Q: #469. How many rivers are mentioned in the Bible?
A: Pinpointing exactly how many rivers are mentioned in the Bible is somewhat difficult. While we clearly know some are rivers (i.e. Euphrates, Jordan, Nile), it is not quite so easy to know if others are rivers. For example, with the “Chebar (Kebar) River,” all three of my Bible dictionaries, and my MacArthur Study Bible say it wasn’t really a river, but a “canal” (likely the “Royal Canal of Nebuchadnezzar”). With the “Jabbok River,” all three dictionaries say it was / is a “stream.” Strong’s Concordance calls it a “brook.” Examples like these are why I have placed asterisks after some of what the Bible calls “rivers” in the chart below. So, on to the chart.
Name Of The River Verses
Abanah (2 Kin 5:12)
Ahava ** (Ez 8:21,31)
Arnon ** (Deut 2:24,36)(Josh 12:2)(Isa 16:2)
Chebar (Kebar) ** (Ezek 1:1,3)(Ezek 3:15,23)(Ezek 10:15,20,22)
Euphrates (Gen 2:14)(Josh 1:4)(Jer 46:2,6,10)
Gihon (Gen 2:13)
Habor ** (possibly present day Khabur River) (2 Kin 17:6)(2 Kin 18:11)(1 Chr 5:26)
Jabbok ** (Deut 2:37)(Deut 3:16)(Josh 12:2)
Jordan (Josh 3:8,11,13,14,15)(Mt 3:6)(Mk 1:5)
Kanah ** (Josh 16:8)(Josh 17:9)
Kishon (Judg 4:7,13)(Judg 5:21)
Nile (called “river,” not Nile in KJV) (Gen 41:1,3,17)(Ex 2:3)(Ex 7:20-21)
Pharpar (2 Kin 5:12)
Pishon (Pison) (Gen 2:11)
Shihor (Sihor) ** (Josh 13:3)(Isa 23:3)(Jer 2:18)
Tigris (Hiddekel) (Gen 2:14)(Dan 10:4)
Ulai (Dan 8:2,16)
***Note: I left off the “Gozan River” because the evidence is too strong that it wasn’t a river.
***Note: My “Illustrated Dictionary Of The Bible” by Herbert Lockyer mentions the “Yarmuk River” saying, “a river, or Wadi, on the eastern side of the Jordan River valley close to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. The Yarmuk is not mentioned in the Bible, although numerous biblical events happened in its vicinity.”