Reference: River
American
This word answers in our Bible to various Hebrew terms, of which the principal are the following:
1. Yeor, an Egyptian word signifying river. It is always applied to the Nile and its various canals, except in Job 28:10; Da 12:5-6,7.
2. Nahar, applied, like our word river, to constantly flowing streams, such as the Euphrates. In our version this word is sometimes rendered "flood," Jos 24:2-3, etc.
3. Nahal, a torrent-bed, or valley through which water flows in the rainy season only, Nu 34:5, etc; frequently rendered "brook," Nu 13:28; Job 6:15, etc. Such streams are to the orientals striking emblems of inconstancy and faithlessness. Flowing only in the rainy season, and drying up when the summer heat sets in-and some of them in desert places failing prematurely-they sadly disappoint the thirsty and perhaps perishing traveller who has looked forward to them with longing and with hope, Job 6:15-20; Jer 15:18.
In some passages in our Bible the word "rivers" seems to denote rivulets or canals, to conduct hither and thither small streams of water from a tank or fountain, Eze 31:4. Such conduits were easily turned by moulding the soil with the foot; and some think this is the idea in De 11:10; "where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs." See also Pr 21:1.
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However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, very great, and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
And the border shall turn about from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.
For the land, where thou go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where ye came out, where thou sowed thy seed, and watered it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs,
And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says LORD, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,
My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away, which are black because of the ice, in which the snow hides itself. read more. What time they grow warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish. The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They were put to shame because they had hoped. They came there, and were confounded.
He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
The king's heart is in the hand of LORD as the watercourses. He turns it wherever he will.
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will thou indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. The rivers of it ran round about its plantation, and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
Then I, Daniel, looked, and, behold, another two stood, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
Easton
(1.) Heb 'aphik, properly the channel or ravine that holds water (2Sa 22:16), translated "brook," "river," "stream," but not necessarily a perennial stream (Eze 6:3; 31:12; 32:6; 34:13).
(2.) Heb nahal, in winter a "torrent," in summer a "wady" or valley (Ge 32:23; De 2:24; 3:16; Isa 30:28; La 2:18; Eze 47:9).
These winter torrents sometimes come down with great suddenness and with desolating force. A distinguished traveller thus describes his experience in this matter:, "I was encamped in Wady Feiran, near the base of Jebel Serbal, when a tremendous thunderstorm burst upon us. After little more than an hour's rain, the water rose so rapidly in the previously dry wady that I had to run for my life, and with great difficulty succeeded in saving my tent and goods; my boots, which I had not time to pick up, were washed away. In less than two hours a dry desert wady upwards of 300 yards broad was turned into a foaming torrent from 8 to 10 feet deep, roaring and tearing down and bearing everything upon it, tangled masses of tamarisks, hundreds of beautiful palmtrees, scores of sheep and goats, camels and donkeys, and even men, women, and children, for a whole encampment of Arabs was washed away a few miles above me. The storm commenced at five in the evening; at half-past nine the waters were rapidly subsiding, and it was evident that the flood had spent its force." (Comp. Mt 7:27; Lu 6:49.)
(3.) Nahar, a "river" continuous and full, a perennial stream, as the Jordan, the Euphrates (Ge 2:10; 15:18; De 1:7; Ps 66:6; Eze 10:15).
(4.) Tel'alah, a conduit, or water-course (1Ki 18:32; 2Ki 18:17; 20:20; Job 38:25; Eze 31:4).
(5.) Peleg, properly "waters divided", i.e., streams divided, throughout the land (Ps 1:3); "the rivers [i.e., 'divisions'] of waters" (Job 20:17; 29:6; Pr 5:16).
(6.) Ye'or, i.e., "great river", probably from an Egyptian word (Aur), commonly applied to the Nile (Ge 41:1-3), but also to other rivers (Job 28:10; Isa 33:21).
(7.) Yubhal, "a river" (Jer 17:8), a full flowing stream.
(8.) 'Ubhal, "a river" (Da 8:2).
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And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided, and became four heads.
In that day LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed. And, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, well-favored and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed grass. read more. And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cows upon the brink of the river.
Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all [the places] near thereto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanit
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
And I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border [of it], even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the sons of Ammon,
Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
And with the stones he built an altar in the name of LORD. And he made a trench around the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil to me,
Who has cleft a channel for the water flood, or the way for the lightning of the thunder,
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper.
He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him.
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?
and his breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. And a bridle that causes to err [shall be] in the jaws of the peoples.
But LORD will be with us there in majesty. A place of broad rivers and streams, in which shall go no galley with oars, nor shall a gallant ship pass thereby.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and shall not be worried in the year of drought, nor shall cease from yieldi
Their heart cried to LORD. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give thyself no respite. Let not the apple of thine eye cease.
and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of lord LORD. Thus says lord LORD to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your hig
And the cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.
The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. The rivers of it ran round about its plantation, and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him. Upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. And all the peoples
I will also water the land, in which thou swim, with thy blood, even to the mountains. And the watercourses shall be full of thee.
And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the
And it shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish (for these waters have come there) and shall be healed. And eve
And I saw in the vision, now it was so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam, and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.
And the rain descended, and the torrents came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it.
But he who heard, and not having done, is like a man who built a house upon the soil without a foundation, on which the stream beat, and straightaway it fell. And the ruin of that house became great.
Fausets
A river in our sense is seen by few in Palestine.
(1) Nahar, "a continuous and full river", as Jordan, and especially "the river" Euphrates. The streams are dried up wholly in summer, or hid by dense shrubs covering a deeply sunk streamlet. When the country was wooded the evaporation was less.
(2) Nahal, "a winter torrent," flowing with force during the rainy season, but leaving only a dry channel or bed in the wady in summer. "Brook" in the KJV has too much the idea of placidity. "Valley" or wady (Nu 32:9), e.g. "the bed" (or, in winter, "the torrent") of Arnon, Jabbok, Kishon. Some of these are abrupt chasms in the rocky hills, rugged and gloomy, unlike our English "brook." Translated Job 6:15, "deceitfully as a winter torrent and as the stream in ravines which passes away," namely, in the summer drought, and which disappoint the caravan hoping to find water there. The Arab proverb for a treacherous friend is "I trust not in thy torrent." The fullness and noise of those temporary streams answer to the past large and loud professions; their dryness when wanted answers to the failure of friends to make good their professions in time of need (compare Isa 58:11; margin Jer 15:18).
(3) 'Aphik, from a root "to contain"; so "the channels" or "deep rock-walled ravines that hold the waters" (2Sa 22:16); so for "rivers" (Eze 32:6) translated "channels."
(4) Yeor, "the river Nile" (Ge 41:1-2; Ex 1:22; 2:3,5). In Jer 46:7-8; Am 8:8; 9:5, translated "the river of Egypt" for "flood." The word is Egyptian, "great river" or "canal." The Nile's sacred name was Hapi, i.e. Apis. The profane name was Aur with the epithet act "great." Zec 10:11, "all the deeps of the river shall dry up," namely, the Nile or else the Euphrates. Thus the Red "sea" and the Euphrates "river" in the former part of the verse answer to "Assyria." and "Egypt" in the latter.
(5) Peleg (compare Greek pelagos), from a root "divide," "waters divided", i.e. streams distributed through a land. Ps 1:3, "a tree planted by the divisions of water," namely, the water from the well or cistern divided into rivulets running along the rows of trees (See REUBEN on Jg 5:15-16, where "divisions" mean "waters divided for irrigation"); but Gesenius from the root to flow out or bubble up.
(6) Yubal, "a full flowing stream" (Jer 17:8).
(7) "A conduit" or "watercourse" (2Ki 18:17); tealah.
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And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed. And, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, well-favored and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed grass.
And Pharaoh ordered all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. And she put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's edge.
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along by the riverside. And she saw the ark among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to fetch it.
For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the sons of Israel, that they should not go into the land which LORD had given them.
And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, as was Issachar, so was Barak, into the valley they rushed forth at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Why did thou sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the pipings for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they came up, they came and stood by the conduit of the
My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper.
And LORD will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones. And thou shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will thou indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and shall not be worried in the year of drought, nor shall cease from yieldi
Who is this that rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. And he says, I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.
I will also water the land, in which thou swim, with thy blood, even to the mountains. And the watercourses shall be full of thee.
Shall the land not tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells therein? Yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River, and it shall be troubled and sink again like the River of Egypt.
For the Lord, LORD of hosts, [is] he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell therein shall mourn. And it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again like the River of Egypt.
And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up. And the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
Hastings
For the meaning and use of '
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And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided, and became four heads.
In that day LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
In that day LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed, having all goodly things of his master's in his hand. And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
So he fled with all that he had. And he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
And LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood, and
And LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.
Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all [the places] near thereto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanit
because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.
Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they came up, they came and stood by the conduit of the
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil to me,
Who has cleft a channel for the water flood, or the way for the lightning of the thunder,
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper.
There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
Thou visit the earth, and water it; thou greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. Thou provide them grain when thou have so prepared the earth.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
Then LORD said to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field.
now therefore, behold, LORD brings up upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, [even] the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks,
and his breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. And a bridle that causes to err [shall be] in the jaws of the peoples.
And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
When thou pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walk through the fire, thou shall not be burned, nor shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Oh that thou had hearkened to my commandments! Then thy peace would have been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and shall not be worried in the year of drought, nor shall cease from yieldi
Who is this that rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
Thus says LORD: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. And the men shall cry, and all the inhabita
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. The rivers of it ran round about its plantation, and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
And I saw in the vision, now it was so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam, and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. And the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power.
And in the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel,
But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
And it is decreed. She is uncovered. She is carried away, and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.
And all the land of Judea and the Jerusalemites went out to him, and they were all immersed by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Morish
The three principal rivers referred to in scripture are the Nile, the Jordan, and the Euphrates. The word employed for the Nile is yeor, 'a fosse or channel'; for the Jordan and the Euphrates the word used is nahar, 'a river' always supplied with water. The other streams in Palestine, though called 'rivers,' as the Arnon, are torrents running in valleys; for the most part they have water only in the winter, and are then often impassable: these are described by the word nachal. For the symbolical river that Ezekiel saw issuing from the house this latter word is used. Eze 47:5-12.
God will make His people drink of the river of His pleasures, Ps 36:8; here the word is nachal. In Ps 46:4 it is nahar. "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." It will never run dry.
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They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou will make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
Afterward he measured a thousand, [and it was] a river that I could not pass through, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, Son of man, have thou seen [this]? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. read more. Now when I had returned, behold, upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah. And they shall go toward the sea, into the sea which were made to issue forth, and the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish (for these waters have come there) and shall be healed. And eve And it shall come to pass, that fishermen shall stand by it. From En-gedi even to En-eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, very many. But the miry places of it, and the marshes of it, shall not be healed. They shall be given up to salt. And by the river upon the bank of it, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, nor shall the fruit of it fail. It shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters of it
Smith
River.
In the sense in which we employ the word viz. for a perennial stream of considerable size, a river is a much rarer object in the East than in the West. With the exception of the Jordan and the Litany, the streams of the holy land are either entirely dried up in the summer months converted into hot lanes of glaring stones, or else reduced to very small streamlets, deeply sunk in a narrow bed, and concealed from view by a dense growth of shrubs. The perennial river is called nahar by the Hebrews. With the definite article, "the river," it signifies invariably the Euphrates.
Ge 31:21; Ex 23:31; Nu 24:6; 2Sa 10:16
etc. It is never applied to the fleeting fugitive torrents of Palestine. The term for these is nachal, for which our translators have used promiscuously, and sometimes almost alternately, "valley" "brook" and "river." No one of these words expresses the thing intended; but the term "brook" is peculiarly unhappy. Many of the wadys of Palestine are deep, abrupt chasms or rents in the solid rock of-the hills, and have a savage, gloomy aspect, far removed from that of an English brook. Unfortunately our language does not contain any single word which has both the meanings of the Hebrew nachal and its Arabic equivalent wady which can be used at once for a dry valley and for the stream which occasionally flows through it.
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So he fled with all that he had. And he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shall drive them out before thee.
As valleys they are spread forth, as gardens by the river-side, as aloes which LORD has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.
Watsons
RIVER. The Hebrews give the name of "the river," without any addition, sometimes to the Nile, sometimes to the Euphrates, and sometimes to Jordan. It is the tenor of the discourse that must determine the sense of this vague and uncertain way of speaking. They give also the name of river to brooks and rivulets that are not considerable. The name of river is sometimes given to the sea, Hab 3:8; Ps 78:16. It is also used as a symbol for plenty, Job 29:6; Ps 36:8.
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when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil to me,
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou will make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
Was LORD displeased with the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers, or thy wrath against the sea, that thou rode upon thy horses, upon thy chariots of salvation?