The famous Euphrates River, running right through the heart of the “cradle of civilization” in Iraq, is drying up, which may be setting the stage for Bible end-times prophecy being fulfilled.
A 2021 government report issued by the Iraq Ministry of Water Resources warned the river could run dry by 2040, The National reported. The turn of events is blamed on climate change and the construction of dams upstream in Turkey, Syria, and Iran.
IFL Science noted, “In just a few decades, the flow in the Euphrates-Tigris River system has decreased to almost half of the average annual flow during dry years. Satellite images show that the Tigris and Euphrates River basins had lost 144 cubic kilometers (34 cubic miles) of freshwater from 2003 to 2013, leaving water levels at some of their lowest in recorded history.”
Reuters reported that recent heavy rains have alleviated the situation somewhat.
According to the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, the Euphrates River could run dry by 2040.
Is Revelation 16:12 starting to unfold?
“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 from the East.” pic.twitter.com/ugQySnr88K
— Old School Eddie (@Old_SchoolEddie) May 13, 2026
The Euphrates River is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 2 as flowing through the Garden of Eden, along with the Tigris River, and two others — the Pishon and Gihon rivers — which are lost to history.
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah and the apostle John in the New Testament’s book of Revelation foresaw that the Euphrates River would dry up. John’s prophecy is the more well-known of the two because it’s linked to the end-times battle of Armageddon.
Jeremiah 50:38 says of the Euphrates, which flowed by Babylon, “A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up!”
The Bible answer site Got Questions says the Euphrates drying up now could be a fulfillment of that ancient prophecy.
According to the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, the Euphrates River could run dry by 2040. This raises a biblical prophetic question: Is Revelation 16:12 happening in real time?
WATCH: https://t.co/KljsW5cYP2 pic.twitter.com/bq9hOKIJ50
— CBN News (@CBNNews) May 13, 2026
The Bible also records in Revelation that at the end of this age, there will be a seven-year Great Tribulation period, which will culminate with military forces from around the world converging on Israel, with the Antichrist leading the assault.
Prior to that, God’s angels will pour out bowls of wrath, including some specifically directed at the Antichrist and his followers, resulting in plagues, intense heat, death, and destruction.
Revelation 16:12 reads, “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 from the east.”
Scholars do not know exactly who the kings of the east might be referencing, but Got Questions identifies China as at least one of the likely candidates.
An angel will pour out a final seventh bowl, causing lightning, thunder, massive hailstones, and an earthquake “such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.”
The ancient city of Babylon in Iraq, home to the Antichrist, is split into three by the quake, according to the Bible.
After these events, Jesus Christ will return to earth with a heavenly host and defeat the Antichrist and those aligned with him in the plain of Megiddo, otherwise known as Armageddon.
Is the Euphrates starting to dry up now a precursor to a future battle of Armageddon? Time will tell.
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