Bible Strands
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first river is the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the first of four headwaters branching from the river that waters Eden as it flows out to the garden.
The words — שֵׁם (shem) means name and אֶרֶץ (eretz) means land. The text literally identifies the first river as Pishon and states it winds through the entire land of Havilah.
The thread — Havilah reappears in Genesis 10:29, Genesis 25:18, and 1 Samuel 15:7 as a geographic region linked to Joktan’s descendants, Ishmael’s territory, and the Amalekite border.
Why it lands — The verse anchors the Eden account in concrete geography and material resources, requiring the reader to note the specific location before the narrative shifts to human action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Cross-references
- Genesis 25:18 Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
- Genesis 10:29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
- 1 Samuel 15:7 Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
- Genesis 10:7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.