The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 47
Chapter XLVII · Vol. III, pp. 1381–1382
1 The vision of the holy waters. 6 The virtue of them. 13 The borders of the land. 22 The division of it by lot.
1 Afterward he brought me again unto the doora of the house; and, behold, bwaters 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, cat the south side of the altar.
a ch.41.2.
b ver.12. Is.51.1. Je.2.13. Joel 3.18. Zec.13.1; 14.8. Re.22.1,17. Ps.46.4. Is.2.2,3; 30.25; 35.7; 44.3,4. Je.31.9. Joel 2.28. Lu.24.47,49. Jn.7.37-39.
c He.13.10-12; 9.14. Jn.19.34,35; 1.14,16. Ac.10.43. 2 Co.1.20.
2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the outer gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
3 And when dthe man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he emeasured a thousand cubits[≈ 460 m · 1,500 ft], and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.1
4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; gthe waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were hto the loins.
g Ac.x.-xx. 2 Pe.3.18. Ps.84.7. See ver.3.
h Re.vii. xi. xx.-xxii. Da.2.34,44. Is.11.9,10.
5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a iriver that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in,2 a jriver that could not be passed over.
i Ro.11.33. Ep.3.18,19. Ps.16.11; 36.8,9, or 2 Pe.3.16. 1 Ti.3.16.
2 Heb. waters of swimming.
j Is.11.9. Hab.2.14. Mat.10.31,32.
6 And he said unto me, Son of man, khast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
k Je.1.11,13. Zec.5.2; 4.2,13. Mat.13.51. ch.40.4.
7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank3 of the river were very many ltrees on the one side and on the other.
8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert,4 and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, nthe waters shall be healed.
9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that oliveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers5 shall come, pshall live: and there shall be qa very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be rhealed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.6
5 Heb. two rivers, of gospel truth and spiritual influences, ver.1-5.
p 1 Co.15.45. Jn.5.25; 6.63. Ep.2.1,5. Jn.14.19; 4.14.
q Ps.72.8. Zec.2.11; 8.20-23. Is.2.3; 11.9,10; 43.6; 49.12; 60.3-11. Ac.2.4,5,41,47; 4.4; 5.14; 6.7.
r Ex.15.26. Ps.103.3. Is.30.26.
6 The whole country from the parallel of Jerusalem eastward is desert. The chief cause of its barrenness is the want of water. Wherever there is a little streamlet or fountain there is vegetation; and scanty though the soil be, abundant irrigation would make it productive. The waters of the Dead Sea contain such a large proportion of salt that they are deleterious. They render a barren soil still more barren. The symbolic imagery in this passage is therefore very instructive. The waters issuing from the temple of God convert the wilderness into a garden, and heal the noxious waters of the Dead Sea. Such is the influence of true religion upon the moral desolations of this world.—P.
10 And it shall come to pass, that sthe 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 tgreat sea, uexceeding many.7
11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes8 thereof shall not be healed; they shall be9 givenv to salt.
* The 'miry places and the marishes'—neither solid earth nor fluid water—are the expressive emblems of professing hypocrites, deceiving their own souls,—anxious, with Balaam, to win the wages of the world—but praying to die the death of the righteous, and dying the death of an enemy of the Lord.—Note, The most unhealthy and hopeless of all characters is the undecided—'neither cold nor hot' in the cause of God and truth—who enjoys not the blessedness of a conscience awakened and sprinkled, nor the stupor of a conscience hardened and seared—who wishes to be religious, but will not forsake his sin—and who, vainly labouring to unite earth and heaven, receives of the one but sorrow and a grave, and of the other but the sight of 'Lazarus afar off,' and between them a 'great gulf' he can never pass, Lu.16.26.—C.
8 See note * in first column.
9 Or, and that which shall not be healed, shall be, &c. Re.22.11. Ho.4.17.
12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow1 all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new2 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.3
13 Thus saith the Lord GOD, xThis shall be the border whereby ye shall inherit the land, according to the twelve tribes of Israel: yJoseph shall have two portions.
x Ge.15.18-21. Nu.34.2-17. Jos.xii.-xxi. ch.xlviii.
14 And ye shall inherit it, zone as well as another; concerning the which I alifted up mine hand4 to give it unto your fathers; and this land shall bfall unto you for inheritance.
15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea,5 the way of cHethlon, as men go to Zedad;
16 Hamath,d Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon,6 which is by the coast of Hauran.
d 1 Ki.8.65. Am.6.2,14. 2 Sa.8.8,9.
6 Or, the middle village.
17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan,e the border of gDamascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
18 And the east side ye shall measure from7 Hauran, and from Damascus, and from hGilead, and from the land of Israel by iJordan, from the border unto the jeast sea. And this is the east side.8
7 Heb. from between.
h Ge.31.23,47. Nu.32.1. Ju.10.8; 11.1.
i Ge.13.10. Jos.3.15-17. Job 40.23.
j ver.8. Nu.34.10-12. Ge.14.3. Jos.3.16.
8 The northern border of the land as here described is identical with that delineated by Moses in Nu. xxiv.; but the eastern border is different. Moses represents the latter as running from Hazar-enan to Shepham, then to Riblah, then to the Sea of Chinnereth or Galilee. The landmarks of Ezekiel are Damascus, Hauran, Gilead, and the East (or Dead) Sea. Ezekiel thus includes the kingdoms of Damascus and Bashan, with Gilead and Moab; while Moses excludes them.—P.
19 And the south side southward, from Tamark even to the waters of strife9 in Kadesh, the river1 to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.2
20 The west side also shall be the lgreat sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
21 Son shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
n ver.13,14; ch.xlviii. with Jos.xii.-xxi.
22 And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it oby lot for an inheritance unto you, andp 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.
o Jos.xv.-xxi. ch.45.1. Pr.16.33; 18.18.
p Ac.2.5,7,9. Ro.3.29,30; 4.11; 10.12; 15.9-12. 1 Co.12.13. Ga.3.28,29. Ep.3.6; 2.12,13,19-22; 3.6. Col.1.12; 3.11. Re.7.9,10. Is.56.6,7. Ac.11.18; 15.9.
23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.
Notes
Ver. 1-12. These waters, issuing forth from the temple at the south side of the altar, denote the purifying, refreshing, and fructifying oracles and ordinances of the gospel, and the Holy Ghost in his gifts and graces attending the same, issuing forth from Christ's person and through his righteousness. Their gradual increase denotes the gradual progress of gospel truths and influences till the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord; and that the further we search into divine truths the more mysterious we shall find them; and also that, by continued accessions of light and love from Jesus Christ, the work of grace in every believer's heart, and the church in general, increases with the increase of God. Their running into the Dead Sea of Sodom, and quickening or producing multitudes of fish, represents gospel truths and influences as running into the Gentile world, even the worst places of it, which had long lain in wickedness and under the curse of God, and spiritually quickening multitudes who had been dead in trespasses and sins. The fishers all over the Dead Sea denote multitudes of gospel preachers all over the world labouring to gain sinners to Christ. The many fishes, like the fishes of the Mediterranean Sea, are multitudes of sinners, in a thousand diversified forms of misery and guilt, attending gospel ordinances, and by means thereof drawn unto Christ. The miry places and marshes are obstinate sinners, Jews, Antichristians, &c., abandoned of God to their own lusts and to everlasting damnation. The ever-flourishing, fruitful, and medicinal trees on the bank of this river are Jesus the Tree of life, eternally glorious, and infinitely useful to his people; and his people themselves, as trees of righteousness, by the influence of his Word and Spirit, holding to their profession and grace, honouring God, and being useful to their neighbours around. 13-23. The Jews after their captivity never had the whole territory here mentioned. Few of the ten tribes then returned. Nor was the country ever parcelled out in the manner directed in this and the next chapter. While, therefore, these things may partly respect the state of the Jews when returned from their present dispersion, they chiefly respect the church of Christ, the boundaries of which are appointed by God, and in which all true Israelites, Jews and Gentiles, have their whole portion of blessedness assigned them by God.
Ver. 13-21. The partition of the land commenced with the endowment of the sanctuary, ch. 45. 1; then proceeded to the provision for the city, ch.45.6; then for the prince, ch. 45.7; then followed several necessary religious ordinances; and now the partition of the land among the tribes is resumed. The land of Canaan as here described extends from about 31° to 35° N. lat., and from 34° to 37° E. lon., bounded on the north by a line from the Mediterranean to Hamath; on the east by Damascus, Hauran, Gilead, and the land of Israel east of Jordan to the south point of the East or Dead Sea; thence on the south by Tamar, Kadesh, and a line extending either to the river of Rhinacolura or the Nile, and on the west by the Mediterranean. C.
Ver. 22. The only condition upon which 'strangers' are to claim their freedom, adoption, and inheritance, is, sojourning and begetting children in the land—a condition of naturalization and endowment which no country has ever yet exhibited, but which, spiritually understood, is literally true of the church of Christ, which freely preaches the gospel to every creature, announces salvation to the chief of sinners, and admits to her choicest privileges the baptized believer of every nation under heaven. C.
Reflections.—What a blessed source of oracles, ordinances, and influences is Jesus Christ, God-man, the Lord our righteousness. While divine truths are gradually manifested, and spiritual influences bestowed, it is proper to be carefully searching and applying them. And the more we contemplate or experience them, the more shall we be lost in wonder at their height, depth, length, and breadth. But let us always begin with what is more plain and practical, and admire what we cannot comprehend. Great is the wisdom of God in transmitting his blessings to the very worst of persons and places, and almighty the influence of his Word and Spirit! not even death—a death in trespasses and sins—can withstand it! But, alas! unhappy are they to whom it is a savour of death unto death and damnation! The gospel and its influences find the sinners of mankind in the most diversified and abominable forms of iniquity. But infinite power and grace can apprehend the most outrageous, and render the most ugly and deformed like unto Christ. And it is delightful for ministers, in multitudes, to administer the ordinances of the gospel when Jesus goeth forth with them conquering and to conquer. Glorious in character, persevering and fruitful in good works towards God and men, are his saints! And there is abundant room in the gospel church for Gentiles equally with Jews. In comely order they coalesce into one mystical body of Christ. All are entitled to the same privileges, share alike the same grace and glory, in virtue of God's new-covenant promise and oath.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.