzar who becomes hairy and grows long nails in a fit of madness, living like an animal in the wilderness in Daniel 4:33. Isaiah also mentions the lilin or lilitu, which are probably the closest thing to a vampire in Hebrew narratives. Deuteronomic and Levitical law also forbid the consumption of blood, so one assumes that any hypothetical vampires appearing in Hebrew legends would be considered profane or unclean.
Depending on the translation, readers do see references to other mythic creatures, however, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. These are often turned into simple whales, rhinoceroses, bulls, or owls in NIV translations that have a policy of normalizing the texts for prose readers rather than preserving poetic allusions. Some examples of such mythic creatures include the following:
- The Lilin or Lilitu (Isaiah 34:14), probably related to the Babylonian concept of the Lilu, alternatively translated as “she-owls” or “night birds.” Normally, ינשוף would be the common word for owl, and normally something like the term ציפור לילה (I think?) was the term for a night bird, but I bow to correction here. In the Talmudic tradition (later than the Bible), the lilin were spirits that killed infants and drank their blood, they seduced men in dream-form, could take on the shapes of animals to fly, and they could pass like smoke through key-holes. Late traditions consider them descendants of Lillith, Adam’s wife before Eve. These are probably the closest thing the Hebrew tradition had to Slavic vampires, though in the Vulgate Latin translation, Saint Jerome turns them into succubi.
- the Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1), alternatively translated as “whale” or even “crocodile,” though in Job 41, the text specifically mentions the “firebrands from his nostrils,” suggesting a fire-breathing mythic creature, not a biological one.
- the Behemoth (Job 40:15), alternatively translated as “elephant” or “hippopotamus”
- Dragons (Revelation 12:3), δράκων in Greek or draco in the Latin Vulgate. Still translated as dragons in King James and NIV.
- Unicorns (Job 39:9), Hebrew re’em, alternatively translated as “auroch” or “rhinoceros,” the term re’em may be a loan word borrowed from Babylonian myths for magical creatures with one horn on their heads distinct from the rhinoceros. Unicorns in bas-relief art have been found at the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis in Iran. These may have been considered similar In Babylonian art to the Sirrush, beasts with blue and green scales across their bodies and sometimes a horned head. Babylonian sculptors often depicted them guarding gateways and entrances. Greek versions of the Hebrew used monoceros when they translated the Hebrew, and Latin versions in medieval times used unicornus, hence the King James unicorn.
- Satyrs (Isaiah 13:21 and 34:14), Hebrew sa’ir, alternatively translated as “he-goat,” mentioned dancing with lilituspirits. There is some archeological evidence that in Isaiah’s time, polytheistic dwellers in Canaan worshiped or made offerings to such spirits, which is why Isaiah lumps them with the lilitu.
- Cockatrices (Isaiah 11:8; 14:29, 59:5, and Jeremiah 8:17), Hebrew tsepha` alternatively translated as adder. Technically, נחש or Nāḥāš would be the expected word for a snake. In any case, these tsepha’ or cockatrices were poisonous creatures. In Greek myth and medieval myth were believed to hatch when a hen incubated a toad’s egg, and they had the power to turn men to stone.
- Nephilim (Genesis 6:1–4 and Jude 6; Numbers 13:33), possibly from a Hebrew past participle as a substantive adjective meaning “the fallen ones,” or else “fellers,” i.e., “those who cause others to fall,” alternatively translated as “giants.”
