Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Abana and Pharpar - the Abana (strong); the Greek Chrysorrhoas (golden stream), now Barrada (gold river). Taking its rise in Anti-Lebanon at a height of 3,340 feet above the sea, and at least 1,000 feet above Damascus, it waters about 311 square miles of arable land. The Barrada and one of its five tributaries, most probably the 'Awaj. Joseph Schwarz (in 'Geography of Palestine') says that the Jews resident in Damascus describe Damascus still as 'situated on the two rivers Abana and Pharpar' (Wilson's 'Lands, of the Bible,' 2:, 325, note; Ritter's 'Erdkunde,' 117:, p. 1303; Porter's 'Five Years in Damascus,' 1:, pp. 159, 162, 394, 395; 2:, 11, 248, 249, 358; Lord Lindsay, 'Holy Land,' p. 330). The waters of Damascus are still as highly extolled by their inhabitants for their purity and coldness.