Genesis 2:13
in Genesis 2The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.
KJV
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
⋯
This verse in Genesis 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd the name of the second river is Gihon,.... There was one of this name in the land of Israel, which, or a branch of it, flowed near Jerusalem, 1Ki 1:33 this Aben Ezra suggests is here meant, and which favours the notion of the above learned man, that the garden of Eden was in the land of Israel.
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, and the passage reads as geography, down to where the gold is pure. Revelation 22:1 has a river flowing from the throne.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
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 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.
And the name of the second river is Geon. It is the one which goes around all the land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Tigris. It goes towards the Assyrians. The fourth river is Euphrates.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Saadiah Gaon renders bedolach (bedellium) as pearls. He compares manna to them. However, Scripture merely says that manna had the color of bedolach.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
[TOWARD THE EAST OF ASSHUR.] The tav of kidmat (toward the east of) is in place of a heh.
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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשֵֽׁם־ | veshem- | and [the] name of | H8034 → | 864 times |
| הַנָּהָ֥ר | hanahar | the river | H5104 → | 119 times |
| הַשֵּׁנִ֖י | hasheni | <the> second | H8145 → | 156 times |
| גִּיח֑וֹן | gichon | [is] Gihon | H1521 → | |
| ה֣וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| הַסּוֹבֵ֔ב | hasovev | [is] the [one which] goes around | H5437 → | 161 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֶ֥רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כּֽוּשׁ׃ | kush | Cush | H3568 → | 29 times |
וְשֵֽׁם־and [the] name of
veshem-H8034 →864 times
הַנָּהָ֥רthe river
hanaharH5104 →119 times
הַשֵּׁנִ֖י<the> second
hasheniH8145 →156 times
גִּיח֑וֹן[is] Gihon
gichonH1521 →
ה֣וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
הַסּוֹבֵ֔ב[is] the [one which] goes around
hasovevH5437 →161 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֶ֥רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
כּֽוּשׁ׃Cush
kushH3568 →29 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
Isaiah 11:11On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and…
it leads to
- Zechariah 10:8–12
I will whistle for them to gather, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they once were.
- Micah 7:12
On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
- Hosea 3:4–5
For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
- Isaiah 10:20
On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy…
- Leviticus 26:40–42
But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- Zechariah 10:8–12
Through
Genesis 10:6The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 1:8–16
The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
- Jeremiah 46:9
Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth—Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.
- Ezekiel 27:10
Men of Persia, Lydia, and Put served as warriors in your army. They hung their shields and helmets on your walls; they gave you splendor.
- 1 Chronicles 1:8–16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Cyprian, Epistle LXXII.10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.