place · also Shibolet · River
Euphrates
פְּרָתΕὐφράτης
The Euphrates, a major river in the ancient Near East, often served as a boundary marker for the Promised Land and was the site of significant events in biblical history.
- verses
- 61
- first named
- Genesis 2:14
- last named
- Revelation 16:12
- feature
- river
- coordinates
- 31.00°N · 47.44°E
Euphrates River (OpenBible)
Scholarship offers 3 identifications for this place. The leading one is shown; the others are recorded in the gazetteer.
Description
Euphrates in the text
The Euphrates is one of the most significant rivers mentioned in the Bible, playing a crucial role in the geography, history, and prophecy of the ancient Near East. It is often referred to simply as "the River" or "Shibolet" (meaning "ear of grain") in Hebrew.
In the Garden of Eden narrative, the Euphrates is one of the four rivers that flowed from the garden (Genesis 2:14). Later, it is mentioned as part of the boundary of the Promised Land, as God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18; Deu.1.7; 11:24; Joshua 1:4).
The Euphrates served as a natural boundary between the Assyrian and Babylonian empires and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It was the site of several significant events, such as the battle of Carchemish, where the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians (Jeremiah 46:2), and the place where Jeremiah hid a linen belt as a symbol of God's judgment on Judah (Jeremiah 13:4-7).
In the book of Revelation, the Euphrates is mentioned in connection with the sixth trumpet judgment (Revelation 9:14) and the sixth bowl judgment (Revelation 16:12), where the river is dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
Throughout the Bible, the Euphrates is used as a symbol of the extent of God's promised blessings (Psalm 72:8), the reach of Israel's enemies (Isaiah 7:20; 8:7), and the future restoration of Israel (Isaiah 11:15; 27:12; Micah 7:12; Zechariah 9:10).
The Euphrates played a significant role in the history and commerce of the ancient Near East, with many important cities and civilizations situated along its banks, such as Babylon, Ur, and Carchemish. It was a vital source of water for irrigation and transportation, and its fertile floodplains supported agriculture and trade.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The pattern
Where Euphrates is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
61 verses across 18 of 66 books; 48 write the name nowhere. Named in Genesis (4), Exodus (1), Numbers (1), Deuteronomy (2), Joshua (5), 2 Samuel (2), 1 Kings (3), 2 Kings (2), 1 Chronicles (4), 2 Chronicles (2), Ezra (13), Nehemiah (3), Psalms (2), Isaiah (4), Jeremiah (9), Micah (1), Zechariah (1) and Revelation (2).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 61, across 18 books. The name is written 65 times in them.
Genesis4 verses
Exodus1 verse
Numbers1 verse
Deuteronomy2 verses
Joshua5 verses
2 Samuel2 verses
1 Kings3 verses
2 Kings2 verses
1 Chronicles4 verses
2 Chronicles2 verses
Ezra13 verses
Nehemiah3 verses
Psalms2 verses
Isaiah4 verses
Jeremiah9 verses
Micah1 verse
Zechariah1 verse
Revelation2 verses
Onward
Where this page goes
Nothing in the graph stands one hop from this entity yet. These are the best-connected entities of the same type, so the page still ends somewhere. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
What happened here
Atlas's reading of each chapter this place appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- Genesis 15The great River Euphrates was set as the far boundary of the land given to Abram’s descendants.
- Exodus 23The Euphrates forms the far end of the borders established for Israel.
- Joshua 1The Euphrates marks the great river at the far end of the promised territory.
- Ezra 4The Euphrates marked the region west of which the letter feared the king would lose dominion.
- Ezra 7The treasurers west of the Euphrates were ordered to provide whatever Ezra required.
- Psalms 72The Euphrates serves as one boundary of the king’s hoped-for rule.
- Psalms 80The River receives the vine's spreading shoots.
- Isaiah 11The Euphrates is swept by a scorching wind and split into seven streams for dry-sandalled travellers.
5 more chapters, from Isaiah 27 to Revelation 16
- Isaiah 27The Euphrates forms one end of the land across which the LORD threshes.
- Jeremiah 46The Euphrates is where the Egyptian warriors stumble and where the sword holds its grim feast.
- Micah 7The Euphrates marks one reach of the great sweep of people coming from Egypt.
- Revelation 9At the great river Euphrates, four bound angels were released for the appointed hour, day, month, and year.
- Revelation 16At the sixth bowl, its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.
Sources