Shihor
Shihor is a river mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Egypt in modern-day Egypt. Known today as Pelusiac branch of the Nile. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Shihor appears in the Old Testament as a geographical marker for the southwestern boundary of Israelite territory or the limit of Canaanite land in relation to Egypt. In Joshua 13:3, the text describes the land that remains unconquered "from the Shihor east of Egypt" northward to the border of Ekron, delineating the territory of the Philistines and other peoples still outside Israelite control. The name Shihor derives from the Egyptian shior or shior-hor, meaning "waters of Horus" or "lake of Horus," reflecting its Egyptian cultural context. Scholars have long debated whether Shihor refers to the Nile itself, a specific branch of the Nile delta, or the Wadi el-Arish (the Brook of Egypt). The Pelusiac branch identification suggests it marked the easternmost significant waterway of the Egyptian delta system, serving as a recognized boundary between Egyptian and Canaanite spheres of influence. This boundary river thus held political as well as geographical significance in the ancient Near Eastern world, marking the contested frontier between two great civilizations.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The Shihor is generally identified with the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, the easternmost distributary of the ancient Nile delta, which flowed past the ancient city of Pelusium (Tell el-Farama) into the Mediterranean. This branch, now dry, was a major waterway in antiquity and formed a natural boundary between Egypt proper and the Sinai/Canaan corridor. Excavations at Pelusium have revealed extensive remains from multiple periods. Some scholars prefer to identify Shihor with the Wadi el-Arish, the traditional "Brook of Egypt" marking the border in Numbers 34:5. The desiccation of the Pelusiac branch makes definitive identification complex, though satellite imagery and geoarchaeological surveys have traced its former course across the eastern delta.
Verse Appearances (1)
Isa
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]