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euphrates

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euphrates


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  Euphrates 
  n  :  a  river  in  southwestern  Asia;  flows  into  the  Persian  Gulf; 
  was  important  in  the  development  of  several  great 
  civilizations  in  ancient  Mesopotamia  [syn:  {Euphrates},  {Euphrates 
  River}] 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Euphrates 
  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  (comp.  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  north-east.  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 
  north-east  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. 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Euphrates,  that  makes  fruitful 
 




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