נַחַל nachal

Hebrew word for “torrent” · Strong’s H5158 · used 141 times in 123 verses

Explore it in the Word Atlas

Meaning

: river/bed; 1) torrent, valley, wadi, torrent-valley;

Senses in the lexicon

• torrent: river (70)
• torrent: valley (53)
• Brook (7)
• (Eshcol) Valley (4)
• Brook (2)
• palm-tree (1)
• (Sorek) Valley (1)
• Brook (1)
• (Shittim) Valley (1)
• Brook (1)

How it is translated

Glosses given for nachal in context, with how often each is used:

• wadi 95
• wadis 14
• torrents 10
• river 7
• torrent 3
• like a torrent 3
• shaft 1
• rivers 1
• where the rivers 1
• like river 1
• two rivers 1
• like a wadi 1

Where it is used

Also in 13 more books.

Chapters where it is used most

Ezekiel 47 (6), Deuteronomy 2 (5), 1 Kings 17 (5), Numbers 21 (3), Deuteronomy 3 (3), Joshua 15 (3), 1 Samuel 30 (3), Genesis 26 (2), Leviticus 11 (2), Numbers 13 (2)

Forms

• נחל 50
• הנחל 22
• בנחל 18
• נחלי 6
• לנחל 6
• נחלים 5
• מנחל 4
• נחלה 4
• הנחלים 4
• כנחל 4

Words used with it

Words that share verses with nachal more often than their overall frequency would suggest:

• מַי mayim “water” 23
• אַרְנוֹן arnon “Arnon” 12
• עַד ad “till” 24
• קִדְרוֹן qidron “Kidron” 9
• עֲרֹעֵר aroer “Aroer” 8
• גְּבוּל gevul “border” 12
• יָם yam “sea” 12
• עָבַר avar “to pass” 13
• שָׁם sham “there” 13
• קִישׁוֹן qishon “Kishon” 5
• עִיר ir “city” 13
• שָׁטַף shataph “to overflow” 6

Key verses

The verses using nachal that are most connected by cross-references (King James Version):

• 1 Kings 8:65 — And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD…
• Psalms 18:4 — The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
• Psalms 36:8 — They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
• Proverbs 30:17 — The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
• Isaiah 11:15 — And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the…
• Isaiah 27:12 — And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by…
• Isaiah 30:28 — And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in…
• Isaiah 30:33 — For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the…
• Isaiah 35:6 — Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
• Isaiah 57:5 — Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
• Jeremiah 31:9 — They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall…
• Joel 3:18 — And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow…

See all 123 verses in the Word Atlas

Hebrew and Greek text, tagging, glosses and lexicon definitions: STEPBible.org, Tyndale House Cambridge (TAHOT, TAGNT, TBESH, TBESG; CC BY 4.0), adapted. Counts follow King James verse numbering; a word counts each time it is written.