The Prophets · Old Testament
Ezekiel 47
Ezekiel 47: the river from the sanctuary and the borders of the land
General context
The man brings the prophet back to the door of the house, where waters issue from under the threshold eastward, from the right side of the house at the south side of the altar. The man with the line measures a thousand cubits and brings him through water to the ankles; another thousand, to the knees; another, to the loins; and a fourth, a river to swim in that cannot be passed over. "Son of man, hast thou seen this?" Back on the brink he sees very many trees on both banks. The man says the waters go toward the east country, down into the desert and into the sea, and the sea's waters are healed; everything that lives and moves where the rivers come will live, with a very great multitude of fish, and fishers will spread nets from En-gedi to En-eglaim. The miry places and marishes are not healed but given to salt. Trees for meat grow on both banks, their leaves not fading and their fruit not consumed, bearing new fruit monthly; the fruit is for meat and the leaf for medicine. The Lord God then gives the border by which the twelve tribes inherit the land, Joseph having two portions and each inheriting alike. The north side runs from the great sea by Hethlon and Hamath to Hazar-enan; the east from Hauran, Damascus and Gilead along Jordan to the east sea; the south from Tamar to the waters of strife in Kadesh and the river to the great sea; the west is the great sea. The land is divided by lot among the tribes and also to the strangers who sojourn among them; they are to be as born in the country and receive inheritance in the tribe where they sojourn.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 47:1, Ezekiel 47:2, Ezekiel 47:3, Ezekiel 47:4, Ezekiel 47:5, Ezekiel 47:6, Ezekiel 47:7, Ezekiel 47:8, Ezekiel 47:9, Ezekiel 47:10, Ezekiel 47:11, Ezekiel 47:12, Ezekiel 47:13, Ezekiel 47:14, Ezekiel 47:15, Ezekiel 47:16, Ezekiel 47:17, Ezekiel 47:18, Ezekiel 47:19, Ezekiel 47:20, Ezekiel 47:22, Ezekiel 47:23
Ezekiel 47 (KJV)
1Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.
2Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
3And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
4Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
5Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
6And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
7Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
8Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
9And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
10And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
11But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.
12And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
13Thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
14And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
15And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
16Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
17And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
18And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
19And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
20The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
21So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
22And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
23And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God.
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Historical context
The chapter has two speakers. The man with the line leads, measures and explains the river through verse 12, "Then said he unto me"; from verse 13 the words are introduced "Thus saith the Lord God". The river's source is fixed by the text at the threshold of the house and "the south side of the altar", and its course is given only as "the east country", "the desert" and "the sea"; the sea is not named, and the text does not say why its waters need healing. The fishers' stations, En-gedi and En-eglaim, and the "great sea" and "east sea" of the borders are names the text uses without describing them. The reason given for the trees is stated in the text itself, "because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary". The border is given as a list of names in four sides, north, east, south, west; "the waters of strife in Kadesh" is named without explanation here. "Joseph shall have two portions" is the only note on how twelve tribes are counted. The strangers who sojourn and have children are to receive inheritance "as born in the country"; this is a rule about land and is distinct from the exclusion of the "uncircumcised in heart" from the sanctuary in chapter 44. The chapter gives no time for any of this.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 47:8, Ezekiel 47:13, Ezekiel 47:1, Ezekiel 47:10, Ezekiel 47:18, Ezekiel 47:12, Ezekiel 47:19, Ezekiel 47:22, Ezekiel 44:9
Literary context
The river is measured the way the house was, a thousand cubits at a time, but each measurement is answered by the prophet's body: ankles, knees, loins, then water to swim in. The line stops and the question comes, "hast thou seen this?", the only question asked anywhere in chapters 40 to 48. The water runs east, the direction from which the glory came in chapter 43, and the passage is organised around two verbs. "Healed" is used of the sea and its waters, and "live" of everything the river touches, with the exception of the marshes given to salt, which keeps the picture from being total. The trees are described by what does not happen to them, the leaf that "shall not fade", the fruit that shall not "be consumed", and by a monthly rhythm. The border that follows walks the four sides, north, east, south, west, as the enclosure was measured by its four sides in chapter 42, and each side closes with a formula, "And this is the north side", "And this is the east side". The chapter ends by widening the lot to include the stranger, so that the last word of the border list is inheritance for someone not born in it.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 47:3, Ezekiel 47:5, Ezekiel 47:6, Ezekiel 43:2, Ezekiel 47:8, Ezekiel 47:9, Ezekiel 47:11, Ezekiel 47:12, Ezekiel 47:17, Ezekiel 47:18, Ezekiel 42:20, Ezekiel 47:23
Key moments
- Waters from the threshold (Ezekiel 47:1). Water issues from under the threshold of the house, eastward, by the south side of the altar.
- To the ankles, knees and loins (Ezekiel 47:4). At each thousand cubits the water rises higher on the prophet's body.
- A river to swim in (Ezekiel 47:5). After the fourth thousand the water is a river that cannot be passed over.
- Hast thou seen this? (Ezekiel 47:6). The man asks the prophet whether he has seen it and returns him to the brink.
- The sea healed (Ezekiel 47:8). The waters go down into the desert and the sea, and the sea's waters are healed.
- Trees for meat and medicine (Ezekiel 47:12). Trees on both banks bear new fruit monthly, with fruit for meat and leaves for medicine.
- Strangers inherit with the tribes (Ezekiel 47:22). Strangers who sojourn and have children receive inheritance as if born in the land.
For reflection
The river deepens by measured stages until the prophet can no longer walk through it. What changes when something that began as a trickle from a threshold becomes a river that cannot be crossed, and why might the guide stop to ask whether he has seen it?
