Ezekiel 47:1-12

The Voice

47 The man whose appearance was like bronze led me back to the temple’s entryway. There I observed a stream of water bubbling up from beneath the temple threshold, flowing eastward in the same direction the temple faced. The water was running parallel to the temple’s wall south of the altar.

This flowing, running, living water cleanses, heals, and restores everything in its path.

²My guide led me through the north gate and took me around the outside wall to the east gate. I looked and could see the water trickling out from the south end of the east gate.

³The man walked toward the east with a measuring line in his hand and measured off 1,750 feet or about ⅓ mile. Then we walked together through the ankle-deep water. ⁴He measured off another 1,750 feet, and we walked together now through water that was knee-deep. He measured as we walked another 1,750 feet, and we waded together through water that was waist-deep. ⁵Then he measured off another 1,750 feet, but this time I couldn’t wade any farther because the water was too deep. Now the stream of water had become a river, deep enough for swimming.

The Man: ⁶Son of man, have you seen anything like this?

Then my guide brought me back to the river’s edge. ⁷When we got back there, I looked and saw orchards along both sides of the river.

The Man: ^8-9This river flows eastward and runs down into the Jordan Valley to the place where it flows into the Dead Sea. The moment it meets the sea, the salty water becomes fresh. Swarms of creatures will flourish wherever this river flows. Schools of fish will swim through currents of fresh water, for wherever this water flows everything will come alive! ¹⁰From Engedi to Eneglaim, fishermen will stand upon the shore and spread out their nets! They will come there because the waters contain many fish of various kinds, just as the Mediterranean Sea^[a] does. ¹¹However, the swamps and marshes won’t become fresh; these will continue to provide salt. ¹²All kinds of trees will flourish along both sides of the river. Their leaves won’t wither, and their fruit won’t fail. Every month they will bear a fresh crop of fruit because they are nourished from the water that flows from the temple sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves will be for healing.