euphrates Summary and Overview

Hebrew, Perath; Assyrian, Purat; Persian cuneiform, Ufratush, whence Greek Euphrates, meaning "sweet water." The Assyrian name means "the stream," or "the great stream." It is generally called in the Bible simply "the river" (Ex. 23:31), or "the great river" (Deut. 1:7). The Euphrates is first mentioned in Gen. 2:14 as one of the rivers of Paradise. It is next mentioned in connection with the covenant which God entered into with Abraham (15:18), when he promised to his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates (compare Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:4), a covenant promise afterwards fulfilled in the extended conquests of David (2 Sam. 8:2-14; 1 Chr. 18:3; 1 Kings 4:24). It was then the boundary of the kingdom to the NE. In the ancient history of Assyria, and Babylon, and Egypt many events are recorded in which mention is made of the "great river." Just as the Nile represented in prophecy the power of Egypt, so the Euphrates represented the Assyrian power (Isa. 8:7; Jer. 2:18). It is by far the largest and most important of all the rivers of Western Asia. From its source in the Armenian mountains to the Persian Gulf, into which it empties itself, it has a course of about 1,700 miles. It has two sources, (1) the Frat or Kara-su (i.e., "the black river"), which rises 25 miles NE of Erzeroum; and (2) the Muradchai (i.e., "the river of desire"), which rises near Ararat, on the northern slope of Ala-tagh. At Kebban Maden, 400 miles from the source of the former, and 270 from that of the latter, they meet and form the majestic stream, which is at length joined by the Tigris at Koornah, after which it is called Shat-el-Arab, which runs in a deep and broad stream for above 140 miles to the sea. It is estimated that the alluvium brought down by these rivers encroaches on the sea at the rate of about one mile in thirty years.

is probably a word of Aryan origin, signifying "the good and abounding river." It is most frequently denoted in the Bible by the term "the river." The Euphrates is the largest, the longest and by far the most important of the rivers of western Asia. It rises from two chief sources in the Armenian mountains, and flows into the Persian Gulf. The entire course is 1780 miles, and of this distance more than two-thirds (1200 miles) is navigable for boats. The width of the river is greatest at the distance of 700 or 800 miles from its mouth --that is to say, from it junction with the Khabour to the village of Werai. It there averages 400 yards. The annual inundation of the Euphrates is caused by the melting of the snows in the Armenian highlands. It occurs in the month of May. The great hydraulic works ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar had for their chief object to control the inundation. The Euphrates is first mentioned in Scripture as one of the four rivers of Eden. #Ge 2:14| We next hear of it in the covenant made with Abraham. #Ge 15:18| During the reigns of David and Solomon it formed the boundary of the promised land to the northeast. #De 11:24; Jos 1:4| Prophetical reference to the Euphrates is found in #Jer 13:4-7; 46:2-10; 51:63; Re 9:14; 16:12| "The Euphrates is linked with the most important events in ancient history. On its banks stood the city of Babylon; the army of Necho was defeated on its banks by Nebuchadnezzar; Cyrus the Younger and Crassus perished after crossing it; Alexander crossed it, and Trajan and Severus descended it." --Appleton's Cyc.

EUPHRA'TES (the abounding), a noted river, the largest in western Asia, rises in Armenia in two sources. One, on the northern side of the mountain of Ararat, runs in a south-easterly course, receives many tributaries in its winding course along the borders of Syria, and skirting the Arabian desert passes through the middle of Babylon to the sea. Its whole length is 1780 miles. It is navigable for large ships to Bassora, 70 miles above its mouth; a steamer drawing 4 feet of water has ascended to Bir, 1197 miles. It flows in a broad, deep current, filled to the level of its banks, and at Babylon is considerably less than a mile in width. For the last 800 miles of its course it does not receive a single tributary. The quantity of water discharged by the river at Hit is estimated at 72,804 cubic feet per second. The Tigris flows in a narrower channel, with deeper banks and a less rapid current. The country between the two rivers slopes toward the Tigris, and thus greatly favors the draining off of the superfluous waters of the Euphrates. The Euphrates overflows its banks in the spring of every year, when the snow of the Armenian mountains dissolves, and it sometimes rises 12 feet. It swells in March, and sinks in July. Dykes, lakes, and canals constructed at vast expense preserved the water for irrigation during the dry season, and prevented its carrying away the soil. History. -- Euphrates is named as one of the rivers of Eden, Gen 2:13; called "the great river," Gen 15:18; Deut 1:7; noted as the eastern boundary of the Promised Land, Deut 11:24; Josh 1:4; 1 Chr 5:9; and of David's conquests, 2 Sam 8:3; 1 Chr 18:3; of those of Babylon from Egypt, 2 Kgs 24:7; is referred to in prophecy, Jer 13:4-7; Jer 46:2-10; Jer 51:63, and in Revelation 9:14; Num 16:12. In upward of 26 other passages it is spoken of as "the river." By this stream the captive Jews wept. Ps 137:1. It is now called the Frat by the natives. For a sketch-map of the course of the Euphrates see Assyria. The Murad-chai, a branch of the Euphrates, was crossed by Xenophon, b.c. 410. After this unites with the other chief stream, forming the Euphrates, the river is 120 yards wide. It was used to irrigate the valley around Babylon by means of numerous canals, dykes, and aqueducts, making the plain one of the most fertile spots in the world. It was announced in 1879 that a railroad had been projected along the Euphrates from Damascus to Bagdad. See Babylon and Chaldaea.

Eu, Sanskrit su, denotes "good"; the second syllable denotes "abundant." Hebrew Prath, now Frat. Eden, wherein it is mentioned as one of the four, rivers. (See EDEN.) The bound to which God promised the land given to Abraham's seed should extend. Called "the river," "the great river," as being the largest with which Israel was acquainted, in contrast to the soon drying up torrents of Israel (Isaiah 8:7; Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7). The largest and longest of the rivers of western Asia. It has two sources in the Armenian mountains, one at Domli, 25 miles N.E. of Erzeroum, the other N. of the mountain range Ala Tagh, not far from Ararat; the two branches meet at Kebban Maden, the one having run 400 the other 270 miles. The united river runs S.W. and S. through the Taurus and Antitaurus ranges toward the Mediterranean; but the ranges N. of Lebanon preventing its reaching that sea, it turns S.E. 1,000 miles to the Persian gulf. N. of Sumeisat (Samosata) the stream runs in a narrow valley between mountains. From Sumeisat to Hit it runs amidst a more open but hilly country. From Hit downwards it runs through a low, flat, alluvial plain. The whole course is 1,750 miles, 650 more than the Tigris and only 200 short of the Indus; for 1,200 it is navigable for boats and small steamers. Its greatest width is 700 or 800 miles from the mouth, namely, 400 yards across, from its junction with the Khabour (Chebar) at Carchemish, to Werai, a village. Below the Khabour it has no tributaries, and so its depth and width decrease. At Babylon its width has decreased to 200 yards, with a depth of 15 ft. Farther down 120 wide, 12 deep. Moreover, its water here and lower down is much employed in irrigation; and it has a tendency to expend itself in vast marshes. But 40 miles below Lamlum it increases to 200 yards wide, and when joined by the Tigris it is half a mile wide The yearly inundation in May is clue to the melting of the snows in the Armenian mountains. Nebuchadnezzar (Abyden., Fr. 8) controlled the inundation by turning the water through sluices into channels for distribution over the whole country. Boats of wicker work, coated with bitumen and covered with skins, are still to be seen on the river, as more than two thousand years ago in Herodotus' time. By this river the East and West carried on mutual commerce during the successive periods of Babylonian and Persian rule. As Babylon represents mystically the apostate church, so the waters of Euphrates, "where the whore sitteth" (in impious parody of Jehovah who "sitteth upon the flood"), represent the "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," which were her main support (Revelation 17:15-16). The drying up of Babylon's waters answers to the ten kings' stripping, eating, and burning the whore, which is now being enacted in many European countries (Revelation 16:12). "The kings of the Euphrates" (compare Revelation 1:6) are the saints of Israel and the Gentiles accompanying the king of Israel in "glory returning from the way of the East" (Ezekiel 43:2; Matthew 24:27). The obstacles which stood in the way of Israel and her king returning, namely, the apostate church (both Rome and the Greek apostasy) and her multitudinous peoples, shall be dried up, her resources being drained off, just as Cyrus marched into Babylon through the dry channel of the Euphrates. The promise to Abraham that his seed's inheritance should reach the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7; Joshua 1:4) received a very partial fulfillment in Reuben's pastoral possessions (1 Chronicles 5:9-10) (the Hagarites here encountered them, the inscriptions confirming scripture as to their appearance upon the middle Euphrates in the later empire); a fuller accomplishment under David and Solomon, when an annual tribute was paid from subject petty kingdoms in that quarter, as Hadadezer king of Zobah, etc. (1 Chronicles 18:3; 2 Samuel 8:3-8; 1 Kings 4:21; 2 Chronicles 9:26.) The full accomplishment awaits Messiah's coming again. (See CANAAN.) The Euphrates was the boundary between Assyria and the Hittite country, after Solomon's times, according to inscriptions. But Assyria at last drove back the Hittites from the right bank. (See CARCHEMISH.)