Ezekiel 47:1-12

The Life-Giving River

1 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side [of the threshold] of the temple, south of the altar.^[a]

2 Next he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was trickling from the south side.

3 As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand,^[b] he measured off a third of a mile^[c] and led me through the water. It came up to [my] ankles.

4 Then he measured off a third [of a mile] and led me through the water. It came up to [my] knees. He measured off another third [of a mile] and led me through [the water]. It came up to [my] waist.

5 Again he measured off a third of a [mile], and it was a river that I could not cross [on foot]. For the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed [on foot].

6 He asked me, "Do you see [this], son of man?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

7 When I had returned, I saw a very large number of trees along both sides of the riverbank.^[d]

8 He said to me, "This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down to the Arabah. When it enters the sea, the sea of foul water,^[e][f] the water [of the sea] becomes fresh.^[g]

9 Every [kind of] living creature that swarms^[h] will live wherever the river flows,^[i] and there will be a huge number of fish^[j] because this water goes there. Since the water will become fresh, there will be life everywhere the river goes.

10 Fishermen will stand beside it from En-gedi to En-eglaim.^[k] These will become places where nets are spread out to dry. Their fish will consist of many different kinds, like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea.

11 Yet its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be left for salt.

12 All [kinds of] trees providing food will grow along both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail.^[l] Each month they will bear fresh fruit because the water [comes] from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for medicine."^[m]

Ezekiel 47:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 47

This chapter gives an account of the vision of the holy waters, and of the borders of the holy land, and the division of it to Israelites and strangers. The waters are described by the original and spring of them, Eze 47:1,2, by the progress and increase of them, Eze 47:3-5, by the healing and quickening nature of them, and the places where they were so, and were not, Eze 47:8-11, and by the trees which grew upon the banks of them, Eze 47:6,7,12. The borders of the holy land are fixed, Eze 47:13,14, the northern border, Eze 47:15-17, the eastern border, Eze 47:18, the southern, Eze 47:19, and the western, Eze 47:20, which is to be divided by lot to the tribes of Israel, and the strangers that sojourn among them, Eze 47:21-23.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ps 46:4; Zch 14:8; Rv 22:1
• [b]. Ezk 40:3
• [c]. Lit 1,000 cubits; also in vv. 4-5
• [d]. Rv 22:2
• [e]. Or enters the sea, being brought out to the sea; Hb obscure
• [f]. the Dead Sea
• [g]. Ex 15:26; 2 Kg 2:21
• [h]. Gn 1:21
• [i]. LXX, Vg; MT reads the two rivers flow
• [j]. Lk 5:6; Jn 21:6
• [k]. Two springs near the Dead Sea
• [l]. Ps 1:3
• [m]. Rv 22:2