The River From the Temple

47 The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water^(A) coming out 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 temple, south of the altar.^(B)

³ As the man went eastward with a measuring line^(A) in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits^[a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. ⁵ He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river^(B) that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.^{(C) 6} He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

⁸ He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,^[a](A) where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.^(B)

⁹ Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.^(A)

¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.^(A) Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit^(B) fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary^(C) flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.^(D)”