Dictionaries :: Brook

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Brook:

a torrent. (1.) Applied to small streams, as the Arnon, Jabbok, etc. Isaiah (Isa 15:7) speaks of the "book of the willows," probably the Wady-el-Asha. (2.) It is also applied to winter torrents (Job 6:15; Num 34:5; Jos 15:4,47), and to the torrent-bed or wady as well as to the torrent itself (Num 13:23; 1Ki 17:3). (3.) In Isa 19:7 the river Nile is meant, as rendered in the Revised Version.

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Brook:

brook (nachal, ‘aphiq, ye'or, mikhal; cheimarrhos): In Palestine there are few large streams. Of the smaller ones many flow only during the winter, or after a heavy rain. The commonest Hebrew word for brook is nachal, which is also used for river and for valley, and it is not always clear whether the valley or the stream in the valley is meant (Nu 13:23; De 2:13; 2Sa 15:23). The Arabic wady, which is sometimes referred to in this connection, is not an exact parallel, for while it may be used of a dry valley or of a valley containing a stream, it means the valley and not the stream. ‘Aphiq and ye'or are translated both "brook" and "river," ye'or being generally used of the Nile (Ex 1:22, etc.), though in Da 12:5-7, of the Tigris. Cheirnarrhos, "winter-flowing," is applied in Joh 18:1 to the Kidron. Many of the streams of Palestine which are commonly called rivers would in other countries be called brooks, but in such a dry country any perennial stream assumes a peculiar importance.

Written by Alfred Ely Day

Nave's Topical Bible

Brook:

See RIVER

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Brook:

lit., "winter-flowing" (from cheima, "winter," and rheo, "to flow"), a stream which runs only in winter or when swollen with rains, a "brook," Jhn 18:1.