Iraq

Chebar River

Meaning
The name Chebar likely comes from the Akkadian kabaru, meaning great or wide, and named one of the canals that carried the waters of the Euphrates to the region of Nippur, in Babylon. It was beside this canal that the prophet Ezekiel, already in exile, received his first vision of the glory of God.
About the place

The Chebar River was an irrigation canal in ancient Babylon, in the region that today corresponds to Iraq. It diverted the waters of the Euphrates and passed near the city of Nippur, south of Babylon.

A large community of Jewish exiles lived there, taken from Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Among them was the priest Ezekiel, far from the temple in Jerusalem, striving to keep his people’s faith alive in a foreign land.

In the year 593 BC, beside the Chebar River, the heavens opened before Ezekiel. He saw four living creatures, wheels full of eyes, and the glory of the Lord upon a throne, and there he received his call as a prophet.

After the vision, Ezekiel sat among the exiles at Tel Abib, near the same river, for seven days, overwhelmed by what he had seen. The Chebar River thus became the place where God revealed himself to a people who seemed to have lost everything.

Key verses

In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

Ezekiel 1:1

I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days, deeply distressed.

Ezekiel 3:15

What happened here

The heavens open over the place of exile

Beside the Chebar River, among the exiles from Judah, Ezekiel saw the heavens open: four living creatures, wheels covered with eyes and the glory of the Lord upon a throne. There he received his calling as a prophet.

Ezekiel 1:1-28

Seven days of amazement among the exiles

After the vision, Ezekiel arrived at Tel Aviv, beside the Chebar River, and spent seven days sitting among the exiles, stunned by what he had seen.

Ezekiel 3:15
People linked to this place
E

Ezekiel

Received his first vision here

Books where it appears

Ezekiel

The prophetic book that opens with the vision received beside the Chebar River

The place today
The place today

The Chebar River no longer exists under that name. The identification most widely accepted by scholars is an ancient canal called Shatt en-Nil, which carried water from the Euphrates to the region of Nippur, now an archaeological site in southern Iraq, near the city of Diwaniyah. Archaeologists do not, however, agree unanimously on its exact location.

Modern Iraq is home to a people with a deep history and much suffering in recent decades. Just as God revealed himself to Ezekiel far from home, beside the waters of exile, he remains present among those who suffer today. Pray for the Iraqi people to know that same presence of God.

Pray for this nation today: Iraque

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