ποταμός

Matthew 7:25 ποταμοὶ torrents

The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.

Here: Literally 'rivers'. Here it means the flash-flood streams that the winter rains send through normally dry valleys. The second force comes from below, at ground level, against the base of the house.

Matthew 7:27 ποταμοὶ torrents

The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

Here: Literally 'rivers'. Here it means the rushing streams that rain sends down the valleys and gullies. Water running over sand washes it away from under a house.

Mark 1:5 ποταμῷ river

People went out to him from all of Jerusalem and the countryside of Judea. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Luke 6:48 ποταμὸς stream

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

Here: A river or stream. In a Palestinian setting this includes the seasonal wadi, a dry valley bed that turns into a torrent in winter rains.

Luke 6:49 ποταμός, stream,

But the one who hears My words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell—and great was its destruction!”

Here: A river or watercourse. In the flood of 6:48 it is a swollen torrent, like a dry wadi (a seasonal stream bed) turned into a wall of water. It is not a gentle brook.

John 7:38 ποταμοὶ Rivers

Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

Here: Plural 'rivers', not trickles or 'streams'. The picture is of great volume, like the river from the Temple in Ezekiel 47 that grows too deep to cross, or the water from the rock in the desert ('rivers', Psalm 78:16).

Acts 16:13 ποταμὸν a river

On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there.

2 Corinthians 11:26 ποταμῶν, of rivers,

In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

Here: 'Dangers of rivers': unbridged rivers that had to be forded, and mountain streams that swelled suddenly with snowmelt or storms. The genitive says where the danger comes from.

Revelation 8:10 ποταμῶν rivers

Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

Here: Flowing fresh water. The second trumpet hit the salt sea, and this one hits the drinking-water supply.

Revelation 9:14 ποταμῷ river

saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

Here: The Euphrates, the river that in Scripture and in Roman politics marked a frontier.

Revelation 12:15 ποταμόν, a river,

Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away in the torrent.

Here: A river, a moving body of water with a current. The picture is a rushing torrent that drags things along, not standing floodwater.

Revelation 12:16 ποταμὸν river

But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth to swallow up the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.

Here: The torrent the serpent sent after the woman to sweep her away. In Scripture a rushing river is a stock picture of overwhelming enemies or disaster.

Revelation 16:4 ποταμοὺς rivers

And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood.

Here: Flowing freshwater, the lifeline of cities and farms. It recalls the Nile and Egypt's 'rivers' (canals and branches) struck in Exodus 7.

Revelation 16:12 ποταμὸν river

And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.

Here: In biblical idiom "the River" on its own often means the Euphrates (e.g. Isa 8:7). Here it is spelled out in full.

Revelation 22:1 ποταμὸν a river

Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

Here: A real flowing river, not a spring or a cistern. It recalls the river that went out of Eden (Gen 2:10) and the river Ezekiel saw flowing from the temple (Ezek 47).

Revelation 22:2 ποταμοῦ, river,

down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Here: The river of the water of life from verse 1. It flows from God's throne and echoes the river of Eden (Gen 2:10) and the temple river of Ezekiel 47.