Genesis 2:10-14

2:10 Now ¹  a river flows ²  from Eden ³  to

water the orchard, and from there it divides ⁴  into four headstreams. ⁵  2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through ⁶  the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 2:12 (The gold of that land is pure; ⁷  pearls ⁸  and lapis lazuli ⁹  are also there). 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through ¹⁰  the entire land of Cush. ¹¹  2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. ¹²  The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Ezra 8:21

8:21 I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey ¹³  for us, our children, and all our property.

Ezra 8:31

8:31 On the twelfth day of the first month we began traveling from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from our enemy and from bandits ¹⁴  along the way.

Ezekiel 1:1

A Vision of God’s Glory

1:1 In the thirtieth year, ¹⁵  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ¹⁶  at the Kebar River, ¹⁷  the heavens opened ¹⁸  and I saw a divine vision. ¹⁹ 

[2:10]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause (note the construction conjunction + subject + predicate) introduces an entire paragraph about the richness of the region in the east.

[2:10]  ² tn The Hebrew active participle may be translated here as indicating past durative action, “was flowing,” or as a present durative, “flows.” Since this river was the source of the rivers mentioned in vv. 11-14, which appear to describe a situation contemporary with the narrator, it is preferable to translate the participle in v. 10 with the present tense. This suggests that Eden and its orchard still existed in the narrator’s time. According to ancient Jewish tradition, Enoch was taken to the Garden of Eden, where his presence insulated the garden from the destructive waters of Noah’s flood. See Jub. 4:23-24.

[2:10]  ³ sn Eden is portrayed here as a source of life-giving rivers (that is, perennial streams). This is no surprise because its orchard is where the tree of life is located. Eden is a source of life, but tragically its orchard is no longer accessible to humankind. The river flowing out of Eden is a tantalizing reminder of this. God continues to provide life-giving water to sustain physical existence on the earth, but immortality has been lost.

[2:10]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verb form has the same nuance as the preceding participle. (If the participle is taken as past durative, then the imperfect would be translated “was dividing.”)

[2:10]  ⁵ tn Or “branches”; Heb “heads.” Cf. NEB “streams”; NASB “rivers.”

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”

[2:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “good.”

[2:12]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “pearls” may be a reference to resin (cf. NIV “aromatic resin”) or another precious stone (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV “bdellium”).

[2:12]  ⁹ tn Or “onyx.”

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”

[2:13]  ¹¹ sn Cush. In the Bible the Hebrew word כּוּשׁ (kush, “Kush”) often refers to Ethiopia (so KJV, CEV), but here it must refer to a region in Mesopotamia, the area of the later Cassite dynasty of Babylon. See Gen 10:8 as well as E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 20.

[2:14]  ¹² tn Heb “Asshur” (so NEB, NIV).

[8:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “a straight way.”

[8:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the hand of the enemy and the one who lies in wait.” Some modern English versions render the latter phrase as “ambushes” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[1:1]  ¹⁵ sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.

[1:1]  ¹⁶ sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.

[1:1]  ¹⁷ sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.

[1:1]  ¹⁸ sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2