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Abana

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Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term

How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.

HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H71

אֲבָנָה

a.va.nah — Abana

A river in Syria flowing through Damascus Also named: a.ma.nah (אֲמָנָה "Amana" H0549H)

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Historical dictionary entry

Stony (Heb. marg. “Amanah,” perennial), the chief river of Damascus (2 Kings 5:12). Its modern name is Barada, the Chrysorrhoas, or “golden stream,” of the Greeks. It rises in a cleft of the Anti-Lebanon range, about 23 miles north-west of Damascus, and after flowing southward for a little way parts into three smaller streams, the central one flowing through Damascus, and the other two on each side of the city, diffusing beauty and fertility where otherwise there would be barrenness.

Scripture references

Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.

Scripture cited by this entry (KJV)

Read the quoted verses in their chapters to evaluate the historical dictionary references.

2 Kings 5:12

[Are] not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

Compare other reference traditions

Look up Abana in Smith’s Bible Dictionary and ISBE →