River of God

The River of God (Hebrew nahar elohim) appears in Psalm 65:9 in a hymn celebrating God's providential care for creation: "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it." The phrase represents the divine abundance that waters the earth and produces its harvests — the invisible channel of God's blessing that sustains all agricultural life. Genesis 2:10 describes a river going out of Eden to water the garden, and Psalm 46:4 speaks of "a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." These images of the divine river converge in Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 22:1, where the river of God becomes the eschatological source of life and healing.