Genesis 2:11
in Genesis 2The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
KJV
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
⋯
This verse in Genesis 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verse"The river," we are told, "is separated into four branches." The name of one is Pishon, which encircles all the land of Hevila, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. This river encircles all the land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Tigris, which river flows by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. There are, therefore, four rivers. Pishon—so called by the Hebrews but named Ganges by the Greeks—flows in the direction of India.
This site's exposition
a river flowed out of Eden
on Genesis 2:10-14
Four rivers are named, and two of them, the Hiddekel and the Euphrates, are still on the map. The other two have never been identified. The passage reads as geography, and the writer troubles to say where the gold is pure. Revelation 22:1 sets a river and the tree of life together again, flowing from the throne.
This site's exposition
the first river is Pishon
Pishon has never been fixed on a map. Ambrose of Milan followed an old reading that made it the Ganges, flowing toward India. The land of Havilah, where there is gold, shares its name with a son of Cush and a son of Joktan in Genesis 10.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
(Verse 11.) The name of one is Phison. They believe this to be the river Ganges in India. (Verse 12.) Where (or There) is the carbuncle and the green stone. Some have translated carbuncle as βδέλλιον and the green stone as ὄνυχα.
The Church, setting forth the likeness of paradise, includes within her walls fruit-bearing trees, whereof that which does not bring forth good fruit is cut off and is cast into the fire. These trees she waters with four rivers, that is, with the four Gospels, wherewith, by a celestial inundation, she bestows the grace of saving baptism. Can any one water from the Church's fountains who is not within the Church? Can one impart those wholesome and saving draughts of paradise to any one if he is perverted, and of himself condemned, and banished outside the fountains of paradise, and has dried up and failed with the dryness of an eternal thirst?
Perhaps, however, those people who like to talk from their own wisdom do not concede again that these rivers are rivers or these waters really waters but propound some different interpretation to people ready to lend them their ears. Let us, however, I beg you, not be convinced by them but block our ears against them; let us instead place our credence in sacred Scripture and heed what is told us there.
The river Phison separates all the countries of India [lying along its course] from the country of the Huns. In scripture the Indian region is called Euilat (Havilah). For it is thus written in Genesis: Now the river goeth out from Eden to water Paradise.
The Medieval Church1 voice
This is the one which encircles the whole land of Havilah. This is the region of India, deriving its name from being settled after the flood by Havilah, son of Joktan, who was the son of Eber the patriarch of the Hebrews, whom Josephus also …
4 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
Then there is the ocean that encircles the entire earth like a sort of river and to which it seems to me that Scripture referred when it said that "a river flowed out of paradise." It has sweet potable water and supplies the seas, but because the water remains stagnant in the seas for a long time it becomes brackish. The sun and the waterspouts are constantly drawing up the less dense water, and from this the clouds are formed and the rain comes, the water becoming sweet by filtration. This ocean is divided into four heads, of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; this is the Ganges of India. The name of the second is Gehon; this is the Nile, which comes down from Ethiopia into Egypt. The name of the third is Tigris, and of the fourth, Euphrates.
Which then is divided into four heads: the name of the first is Pishon. It is established, according to the most certain authorities, that the sources of all these rivers, which are said to go out from paradise, are known in our land.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Observe, That which God plants he will take care to keep watered. The trees of righteousness are set by the rivers, Ps. i. In the heavenly paradise there is a river infinitely surpassing these; for it is a river of the water of life, not coming out of Eden, as this, but proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb ( Rev. xxii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The name of the first is Pison,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
This is to explain that it is not the Havilah of Egypt, concerning which it is said, And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, 345 Genesis:18. for this one [referred to here] is in the extreme east.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Before man was created the river watered the garden on all sides.
Saadiah Gaon renders bedolach (bedellium) as pearls. He compares manna to them. However, Scripture merely says that manna had the color of bedolach.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שֵׁ֥ם | shem | [the] name of | H8034 → | 864 times |
| הָֽאֶחָ֖ד | haechad | the one | H259 → | 971 times |
| פִּישׁ֑וֹן | pishon | [is] Pishon | H6376 → | |
| ה֣וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| הַסֹּבֵ֗ב | hasovev | [is] the [one which] goes around | H5437 → | 161 times |
| אֵ֚ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הַֽחֲוִילָ֔ה | hachavilah | <the> Havilah | H2341 → | 7 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | where | H834 → | 5497 times |
| שָׁ֖ם | sham | [is] there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| הַזָּהָֽב׃ | hazahav | <the> gold | H2091 → | 389 times |
שֵׁ֥ם[the] name of
shemH8034 →864 times
הָֽאֶחָ֖דthe one
haechadH259 →971 times
פִּישׁ֑וֹן[is] Pishon
pishonH6376 →
ה֣וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
הַסֹּבֵ֗ב[is] the [one which] goes around
hasovevH5437 →161 times
אֵ֚ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֶ֣רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
הַֽחֲוִילָ֔ה<the> Havilah
hachavilahH2341 →7 times
אֲשֶׁר־where
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
שָׁ֖ם[is] there
shamH8033 →834 times
הַזָּהָֽב׃<the> gold
hazahavH2091 →389 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 25:18Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
it leads to
- Genesis 16:12
He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
- Genesis 20:1
Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,
- Genesis 16:12
Through
1 Samuel 15:7Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 14:48
He fought valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, delivering Israel from the hands of its plunderers.
- Genesis 25:18
Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
- Genesis 16:7
Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.
- 1 Samuel 27:8
Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
- 1 Samuel 14:48
Through
Genesis 10:29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 9:28
They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.
- 1 Kings 9:28
Through
Genesis 10:7The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 27:22
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; for your wares they exchanged gold, the finest of all spices, and precious stones.
- Ezekiel 27:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Paradise; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 11; Cyprian, Epistle LXXII.10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 13.15-16; John Damascene, ORTHODOX FAITH 2.9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.