H0549 H0549
Abanah/Amana; river flowing from Anti-Lebanon into Damascus, or the mountain region itself
A place name with variant spellings (Ketiv: Abanah, Qere: Amana), appearing in two contexts. In 2 Kings 5:12, Naaman mentions the Abanah (or Amana) river of Damascus, identified with the Greek Chrysorrhoas and modern Barada River, the main water source flowing from Anti-Lebanon into the Damascus plain. Song of Songs 4:8 references 'from Amana,' likely the mountain region from which the river flows rather than the river itself. The name may derive from a root meaning 'constant' or 'faithful,' appropriate for a perennial river.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Cross-linguistic evidence preserves the ketiv-qere distinction: English 'Abanah' and 'Amana,' Spanish similarly, French includes 'd'Amana' (from Amana), German brackets the Hebrew. Naaman's rhetorical question contrasts Damascus's superior rivers with Israel's Jordan—'Are not Abanah and Pharpar better than all the waters of Israel?' The Song reference to 'peaks of Amana' situates the bride's beauty in Lebanon's dramatic mountain geography. 2×
AR["أَبَانَا", "أَمَنَه"]·ben["-আমানার", "আমানা"]·DE["[אמנה]"]·EN["Abanah", "Amana"]·FR["Abanah", "d'Amana,"]·heb["אמנה"]·HI["अमाना-की", "अमानाह"]·ID["Abana", "Amana"]·IT["Abanah", "Amana"]·jav["Abana", "Amana"]·KO["아마나", "아마나-의"]·PT["Amana", "Amanah"]·RU["Амана", "Аманы"]·ES["Abana", "Amaná"]·SW["Abana", "cha-Amana"]·TR["Amana'nin", "Avana"]·urd["امانہ", "امانہ-کی"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† II. אֲמָנָה n.pr.fl. 1. a river (constant? cf. Is 33:16) flowing down from Antilebanon into the plain of Damascus 2 K 5:12 (Qr; אֲבָנָה Kt), the Gr. Chrysorrhoas, mod. Arabic Nahr Baradâ. 2. the region from which it flows Ct 4:8.