Genesis 2:11-14
Context2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through 1 the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 2:12 (The gold of that land is pure; 2 pearls 3 and lapis lazuli 4 are also there). 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through 5 the entire land of Cush. 6 2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. 7 The fourth river is the Euphrates.
1 tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”
2 tn Heb “good.”
3 tn The Hebrew term translated “pearls” may be a reference to resin (cf. NIV “aromatic resin”) or another precious stone (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV “bdellium”).
4 tn Or “onyx.”
5 tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”
6 sn Cush. In the Bible the Hebrew word כּוּשׁ (kush, “Kush”) often refers to Ethiopia (so KJV, CEV), but here it must refer to a region in Mesopotamia, the area of the later Cassite dynasty of Babylon. See Gen 10:8 as well as E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 20.
7 tn Heb “Asshur” (so NEB, NIV).