Ezekiel 47:1–11

The Stream Flowing from the Temple

47^*The man led me back to the entrance of the Temple. Water was coming out from under the entrance and flowing east, the direction the Temple faced. It was flowing down from under the south part of the temple past the south side of the altar. ²The man then took me out of the temple area by way of the north gate and led me round to the gate that faces east. A small stream of water was flowing out at the south side of the gate. ³With his measuring rod the man measured five hundred metres downstream to the east and told me to wade through the stream there. The water came only to my ankles. ⁴Then he measured another five hundred metres, and the water came up to my knees. Another five hundred metres further down, the water was up to my waist. ⁵He measured five hundred metres more, and there the stream was so deep I could not wade through it. It was too deep to cross except by swimming. ⁶He said to me, “Mortal man, note all this carefully.”

Then the man took me back to the bank of the river, ⁷and when I got there I saw that there were very many trees on each bank. ⁸He said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east and down into the Jordan Valley and to the Dead Sea. When it flows into the Dead Sea, it replaces the salt water of that sea with fresh water. ⁹Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life. ¹⁰From the Springs of Engedi all the way to the Springs of Eneglaim, there will be fishermen on the shore of the sea, and they will spread out their nets there to dry. There will be as many different kinds of fish there as there are in the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹But the water in the marshes and ponds along the shore will not be made fresh. They will remain there as a source of salt.