What does יְאֹר (yĕʾōr) mean in the Bible?
The Hebrew noun ye'or names a river or water channel and most often refers to the Nile and its connected streams or canals. It can also describe another major river or a channel cut through rock.
Hebrew · H2975
יְאֹר
A channel , e.g. a fosse, canal, shaft; specifically the Nile , as the one river of Egypt, including its collateral trenches; also the Tigris , as the main river of Assyria
Reading a lexicon entry
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יְאֹרH2975
Pronunciationyĕʾōr
What does יְאֹר (yĕʾōr) mean in the Bible?
The Hebrew noun ye'or names a river or water channel and most often refers to the Nile and its connected streams or canals. It can also describe another major river or a channel cut through rock.
Reader summary
Full entry for יְאֹר (H2975) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H2975?
The BSB source-word alignment has 65 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the Nile (9), of the Nile (7), like the Nile (6), of the river (5), in the Nile (4).
Where does יְאֹר (yĕʾōr) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 41:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (25), Isaiah (10), Ezekiel (9), Genesis (6).
What This Word Actually Means
The Hebrew noun ye'or names a river or water channel and most often refers to the Nile and its connected streams or canals. It can also describe another major river or a channel cut through rock. In Genesis, cattle rise from the Nile in Pharaoh's dreams before Joseph explains the coming years of abundance and famine. In Exodus, the Nile is the site of Pharaoh's violent order against Hebrew sons and later becomes undrinkable in God's confrontation with Pharaoh.
Isaiah portrays the Nile and its channels drying, with cascading harm to fishers, flax workers, weavers, and hired laborers. Ezekiel condemns Pharaoh's boast that the Nile belongs to him and that he made it. These passages present water as life-supporting infrastructure, contested imperial power, a place of oppression, and a setting of judgment. Ye'or does not mean every river, and it does not make drought, flood, pollution, or economic disruption proof of a community's guilt.
Readers should identify the waterway, political setting, affected people, and genre before drawing theological or present-day conclusions.
How the Bible Uses It
Ye'or usually names the Nile and its channels, but can denote another major river or a cut channel, appearing in dreams, oppression, plague, economic life, imperial boasting, and skilled work.
- Gen.41.1
After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,
Pharaoh stands beside the Nile in the first dream whose cattle and grain images Joseph later connects with abundance and famine.
- Exod.1.22
Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
Pharaoh commands his people to cast Hebrew sons into the Nile, turning Egypt's vital river into a site of state violence.
- Exod.7.20
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood.
Aaron strikes the Nile before Pharaoh and his officials, and its water becomes blood in the Lord's confrontation with oppression.
- Isa.19.6
The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.
Isaiah depicts Egypt's channels stinking and streams drying, with the following verses naming losses to ecosystems and workers.
- Ezek.29.3
Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord God says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’
Pharaoh boasts that the Nile is his and that he made it, and the Lord answers this imperial claim through Ezekiel.
- Job.28.10
He hews out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure.
Job's wisdom poem describes miners hewing channels through rock while searching hidden places for earthly treasure.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itthe Nile9×Genesis 41:1, Genesis 41:3, Exodus 2:5, Exodus 4:9
of the Nile7×Genesis 41:17, Exodus 2:3, Exodus 7:15, Exodus 7:17
like the Nile6×Isaiah 23:10, Jeremiah 46:7, Jeremiah 46:8, Amos 8:8
of the river5×Genesis 41:3, Isaiah 19:7, Daniel 12:5, Daniel 12:6
in the Nile4×Exodus 7:18, Exodus 7:21, Exodus 8:9, Exodus 8:11
the streams4×2 Kings 19:24, Isaiah 19:6, Isaiah 37:25, Ezekiel 30:12
of your streams3×Ezekiel 29:4, Ezekiel 29:5
the river3×Genesis 41:2, Genesis 41:18, Exodus 7:18
. . .2×Exodus 2:5, Daniel 12:5
into the Nile2×Exodus 1:22, Isaiah 19:8
its2×Exodus 7:18, Exodus 7:21
your rivers2×Ezekiel 29:4, Ezekiel 29:10
-1×Exodus 7:20
[and] canals1×Exodus 7:19
along the Nile1×Isaiah 19:7
and canals1×Exodus 8:5
and the river1×Exodus 7:21
by the Nile1×Nahum 3:8
canals1×Isaiah 33:21
channels1×Job 28:10
from the Nile1×Exodus 4:9
from the river1×Exodus 7:24
his rivers1×Ezekiel 29:3
like the river1×Amos 9:5
streams1×Isaiah 7:18
The Nile [is]1×Ezekiel 29:9
The Nile is mine1×Ezekiel 29:3
their rivers1×Psalms 78:44
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 41:1הַיְאֹֽר׃tothe NileArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularGenesis 41:2הַיְאֹ֗רtothe riverArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularGenesis 41:3הַיְאֹ֔רtothe NileArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularGenesis 41:3הַיְאֹֽר׃toof the riverArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularGenesis 41:17הַיְאֹֽר׃toof the NileArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularGenesis 41:18הַיְאֹ֗רtothe riverArticle | Noun - masculine singularExodus 1:22הַיְאֹ֙רָה֙tointo the NileArticle | Noun - masculine singular | third person feminine singularExodus 2:3הַיְאֹֽר׃toof the NileArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularExodus 2:5הַיְאֹ֔רtothe NileArticle | Noun - proper - feminine singularExodus 2:5הַיְאֹ֑רto. . .Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 41:1
Aligned rows65
Books represented12
Genesis6Exodus252 Kings1Job1Psalms1Isaiah10Jeremiah2Ezekiel9Daniel4Amos4Nahum1Zechariah1
Source forms
הַיְאֹ֔ר7xhay·’ōrGenesis 41:3, Exodus 2:5, Exodus 4:9, Exodus 7:21
הַיְאֹֽר׃6xhay·’ōrGenesis 41:1, Genesis 41:3, Genesis 41:17, Exodus 2:3
הַיְאֹ֑ר5xhay·’ōrExodus 2:5, Exodus 7:15, Exodus 7:18, Exodus 7:21
בַּיְאֹ֖ר4xbay·’ōrExodus 7:17, Exodus 7:20, Exodus 8:9, Exodus 8:11
יְאֹרֶ֔יךָ3xyə·’ō·re·ḵāEzekiel 29:4, Ezekiel 29:5
הַיְאֹ֗ר2xhay·’ōrGenesis 41:2, Genesis 41:18
יְא֖וֹר2xyə·’ō·wrIsaiah 19:7, Isaiah 23:3
יְאֹרֵ֥י2xyə·’ō·rê2 Kings 19:24, Isaiah 37:25
Parsing patterns
Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular19xGenesis 41:1, Genesis 41:2, Genesis 41:3, Genesis 41:17
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular8xExodus 7:17, Exodus 7:18, Exodus 7:20, Exodus 7:21
Article | Noun - masculine singular6xGenesis 41:18, Exodus 7:25, Daniel 12:5, Daniel 12:6
Noun - proper - feminine singular6xIsaiah 19:7, Isaiah 23:3, Ezekiel 29:9, Zechariah 10:11
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular5xEzekiel 29:4, Ezekiel 29:5, Ezekiel 29:10
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular5xIsaiah 23:10, Jeremiah 46:7, Jeremiah 46:8, Amos 8:8
Noun - masculine plural construct4x2 Kings 19:24, Isaiah 7:18, Isaiah 19:6, Isaiah 37:25
Noun - masculine plural3xJob 28:10, Isaiah 33:21, Ezekiel 30:12
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Water crises require reliable evidence, practical aid, public accountability, and special attention to children, workers, and other vulnerable people.
- Communities remembering state violence should center victims, protect affected families, and honor truthful resistance rather than using suffering as spectacle.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that ye'or is the Hebrew word behind every biblical river, stream, canal, or flood reference.
- Do not claim that present water disasters identify particular sinners or reproduce the Nile plague without explicit revelation.
- Do not claim that rulers, nations, companies, or ministries possess ultimate creative ownership over resources on which communities depend.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Designates major imperial rivers—Nile and Tigris—as channels of divine judgment and Egypt/Assyria's power.
Source Gloss
a channel , e.g. a fosse, canal, shaft; specifically the Nile , as the one river of Egypt, including its collateral trenches; also the Tigris , as the main river of Assyria
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Designates major imperial rivers—Nile and Tigris—as channels of divine judgment and Egypt/Assyria's power.
a channel, e.g. a fosse, canal, shaft; specifically the Nile, as the one river of Egypt, including its collateral trenches; also the Tigris, as the main river of Assyria BDB: stream of the Nile Usage: brook, flood, river, stream.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
River, often referring specifically to the Nile.
Showing 1 selected witness from 65 lexical occurrence verses.
Why This Word Matters
The Nile represents Egypt’s lifeline and economic backbone.Isaiah 19:5-10
For the Preacher and Teacher
Ye'or keeps biblical theology close to water, power, and human dependence. The Nile sustains fields, animals, labor, and Egypt's public life, which helps explain why it can appear in royal dreams and imperial claims. Pharaoh also weaponizes the river against Hebrew families, and Exodus later depicts the Nile struck in God's confrontation with a ruler who refuses release.
Isaiah's drying channels expose the linked suffering of ecosystems and workers, not merely an abstract loss of national prestige. Ezekiel targets Pharaoh's boast that he owns and made the Nile, challenging a ruler who treats a life-giving system as his personal creation. Job can use the same lexical range for channels cut through rock, showing that the term is not restricted mechanically to one river.
Faithful teaching should therefore name water's material importance and the people affected by its control or failure. It must not treat present drought, flood, contamination, or economic loss as a divinely decoded verdict. Scripture's explicit judgments belong to their revealed settings. Modern application requires truthful evidence, protection of vulnerable people, responsible stewardship, and humility about human dependence.
Anchor passage
Ezek.29.3
Doctrinal connections
- Life-supporting rivers remain part of God's creation rather than the ultimate possession or achievement of a ruler.
- Imperial power can turn shared resources into instruments of violence against vulnerable families and peoples.
- God confronts Pharaoh's oppression and self-exalting claim to authorship over the Nile.
- Environmental disruption can cascade through fishers, farmers, craftspeople, laborers, and whole communities.
- Joseph's response to announced famine includes prudent collection and provision during years of abundance.
- Human skill can cut channels and uncover treasure while wisdom itself remains beyond mere technical mastery.
Ye'or is a masculine Hebrew noun for a channel, stream, canal, or major river. In many contexts it functions as the customary designation for the Nile and related Egyptian waterways, while other contexts can use it for a different river or a channel hewn through rock. Not every biblical river uses this noun.
From Old to New Testament
The New Testament teaches dependence on God's provision, judgment of oppressive power, practical care, and humility about wealth, but it uses Greek river and water vocabulary. Connections should not make every water scene a direct lexical continuation of ye'or.