Dictionary of Bible Themes: 4260 rivers and streams

◄ 4260 rivers and streams ►

Dictionary of Bible Themes

The term river is used to refer to all kinds of watercourses, including wadis (dried-up desert river beds) and permanent rivers. It is also used symbolically to refer to things which threaten or overwhelm people and nations, such as invading nations, the peace of God and the Holy Spirit.

1 Kings 17:7

Different kinds of rivers and streams

Wadis

See also

Genesis 32:22

Wadis were dry river beds in summer but became raging torrents in the rainy season.

Numbers 21:13-15
Job 6:15-17

The Jabbok was a wadi, here in full flow

Jeremiah 15:18
Psalms 104:10

See also

Springs

Genesis 16:7
Exodus 15:27
Judges 1:14-15
2 Kings 2:19-22
Genesis 2:10-14

See also

Permanent rivers

Genesis 41:1-3
Numbers 22:1
Deuteronomy 1:7
Isaiah 18:1
Daniel 8:2

See also

Canals

Exodus 7:19
Ezra 8:21
Ezekiel 1:1

Although called a river here, the Kebar was a canal of the Euphrates.

Some significant rivers and streams in Scripture

Numbers 21:13-15

River Arnon

Judges 11:18

The Arnon flowed through Moab to the mid point of the Dead Sea:

Isaiah 16:2
Jeremiah 48:20
2 Kings 5:12

Rivers of Damascus

The Abana flowed through the city of Damascus and the Pharpar just to the south of it.

Deuteronomy 1:7

River Euphrates

2 Kings 23:29

The Euphrates flowed through Mesopotamia for some 1,700 miles (2,700 km) from its source in eastern Turkey to the Persian Gulf:

Isaiah 11:15
Jeremiah 51:63-64

pp 2Ch 35:20

Revelation 16:12
2 Kings 17:6

River Habor

pp 2Ki 18:11

The Habor was a tributary of the Euphrates.

Genesis 32:22

River Jabbok

Numbers 21:23-24

The Jabbok flowed westward through Gilead into the Jordan about 20 miles (32 km) north of the Dead Sea:

Deuteronomy 3:16
Judges 11:13
Genesis 13:10-11; 32:9-10

River Jordan

Numbers 22:1

The Jordan flowed from the slopes of Mount Hermon through Lake Huleh and the Sea of Galilee, and on into the Dead Sea, providing a fertile basin on either side of the river:

Joshua 3:14-4:9
2 Kings 5:8-14
Mark 1:4-5

pp Mt 3:5-6

Ezekiel 1:1; 3:15; 43:1-3

River Kebar

The Kebar was a canal of the Euphrates in Babylon where the exiles gathered to pray:

1 Kings 17:2-7

River Kerith

The exact location of this wadi is uncertain, but it ran from the east into the Jordan or one of its tributaries.

Judges 4:6-7,13; 5:21

River Kishon

1 Kings 18:40

The Kishon flowed north-west across the Plain of Megiddo and could quickly flood as a result of storms:

Psalms 83:9
Exodus 1:22-2:10; 7:17-21

River Nile

Isaiah 19:5-8

The Nile flowed north some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean, providing a natural irrigation system in the desert through its annual floodings:

Ezekiel 29:3-5
Genesis 2:14

River Tigris

Daniel 10:4-5

The Tigris flowed from the Armenian mountains through Mesopotamia to join the Euphrates some 40 miles (65 km) north of the Persian Gulf:

Nahum 2:6-8
Joshua 2:7

The crossing of rivers and streams

Judges 3:28; 12:5-6

Rivers crossed by fords

2 Samuel 17:16
Joshua 3:14-17
2 Kings 2:7-8,13-14

Rivers crossed by miraculous intervention from God

Genesis 15:18

Human uses of rivers and streams

See also

As boundaries

Joshua 1:2; 12:2
1 Kings 4:21
Deuteronomy 11:10

For irrigation

See also

Ezekiel 17:5-8; 19:10

The reference may be to a machine operated by foot, or to the foot breaking through the mud walls of the irrigation channel to let the water flow into the fields.

Acts 16:13

See also

As places of prayer

Psalms 137:1-3
Ezekiel 3:15
2 Kings 5:10

See also

For ritual washing and baptism

Mark 1:5
Acts 8:36-38

pp Mt 3:6

Psalms 74:15

God as sovereign Creator is ruler and judge over all rivers and streams

See also

Psalms 78:13-16; 107:33-35
Isaiah 19:5-8
Revelation 8:10-11; 16:12
Psalms 124:1-5