King James Bible Dictionary

1. Heb. aphik, properly the channel or ravine that holds water (2 Samuel 22:16), translated "brook," "river," "stream," but not necessarily a perennial stream (Ezekiel 6:3; 31:12; 32:6; 34:13).

2. Heb. nahal, in winter a "torrent," in summer a "wady" or valley (Genesis 32:23; Deuteronomy 2:24; 3:16; Isaiah 30:28; Lamentations 2:18; Ezekiel 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. Matthew 7:27; Luke 6:49.)

3. Nahar, a "river" continuous and full, a perennial stream, as the Jordan, the Euphrates (Genesis 2:10; 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7; Psalms 66:6; Ezekiel 10:15).

4. Tel'alah, a conduit, or water-course (1 Kings 18:32; 2 Kings 18:17; 20:20; Job 38:25; Ezekiel 31:4).

5. Peleg, properly "waters divided", i.e., streams divided, throughout the land (Psalms 1:3); "the rivers [i.e., divisions'] of waters" (Job 20:17; 29:6; Proverbs 5:16).

6. Ye'or, i.e., "great river", probably from an Egyptian word (Aur), commonly applied to the Nile (Genesis 41:1-3), but also to other rivers (Job 28:10; Isaiah 33:21).

7. Yubhal, "a river" (Jeremiah 17:8), a full flowing stream.

8. Ubhal, "a river" (Daniel 8:2).

Figurative of salvation
Psalms 36:8; Psalms 46:4; Isaiah 32:2; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Revelation 22:1-2

Figurative of grief
Psalms 119:136; Lamentations 3:48

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. (Genesis 31:21; Exodus 23:31; Numbers 24:6; 2 Samuel 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.

RI'VER, noun One who rives or splits.

RIV'ER, noun [Latin rivus, rivulus, rips.]

1. A large stream of water flowing in a channel on land towards the ocean, a lake or another river It is larger than a rivulet or brook; but is applied to any stream from the size of a mill-stream to that of the Danube, Maranon and Mississippi. We give this name to large streams which admit the tide and mingle salt water with fresh, as the rivers Hudson, Delaware and St. Lawrence.

2. A large stream; copious flow; abundance; as rivers of blood; rivers of oil

1. Heb. nahar mitsraim, denotes in Genesis 15:18 the Nile, or its eastern branch (2 Chronicles 9:26).

2. In Numbers 34:5 (R.V., "brook of Egypt") the Hebrew word is nahal, denoting a stream flowing rapidly in winter, or in the rainy season. This is a desert stream on the borders of Egypt. It is now called the Wady el-Arish. The present boundary between Egypt and Palestine is about midway between this wady and Gaza. (See Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4, 47; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7; Isaiah 27:12; Ezekiel 47:19. In all these passages the R.V. has "brook" and the A.V. "river.")

1. The Nile. (Genesis 15:18) [NILE]
2. A desert stream on the border of Egypt, still occasionally flowing in the valley called Wadi-l-'Areesh . The centre of the valley is occupied by the bed of this torrent, which only flows after rains, as is usual in the desert valleys. This stream is first mentioned as the point where the southern border of the promised land touched the Mediterranean, which formed its western border. (Numbers 34:3-6) In the latter history we find Solomon's kingdom extending from the "entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt," (1 Kings 8:65) and Egypt limited in the same manner where the loss of the eastern provinces is mentioned. (2 Kings 24:7)

Probably the Arno (2 Samuel 24:5).

(Psalms 65:9), as opposed to earthly streams, denoting that the divine resources are inexhaustible, or the sum of all fertilizing streams that water the earth (Genesis 2:10).

RIV'ER-DRAGON, noun A crocodile; a name given by Milton to the king of Egypt.

RIV'ERET, noun A small river. [Not in use.]

RIV'ER-GOD, noun A deity supposed to preside over a river, as its tutelary divinity; a naiad.

RIV'ER-HORSE, noun The hippopotamus, an animal inhabiting rivers.

(Psalms 137:1), i.e., of the whole country of Babylonia, e.g., the Tigris, Euphrates, Chalonas, the Ulai, and the numerous canals.

The Abana and Pharpar (2 Kings 5:12).

(Joel 3:18), the watercourses of Judea.

RIV'ER-WATER, noun The water of a river, as distinguished from rain-water.