river

Euphrates

• Today Euphrates River

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History

The Euphrates, about 2,800 km long, is the longest river of western Asia. It rises from the Karasu and the Murat in the highlands of eastern Turkey, breaks through the Taurus, crosses the Syrian steppe past Carchemish, Mari and Dura-Europos, and enters the plain of Babylonia, where it flowed past Sippar, Babylon and Ur before joining the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab above the Persian Gulf. In the Bible it is "the great river, the river Euphrates" or simply "the river", the fourth river of Eden; the Hebrew Perath answers to the Akkadian Purattu.

The river bounded the world of the patriarchs and of the promise. Abraham's fathers "dwelt on the other side of the flood", Jacob crossed it fleeing from Laban, and God promised Abram's seed the land "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates", a bound repeated to Moses and Joshua. Solomon is said to have reigned "from the river unto the land of the Philistines", from Tiphsah (Thapsacus), the great crossing, to Gaza. Later the Persian satrapy "beyond the river", Ebir-nari, took its name from the Euphrates, and the letters in Ezra and Nehemiah are addressed to its governors.

The Euphrates was the frontier where empires met. Pharaoh Necho marched to it against the Babylonians, and in 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar defeated him at Carchemish "by the river Euphrates", the battle Jeremiah describes, after which the king of Egypt "came not again any more out of his land". Jeremiah hid a girdle "by Euphrates" as a sign against Judah, though some think the Perath meant is the spring of Parah near Anathoth, and his oracle against Babylon was to be sunk in the river with a stone. In Revelation the sixth trumpet looses four angels bound "in the great river Euphrates", and the sixth bowl dries it up for the kings of the east.

Under Rome the Euphrates divided the empire from Parthia, and Roman garrisons held it at Zeugma and Dura. Today the river is shared by Turkey, Syria and Iraq: the Keban, Karakaya and Atatürk dams in Turkey, the Tabqa dam in Syria and the Haditha dam in Iraq have cut its flow, and the three countries have never agreed together on sharing its water, though some pairs of them have signed accords. The marshes where it meets the Tigris were drained in the 1990s and partly restored after 2003.

Scripture: Gen 2:14; Gen 15:18; Gen 31:21; Deut 1:7; Deut 11:24; Josh 1:4; Josh 24:2–3; 2 Sam 8:3; 1 Kgs 4:21; 1 Kgs 4:24; 2 Kgs 23:29; 2 Kgs 24:7; 1 Chr 5:9; Ezra 4:11; Neh 2:7; Isa 7:20; Isa 8:7; Jer 13:4–7; Jer 46:2; Jer 46:6; Jer 46:10; Jer 51:63; Rev 9:14; Rev 16:12

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (44)

Gen 2:14

And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Gen 15:18

In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Gen 31:21

So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead.

Exod 23:31

And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

Deut 1:7

Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

Deut 11:24

Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

Josh 1:4

From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

Josh 24:2

And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.

Josh 24:3

And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

Josh 24:14

Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

Josh 24:15

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

2 Sam 8:3

David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.

2 Sam 10:16

And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.

1 Kgs 4:21

And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

1 Kgs 4:24

For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him.

1 Kgs 14:15

For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.

2 Kgs 23:29

In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

2 Kgs 24:7

And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

1 Chr 5:9

And eastward he inhabited unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates: because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead.

1 Chr 18:3

And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates.

1 Chr 19:16

And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the river: and Shophach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.

2 Chr 9:26

And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

2 Chr 35:20

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

Ezra 5:6

The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, which were on this side the river, sent unto Darius the king:

Ezra 6:6

Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence:

Ps 72:8

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Ps 80:11

She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

Isa 7:20

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.

Isa 8:7

Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:

Isa 11:15

And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

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