RITHMAH (.i-n-i ; LXX 'VaBafii ; Vulg. Rcthma, Nu 33'«-'»).— The first of the twelve stations fol- lowing Hazeroth which are given in Nu 33 only. The name seems to be connected with cnT (.\V and RV 'juniper,' RVm 'broom'), and to indicate a place where that shrub was found in abundance. Such are noted bj- Robinson ( Wady Abu Rctnmdt) and Palmer ( Wady Erth/ime), but any delinite identification of this or of tlie eleven following stations must be regarded as very uncertain.
A. T. Chapman.
RIVER.— In the OT this is the AV rendering of the following words : 1. tn; or i.-);, an Egyptian loan-woril, which in the singular is always (except in Dn lo"'*-"-'-', where it means the Tigris) used of the Nile: Gn 41'- =•»"*»■"■ '«, Ex 1^ 2»'>''" i»''*'
•J15. 17. ISIfr. aoMj. 21(n-. 2J6(s. 2S. 28 [En". 8'] S'f''''" 17'
[all JE], Am 8»9',* Is 19""- 233'CJer 46 [Gr. 26]'«, Ezk 29»''-», /ec 10". In all these nassages the LXX renders by irora^is (in Ezk 29^- », Zee 10" Trora^ioi) except Is 23'- '", where a different text ap|iears to have been followed. The plur. c^n; is used of the Nile arms or canals : Ex 7'^ 8' '" [both • The prophet's allusion in these two passages to the rise and the fall of the Nile (C^^i'tJ IN;) ia quite obscured by the AV rendering 'flood.'
RIVER
RIVER
287
P], Is 7" 19'37" = 2 K 19-', Nali 3«, EzU eo'-*""-* •• "> 30''-', Ps 7S". The LXX lias in all these pas- sages irorauoi (in Is 7'*, Ezk ■29*''"-° iroraMis) except Is 19', wliicli reaJs al Snipt'Xf^ '''O" toto/hou, and 37^, ■where the text is mutilated. The same word onx; is used of watercourses in general in Is 33'-' (Jiu- piiX"), and is even applied once to shafts or tunnels cut in the rock by the miner, Job 28'" (cf. Snj in v.'').
2. vi; (LXX in the following passages irorafii!, unless otherwise noted), the most general term for river, occurs some 120 times in the OT. It is un- certain whether it is derived from a root tn: ' to How,' or whether the latter is a denominative from vi;, which may be a loan-word (cf. Ass3-r. ndrti, 'stream,' 'river'). It is used of rivers in general in Nu 24« [JE], Job 14" 40^, Ps 74" 7S'« etc. ; very fre<|uently of particular rivers : the river of Eden and its branches Gn 2"'"-"; the Nile Is 19»; esp. the Euphrates (m.s-iii)) Gn 15'", Dt 1', Jos 1*, which is often called n.ijn as the river /car' ^^oxv" (cf. the title ' the great river,' Vran ini.i, in Gn 1.5'^ Dt 1', although this title is once, Dn W, applied to the Tigris), Gn 3P', Ex 23", Nu 22', Jos 24-- 3- "■" [all E], Ezr 8", Neh2'-» 3' (.and Aram. TJ, emphat. ktj, Ezr 4'»- "■'«•"• =» and oft.), prob. also Gn 36" (P ; see Rehobotii, No. 2), witliout the art. (poet.) in Is 7» Jer 2'^ Mic 7'% Zee 9'", Ps 72» ; the river of Gozan 2 K 17« 18", cf. I Ch 5-" ; the rivers of Cusb Zeph 3'". The reference is probably to canals in the following: the Chebar Ezk 1'-^ 3"-» 10'»-=°-«43^ the Ahava Ezr8='-''; the 'rivers' of Babylon Ps 137'; the gates of the ' rivers' of Nineveh Nah 2' (I5A Tn'Xai riiv viXcai', X* IT. r. roraiJLwi'), as niinj is u.sed of the canals of Egypt in Ex 7'" S'l"' (in both || a-iit-). In Jol) 28" ' he tthe miner) bindeth the streams (nHij) that they trickle not,' the reference is to underground water whicli is prevented by the use of lime or clay from percolating into the mine (A. B. Davidson, ad foe. ). The Dnqj in Aram-naharaim (Gn 24'°, Dt 23^ [both Ufaairora^ia], Jg 3" [B 7rora/xoi — i^pias, A — . Mftro- Torafxia irora/^wf], Ps 60 [title ; MecroTrora/xfa Zupia?]) was probably meant by the Hebrew writers to have a dual sense (' Aram of the two rivers,' these being probably fsee Dillm. on Gn 24'°] the Euph- rates and the Cliaboras), but the original ending may have l/een a plural one (c . ), as would appear to "be implied by the Tel el-Amarna Na-ri-ma, Nahriimt, and the Egyp. Nhrima.
3. V; (etym. uncertain) is used either (a) of a torrent of ru.shing water or (6) of a valley through which a torrent flows or has flowed, a ' torrent- valley' (modern wddy).\ For this latter sense cf. Gn 26"- '», Nu 13'^- " 21 '^ 32', Dt I-'-' 2'«" (see Driver's note; 80 Jos 12* 13'- " [same phrases] ; v.'' is un- certain [.see Driver's note], so Jos 12-1-""' """O 3'^- " (toi um.) 448 [ns 2*'»], 2 K 10^. For A V ' river(s) ' RV substitutes the very misleading tr. 'brook(s)' in Nu 34», Dt 10', Jos 15*- ■" 16» 17" 19", 1 K 8»», 2 K 24'. 2 Ch '\ Am &\ Ezk 47" 4S'«, and the equally misleading ' valley ' in Dt 2=-'- *""' 3»- '■' 4'», Jos 12'»""' 13S!><«.1« M., 2K10»='. The use of S-j in the sense (o) above (reproduced by the LXX in the following pa.ssages, unless otherwise noted, by X'l^uippoi'S or x<'m<"W>s) may be illustrated by its application to the Kishon Jg 4'- '» ,5-""-, Ps 8;i'»i"» ; to Elijah's stream Cherith 1 K 17». J- »■»•', which was liable to dry up in summer, cf. Sir 40'^ (iroTa/tis) ; Uj water bursting Irom the rock Ps 78-'° (' o:t). Pre- fixed to another word, it is often u.scd in the sense (6)alK)vp- VaA«;ArnonNu21" [licro phir.], I)t2-^ (cpapavJ)" 3«-"-" 4« Jos 12'- = 13"- ■«. 2 K 10^; X E.shcol (' Wady of the Cluster') Nu 32», Dt l" (both ♦dpa-yf ^irrpvot) ; N. hashskitiim, ' Wady of the Acacias 'Jl 4 (3)" (xfiMiippot twv axolfuv) ; N. Besor