River

"wadi (or wady); torrentvalley; torrent; river; shaft." This root also occurs in Akkadian, post-biblical Hebrew, and Syriac. In Arabic these same radicals mean "palm tree." Nah?al occurs about 139 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods. This noun represents a dry valley in which water runs during the rainy season: "And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there" (Gen 26:17, the first biblical appearance). The word can signify the "wady" when it is full of rushing water. Indeed, it appears to describe the rushing water itself: "And he took them, and sent them over the brook …" (Gen 32:23). Sometimes nah?al means a permanent stream or "river": "These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat" (Lev 11:9). Finally, the word represents a miner's shaft (only once in the Scripture): "They open shafts in a valley away from where men live" (Job 28:4, rsv).

The Pentateuch consistently distinguishes between extra-Egyptian waterways (calling them nah?al, 13 times, and nahar, 13 times) and inter-Egyptian waterways (calling them y(e)'or). This distinction demonstrates the kind of firsthand knowledge and historical concern expected from a mature eyewitness.

Nah?al is used figuratively of many things that emerge and disappear suddenly or that have extreme onrushing power such as the pride of nations (Isa 66:12), the strength of the invader (Jer 47:2), and the power of the foe (Psa 18:4). Torrents of oil do not please God if the offerer's heart is wrongly disposed (Mic 6:7). God overfloods the godly with torrents of His good pleasure (Psa 36:8). The eschaton is typified by streams, or torrents, in the desert (Ezek 47:5-19; cf. Exod 17:3ff.).

"river; stream; canal; current." Cognates of this word are attested in Ugaritic, Akkadian, Aramaic, and Arabic. The word appears about 120 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods. First, this word usually refers to permanent natural watercourses. In its first biblical appearance nahar represents the primeval "rivers" of Eden: "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads" (Gen 2:10). In some passages nahar may represent a "canal(s)": "Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams [the branches of the Nile], upon their rivers [canals], and upon their ponds …" (Exod 7:19; cf. Ezek 1:1).

Third, this word is used of "ocean currents": "For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me" (Jonah 2:3).

Fourth, nahar is used of underground streams: "For he hath founded it [the earth] upon the seas, and established it upon the floods" (Psa 24:2). This passage appears to be a literary allusion to the pagan concept of the creation and structure of the world, the next verse is "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" (Psa 24:3).

This word plays a prominent role in the figure of divine blessing set forth in Psa 46:4: "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God…" This may be an allusion to the primeval "river" in Eden whose water gave life to the garden. In Isa 33:21 the same Jerusalem is depicted as having "rivers" of blessing: " …A place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby" (cf. Isa 48:18). In other passages a "river" is a figure of trouble and difficulty: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee…" (Isa 43:2). This is in marked contrast to the use of the same idea in Isa 66:12, where an "overflowing stream" depicts respectively the onrush of God's glory and divine peace.

"to flow." This verb, derived from the noun nahar, occurs 3 times in biblical Hebrew. The first occurrence is in Isa 2:2: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it."

denotes (a) "a stream," Luk 1:6-49; (b) "a flood or floods," Mat 7:25, Mat 7:27; (c) "a river," natural, Mat 3:6, RV; Mar 1:5, Act 16:13, 2Co 11:26, RV (AV, "waters"); Rev 8:10, Rev 9:14, Rev 16:4, Rev 16:12; symbolical, Rev 12:15 (1st part), RV, "river" (AV, "flood"); so Rev 12:16, Rev 1:22-2 (cp. Gen 2:10; Ezek. 47); figuratively, Joh 7:38, "the effects of the operation of the Holy Spirit in and through the believer." See FLOOD, WATER.

Note: For potamophoretos in Rev 12:15, see FLOOD, B.