Genesis - 2:13



13 The name of the second river is Gihon: the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Genesis 2:13.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.
And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia
And the name of the second river is Gihon: that is it which surrounds the whole land of Cush.
and the name of the second river is Gibon, it is that which is surrounding the whole land of Cush;
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasses the whole land of Ethiopia.
And the name of the second river is Gihon: this river goes round all the land of Cush.
The name of the second river is Gihon; it goes around the whole land of Cush.
And the name of the second river is the Gehon; it is that which runs through all the land of Ethiopia.
Nomen vero fluvii secundi Gihon: ipse circuit omnem terram Aethipiae.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And 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, 1-Kings 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. Josephus (h) takes it to be the river Nile, as do many others; it seems to have been a branch of the river Euphrates or Tigris, on the eastern side, as Phison was on the west; and so Aben Ezra says it came from the south east. The learned Reland (i) will have it to be the river Araxes: it has its name, according to Jarchi, from the force it goes with, and the noise it makes. And it seems to have its name from which signifies to come forth with great force, as this river is said to do, when it pours itself into the Baltic sea.
The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia; either Ethiopia above Egypt; and this favours the notion of those who take Gihon to be the Nile: for Pausanias (k) says, that it was commonly reported that the Nile was Euphrates, which disappearing in a marsh, rose up above Ethiopia, and became the Nile, and so washed that country, and is thought to agree very well with the Mosaic account: or else that Cush or Ethiopia, which bordered on Midian, and was a part of Arabia, and may be called Arabia Chusea, often meant by Cush in Scripture. Reland (l) thinks the country of the Cossaeans or Cussaeans, a people bordering on Media, the country of Kuhestan, a province of Persia, is intended. (After the global destruction of Noah's flood, it is doubtful that the location of these rivers could be determined with any degree of certainty today. Ed.)
(h) Antiqu, l. 1. c. 1. sect. 3. Philostorg. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 10. p. 482. (i) De situ Paradisi, p. 32. (k) Corinthiaca sive, l. 2. p. 94. (l) Ut supra, (De situ Paradisi) p. 38.

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