Ezekiel · chapter 47 of 48
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Ezekiel 47 describes a river that springs from beneath the threshold of the temple and flows east, growing deeper until it cannot be crossed. Its waters bring life to the Dead Sea and to everything they touch, and along its banks grow trees whose fruit never fails and whose leaves bring healing. The chapter ends with the borders of the land and the command to divide it also with the foreigners who live among Israel.
After the measurements and rules, chapter 47 opens a scene of great beauty. The water flowing from the temple is one of the best-loved images in the Bible, and its echo reaches Revelation 22. Here God's presence, now established in the temple, is joined to the life it gives to the whole land, before the book's last chapter describes the division of the land.
The guide brings Ezekiel to the entrance of the temple, where he sees water flowing from below the threshold toward the east, running down the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He takes him out by the north gate and leads him around the outside to the east gate, where the water is flowing on the south side. The guide measures a thousand cubits to the east and has Ezekiel cross the water, which comes up to his ankles. He measures another thousand, and it comes to his knees. He measures another thousand, and it comes to his waist. He measures yet another thousand, and now it is a river that cannot be crossed, for the waters have risen, waters to swim in.
The guide brings him back to the bank, where he sees very many trees on both sides of the river. He explains that these waters flow toward the eastern region, go down into the Arabah and enter the sea, the sea of salt water, and the waters become fresh. Every living creature that swarms will live wherever the river goes, there will be very many fish, and fishermen will stand beside it from En-gedi to En-eglaim, with places to spread nets. Its swamps and marshes will not become fresh but will be left for salt.
On both banks of the river all kinds of fruit trees will grow, whose leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, and every month they will bear new fruit, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. The second part of the chapter sets the boundaries of the land to be divided as an inheritance among the twelve tribes, with Joseph receiving two portions, and commands that the foreigners who live among the Israelites and have children among them be treated as native-born and receive an inheritance with the tribes.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Water flows from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east. The source of life is not a place in nature but God's presence, where the Lord dwells.
The river grows a thousand cubits after another thousand, until it can no longer be crossed. It is a picture of God's life becoming deeper and more abundant without anyone producing it.
Wherever the river goes, everything will live, and the waters of the sea will become fresh. Even a sea that seemed incapable of life is transformed by the water that comes from the sanctuary.
Beside the river grow trees whose fruit does not fail and whose leaves bring healing, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Revelation 22 takes up this image to describe life in the new creation.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From beneath the threshold of the temple, toward the east. — Ezekiel 47:1
Answer: It reaches first the ankles, then the knees, then the waist, and finally it is a river that cannot be crossed. — Ezekiel 47:3-5
Answer: They become fresh and everything in them lives. — Ezekiel 47:8-9
Answer: From En-gedi to En-eglaim. — Ezekiel 47:10
Answer: The fruit for food and the leaves for healing. — Ezekiel 47:12
Answer: As native-born, with an inheritance among the tribes. — Ezekiel 47:22-23
The river of Ezekiel 47 reminds us that the life God gives is not static: it grows. What begins as a trickle becomes a river too deep to cross. In a small group you can talk about how God's work grows in our life and our community, even when it starts small.
The last section teaches inclusion: the foreigners who live among Israel receive an inheritance like the native-born. The vision of a people of God open to those who come from outside inspires the church to welcome immigrants and newcomers.
Ezekiel 47 shows a river of life flowing from the temple and a land that reaches foreigners too. The last chapter, 48, divides the land among the tribes and ends the book with the name of the city: The Lord Is There.
Revelation 22 describes a river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, with the tree of life on both sides, and many readers see there a clear echo of Ezekiel. In John 7, Jesus speaks of rivers of living water flowing from the one who believes in him, and the evangelist connects it with the Spirit. Both images take up the idea of life flowing from God.
Interpreters differ. Some see it as a literal river in a future temple, and others as a picture of the life God gives his people, fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit and in the new creation. One detail that suggests a symbolic sense is that the river flows from a temple and grows without receiving tributaries, which does not happen in nature.