Ezekiel 47

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The river from the temple

¹ Then he brought me back to the entrance of the house; and see, water was flowing out from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the front of the house faced east; and the water was flowing down from under the right side of the house, south of the altar. ² Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate, by the way that faces east; and see, water was trickling out from the right side.

³ When the man went out eastward with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water; it was water up to the ankles. ⁴ Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; it was water up to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through; it was water up to the waist. ⁵ Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. ⁶ And he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man?" Then he led me and brought me back to the bank of the river. ⁷ When I had returned, see, on the bank of the river there were very many trees, on the one side and on the other.

⁸ Then he said to me, "This water goes out toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and it enters the sea; when it flows out into the sea, the waters will be healed. ⁹ And it shall be that every living creature that swarms will live wherever the river goes; and there will be very many fish, because this water goes there, and the waters will be healed; so everything will live wherever the river goes. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand beside it; from En-gedi to En-eglaim there will be a place for spreading nets. Their fish will be of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. ¹¹ But its swamps and its marshes will not be healed; they will be left for salt. ¹² And beside the river, on its bank, on the one side and on the other, every tree for food will grow. Its leaf will not wither, and its fruit will not fail; it will bear fresh fruit every month, because its water flows out from the sanctuary. Its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for healing."

The borders of the land

¹³ Thus says Adonai Yahweh: This is the border by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. ¹⁴ You shall inherit it, each one equally with his brother; for I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance.

¹⁵ This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by the way of Hethlon, as one comes to Zedad; ¹⁶ Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, and Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷ So the border shall run from the sea to Hazar-enan, at the border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north, toward the north. This is the north side. ¹⁸ On the east side, between Hauran and Damascus, and between Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side. ¹⁹ On the south side, toward the Negev, it shall run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, along the Brook to the Great Sea. This is the south side, toward the Negev. ²⁰ On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the border, to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This is the west side.

An inheritance for the stranger

²¹ So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. ²² And it shall be that you shall allot it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves and for the strangers who dwell among you, who have fathered children among you. They shall be to you as the native among the children of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²³ And it shall be that in the tribe where the stranger dwells, there you shall give him his inheritance, declares Adonai Yahweh.

Notes

• 47:1 The water flows from the threshold of the house to which the glory of Yahweh had returned (43:4-5). Joel 3:18 and Zechariah 14:8 also see waters going out from the house of Yahweh and from Jerusalem, and Revelation 22:1-2 takes up Ezekiel's river and its trees in the new Jerusalem. At the feast of Sukkot Yeshua cried out that rivers of living water would flow from the one who believes in Him, as the Scripture says (John 7:37-38), and many see this chapter among the Scriptures He meant.
• 47:8 The Arabah is the deep valley of the Jordan, and "the sea" is the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea (see the note on Numbers 34:4), where no fish can live. "Will be healed" is rapha, the verb used when Elisha healed the water at Jericho: "I have healed this water" (2 Kings 2:21).
• 47:9 "Wherever the river goes" is literally "wherever the two rivers go" (nachalayim, a dual form). Many take the dual as stressing a mighty stream; others compare Zechariah 14:8, where living waters flow out both to the eastern sea and to the western sea.
• 47:12 "Its leaf will not wither" echoes the righteous man of Psalm 1, who is like a tree planted by streams of water, "and its leaf does not wither" (Psalm 1:3). "Will bear fresh fruit" is bikker, from the word for firstfruits (bikkurim): every month the trees give a new first crop. Revelation 22:2 takes up the picture of the tree of life, which yields its fruit every month, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.
• 47:15 The borders follow, with some differences, those given to Moses in Numbers 34:1-12, and they include no land east of the Jordan (verse 18). Here the Hebrew reads "as one comes to Zedad"; the Greek translation and many scholars read "Lebo-hamath, Zedad," as in 48:1 and Numbers 34:8. Several of these northern places, such as Hethlon, Berothah, Sibraim and Hazer-hatticon, cannot be located with certainty.
• 47:22 The strangers (gerim) who have settled among Israel and raised children there receive land "as the native among the children of Israel." The Torah had already given the stranger one Torah with Israel (Numbers 15:15-16) and commanded, "The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you" (Leviticus 19:34); in the restored land that welcome reaches the inheritance itself, which in Moses' day was given by tribe. Isaiah likewise sees foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh brought to His holy mountain (Isaiah 56:6-7), and Paul tells those from the nations that they are no longer strangers but fellow citizens (Ephesians 2:19).

Ezekiel 46 · Ezekiel 48

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