nahar · river

What it means

nahar (נָהָר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “river”.

Stream; above all the Euphrates ("the River") or the Nile.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A great stream of water, like the Euphrates or the Nile, that serves as a boundary and gives life to the land.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

River, stream; above all the great rivers, the Euphrates or the Nile. From the same root comes the name Aram-naharaim, “Aram of the two rivers”.

• The river that goes out from Eden Genesis 2:10
• “From the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates” Genesis 15:18
• “Beyond the River Euphrates your fathers lived” Joshua 24:2
• “By the rivers of Babylon” Psalms 137:1Ezekiel 1:1
• “A river, its streams make glad the city of Elohim” Psalms 46:4
• “Your peace would have been like the river” Isaiah 48:18

How we translate it

“River” 76 times, “rivers” 40, “streams” 2, “current” 1. הַנָּהָר, “the river” without a name, is written “the River” with a capital letter, because it means the Euphrates (Exodus 23:31; Genesis 31:21); עֵבֶר הַנָּהָר is “beyond the River” or “the other side of the river”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• river ×76
• rivers ×40
• streams ×2
• current ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×9
• Exodus×3
• Numbers×2
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×6
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×4
• 2 Kings×5
• 1 Chronicles×5
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Ezra×4
• Nehemiah×3
• Job×5
• Psalms×15
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×21
• Jeremiah×6
• Ezekiel×13
• Daniel×1
• Jonah×1
• Micah×1
• Nahum×2
• Habakkuk×3
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 2:10

  And a river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches.

• Genesis 2:13

  And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that goes around the whole land of Cush.

• Genesis 2:14

  And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

• Genesis 15:18

  On that day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

• Genesis 31:21

  He fled, he and all that he had; he rose, crossed the River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

• Genesis 36:37

  Samlah died, and Saul from Rehoboth on the River reigned in his place.

• Exodus 7:19

  YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their pools, and over all the reservoirs of their water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

• Exodus 8:5

  YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.’”

• Exodus 23:31

  I will set your border from the Sea of Reeds to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River, for I will give into your hand the inhabitants of the land, and you shall drive them out from before you.

• Numbers 22:5

  And he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Look, a people has come out of Egypt; look, they cover the face of the earth, and they are settling opposite me.

• Numbers 24:6

  Like valleys they stretch out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes YHWH has planted, like cedars beside the waters.

• Deuteronomy 1:7

  Turn, set out, and go to the hill country of the Amorite and to all its neighbors, in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the Shephelah, in the Negev, and on the coast of the sea, the land of the Canaanite, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

• Deuteronomy 11:24

  Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea shall be your territory.

• Joshua 1:4

  From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun, shall be your territory.

• Joshua 24:2

  And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Israel: ‘Beyond the River Euphrates your fathers lived long ago, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

• Joshua 24:3

  And I took your father Abraham from beyond the River Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.

• Joshua 24:14

  And now fear YHWH and serve him with integrity and with truth; and put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve YHWH.

• Joshua 24:15

  And if it is evil in your eyes to serve YHWH, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods that your fathers served that were beyond the River Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorite, in whose land you live. But I and my house will serve YHWH.”

• 2 Samuel 8:3

  David struck Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his hand at the river Euphrates.

• 2 Samuel 10:16

  Hadadezer sent and brought out Aram that was beyond the River Euphrates; and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head.

• 1 Kings 4:21

  And Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

• 1 Kings 4:24

  For he was ruling over all the other side of the river, from Tiphsah as far as Gaza, over all the kings of the other side of the river; and he had peace on all his sides all around.

• 1 Kings 14:15

  YHWH will strike Israel, as the reed sways in the water; and he will uproot Israel from off this good land that he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River Euphrates, because they have made their Asherahs, provoking YHWH to anger.

• 2 Kings 5:12

  Are not Amana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage.

• 2 Kings 17:6

  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

• 2 Kings 18:11

  The king of Assyria carried Israel into exile to Assyria and led them to Halah and to the Habor, the river of Gozan, and to the cities of the Medes,

• 2 Kings 23:29

  In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went to meet him, and he put him to death at Megiddo when he saw him.

• 2 Kings 24:7

  The king of Egypt did not again come out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates all that had belonged to the king of Egypt.

• 1 Chronicles 1:48

  And Samlah died, and Saul from Rehoboth on the River reigned in his place.

• 1 Chronicles 5:9

  And to the east he lived as far as the entrance of the wilderness from the river Euphrates, because their livestock had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

• 1 Chronicles 5:26

  And the Elohim of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them into exile, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, to this day.

• 1 Chronicles 18:3

  David struck Hadadezer king of Zobah, toward Hamath, when he went to set up his hand at the river Euphrates.

• 1 Chronicles 19:16

  When Aram saw that they had been struck down before Israel, they sent messengers and brought out Aram that was beyond the River, with Shophach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head.

• 2 Chronicles 9:26

  He ruled over all the kings from the River Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.

• Ezra 8:15

  And I gathered them at the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days; and I observed the people and the priests, but of the sons of Levi I did not find any there.

• Ezra 8:21

  And I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, to afflict ourselves before our Elohim, to seek from him a straight way for us and for our little ones and for all our goods.

• Ezra 8:31

  And we set out from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our Elohim was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and of the one lying in ambush along the way.

• Ezra 8:36

  And they delivered the laws of the king to the satraps of the king and the governors of the other side of the river, and they supported the people and the house of Elohim.

• Nehemiah 2:7

  And I said to the king, “If to the king it seems good, let letters be given to me for the governors of the other side of the river, that they may let me pass until I come to Judah,

• Nehemiah 2:9

  And I came to the governors of the other side of the river and gave them the letters of the king. And the king had sent with me commanders of troops and horsemen.

And 79 more times.