noun · masculine
potamos
Strong’sG4215
a river, torrent
stem potam-17 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books7 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
The word denotes a river, stream, or torrent — running water, whether a great river, a flood, or a rushing current 1234. Strong's specifies that the underlying idea is of running, drinkable water rather than a still body 2. In the New Testament it is used of actual rivers and floodwaters, including the many rivers pictured in the book of Revelation 1.
The word is also used figuratively in the plural for rivers of living water, describing something flowing out abundantly, as in the saying about rivers of living water flowing from within a believer 1.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
ποταμός, -οῦ, ὁ,
[in LXX chiefly for נָהָר, יְאֹר;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4215 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpot-am-os'
a current, brook or freshet (as drinkable), i.e. running water
Fromprobably from a derivative of the alternate of G4095 (compare G4224);
King Jamesflood, river, stream, water.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
river, stream, Ὠκεανοῖο ἐξ οὗ περ πάντες π. Refs 8th c.BC+; π. ἁλιμυρήεις, ἀργυροδίνης, βαθυδίνης, βαθύρροος, δεινός, διιπετής, δινήεις, ἐΰρροος, ἐρίδουπος, εὐρὺ ῥέων, θεῖος, ἱερός, ἴφθιμος, καλλίροος, κελάδων, λάβρος, πλήθων, χειμάρροος, ὠκύροος, Refs 8th c.BC+; νυκτὸς π., of the rivers of hell, Refs 5th c.BC+ of extraordinary events, Refs 5th c.BC+; π. θαλάσσῃ ἐρίζεις, of unequal combats, Refs
2 metaphorically, rivers of fire or lava, Refs 5th c.BC+
3 artificial stream, canal, Refs 3rd c.BC+
II personified, rivergod, Refs 8th c.BC+
III name of the constellation Eridanus, Refs 4th c.BC+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | potamos2×ποταμὸς | potamois3×ποταμοὶ |
| object accusative | potamon5×ποταμὸν | potamoin1×ποταμοὺς |
| direct address vocative | potamor | potamoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | potamou1×ποταμοῦ | potamoiu2×ποταμῶν |
| to, for dative | potamo3×ποταμῷ | potamoi |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
potamo is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
17 occurrences, every one of them listed
potamos“river”subjectnominative singular2×
Luke 6:48“river”… petran; plēmmurau de generantau prosrēgata tos potamos ta oikia ekeina, kai ouk ischuata …… on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it …
Luke 6:49“river”… gēan chōris themeliou, ha prosrēgata tos potamos, kai euthuos sumpiptata, kai geneta tem …… house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell — and great was its destruction!”
potamon“river”objectaccusative singular5×
Acts 16:13… sabbateiu exerchana exō tau pulau para potamon hou nomizane proseuchan arō, kai kathizarantois …… outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find …
Revelation 12:15… autou opisō tau gunaikau hudem hōs potamon, hina autan potamoforētan poiateia.… the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep …
Revelation 12:16… tem stomem autau kai katapinata ton potamon hon balata tos drakontos ek teu …… its mouth to swallow up the river that the dragon had poured from …
Revelation 16:12… ekchata tan fialan autou epi ton potamon ton megon ton Eufraton; kai xēranita …… out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried …
Revelation 22:1Kai deikata mi potamon hudeu zōau lampron hōs krustallon, ekporeuorōnton …Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as …
potamou“river”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Revelation 22:2… mese tau plateiau autau; kai tou potamou enteuthen kai ekeithen xulem zōau poiarōntem …… city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing …
potamo“river”to, fordative singular3×
Matthew 3:6kai baptizole en to Iordano potamo hupo autou exomologorōntois tain hamartain autoiu.… baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Mark 1:5… baptizole hupo autou en to Iordano potamo exomologorōntois tain hamartain autoiu.… baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Revelation 9:14… tessares angeloin toin dorēntoin epi to potamo to mego Eufrato.… who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
potamois“floods”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 7:25“floods”… katabainata tas brochas kai erchala tois potamois kai pnala tois anemois kai prospiptala …The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against …
Matthew 7:27“floods”… katabainata tas brochas kai erchala tois potamois kai pnala tois anemois kai proskoptala …The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell— and great was …
John 7:38“rivers”… eis min, kathōs legata tas grafas, potamois ek tau koiliau autou rali hudeu …Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within …
potamoin“rivers”objectaccusative plural1×
Revelation 16:4… ekchata tan fialan autou eis toin potamoin kai tain pēgain teiu hudeiu; kai …… poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they …
potamoiu“rivers”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
2 Corinthians 11:26hodoiporiai pollakis, kindunoi potamoiu, kindunoi lēstoiu, kindunoi ek geneu, kindunoi …… I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from …
Revelation 8:10… kai piptata epi tem tritem toiu potamoiu kai epi tain pēgain teiu hudeiu.… landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.