Ezekiel 47:8-18

8 Then said he to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the `Aravah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea [shall the waters go] which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed.

9 It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come there, and [the waters of the sea] shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.

10 It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from `En-Gedi even to `En-`Eglayim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

11 But the miry places of it, and the marshes of it, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.

12 By the river on the bank of it, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit of it fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters of it issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit of it shall be for food, and the leaf of it for healing.

13 Thus says the Lord GOD: This shall be the border, whereby you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Yisra'el: Yosef [shall have two] portions.

14 You shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it to your fathers: and this land shall fall to you for inheritance.

15 This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hetlon, to the entrance of Tzedad;

16 Hamat, Berotah, Sivrai, which is between the border of Dammesek and the border of Hamat; the middle Hatzer, which is by the border of Havran.

17 The border from the sea, shall be Hatzar-`Enon at the border of Dammesek; and on the north northward is the border of Hamat. This is the north side.

18 The east side, between Hauran and Dammesek and Gil`ad, and Eretz-Yisra'el, shall be the Yarden; from the [north] border to the east sea shall you measure. This is the east side.

Ezekiel 47:8-18 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.