What Does Genesis 2:10 Mean in the King James?
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
One river from delight waters the garden and then branches into four heads, presenting division as the spread of a shared source.
THE MEANING
The image holds unity and distinction together: one river flows from Eden to water the garden, then becomes four headwaters. Eden carries the sense of delight, so the flow moves from delight into nourishment and outward reach. Each course begins from the same river.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the assumption that division means a broken or depleted source: here one river divides into four headwaters.
THE ROOT
יִפָּרֵד
yippared
GROWS FROM
פ־ר־ד
p-r-d
To separate or divide.
“parted” in this verse is yippared. The verb yippared belongs to the same root family as the word Abram uses when he tells Lot to separate from him. Here separation yields four heads of one river: the verse presents branching as the distribution of a shared source.
ALSO GROWS
hippared: Separate yourself (Genesis 13:9).
הִפָּרֵד
The same root describes Abram and Lot taking distinct courses through the land.
nifredu: Were divided (Genesis 10:5).
נִפְרְדוּ
The root also describes peoples spreading into distinct lands, extending the image of division into separate courses.
עֵדֶן
ʿeden
GROWS FROM
ע־ד־ן
ʿ-d-n
Delight, pleasure, or luxurious enjoyment.
Eden’s name is associated with delight and pleasure. The river’s source is named as delight, and its flow becomes nourishment for the garden and branches outward.
ALSO GROWS
ʿednah: Pleasure (Genesis 18:12).
עֶדְנָה
This form uses the same root for the experience of delight.
maʿadannei: Delicacies or dainties (Genesis 49:20).
מַעֲדַנֵּי
The root also names what is savored, linking delight with nourishment.
רָאשִׁים
rashim
GROWS FROM
ר־א־שׁ
r-ʾ-sh
Head, top, or beginning.
A rosh can be a head, a top, or a beginning. The river becomes four “heads”, the beginnings of distinct courses, while all four still issue from one river.
ALSO GROWS
reshit: Beginning or first (Genesis 1:1).
רֵאשִׁית
This form makes explicit the root’s sense of a beginning or starting point.
rishon: First or former.
רִאשׁוֹן
This related form shows how the root extends from “head” to what comes first.
THE PATTERN
Life-giving flow begins at a source and extends outward, sustaining what it reaches.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.THE THREAD
Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.“It was parted” here and “separate thyself” in Genesis 13:9 share the Hebrew root פ־ר־ד (p-r-d), to separate or divide. In this verse the river divides into four headwaters; in Genesis 13, separation opens distinct routes through the land.
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