Bible Meaning: Fruitfulness, break forth, rushing
Strong's Concordance #H6578
Where is the Euphrates river located? The river, mentioned by name twenty-one times in the KJV Bible, is one of the four rivers that parted from the main waterway that nourished the Garden of Eden. Starting at the Persian Gulf, it runs northwest through the ancient areas of Chaldea, Babylonia and Mesopotamia.
God considered the Euphrates the northernmost boundary of the land he promised Abraham and which he gave to the children of Israel as an inheritance (Genesis 15:18, Exodus 23:31, Joshua 1:4, etc.).
Depending on the context, the phrase "the river" can refer to the Euphrates (Numbers 22:5, Deuteronomy 11:24). It, however, can sometimes reference the Nile (Genesis 41:1 - 3, 17 - 18, etc.) or another waterway.
Interestingly, the phrase "the great river" is never used for the Nile. It is used five times for the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18, Deuteronomy 1:7, Joshua 1:4, Revelation 9:14, 16:12) and once for the Hiddekel (Daniel 10:4).
Prophecy
In Isaiah 8:7 the "waters of the river" symbolizes the military power of the Assyrians and how they would "flood" and almost completely destroy the Kingdom of Judah.
God told the prophet Jeremiah to hide a linen girdle in a rock near the great river. After an unknown period, he retrieved it and found the girdle had rotted and was no longer useable. Its state symbolized how Judah had marred itself with pride (Jeremiah 13:1 - 11).
Jeremiah, at a later time, wrote a book foretelling all the evil that would come upon Babylon. He then had someone throw it into the Euphrates with a rock tied to it, showing that God would cause Babylon to fall and never rise again (Jeremiah 51:59 - 64).
The river, in the End Time, will be dried up to allow the world's army to gather in their vain attempt to fight a returning Jesus Christ (Revelation 9:14, 16:12).
Important Verses
Location
Genesis 15:13, 18
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years . . .
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
Joshua 1:4
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying . . .
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
Jeremiah 46:10
For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
Jeremiah 51:63
And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates.
Revelation 9:14
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Revelation 16:1, 12
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth . . .
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates: and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.