A "soft flowing stream", SILOAM. Isaiah (Isa 8:6) makes it represent the quiet confidence in Jehovah's benignant sway, exercised through David's line, to which he urged the Jews, in contrast to the overwhelming force of Assyria (like the flood of the Euphrates) which they sought as an ally. For twenty out of the twenty-four hours its flow is perfectly quiet; its action is intermittent and irregular during the other three or four hours. In summer, the irregularity is only once in two or three days. Northern Israel too preferred Rezin of Syria, and Pekah, to alliance with Judah, represented by softly flowing Shiloah (Isa 8:6,17,14).