Bible Strands
Ezekiel 47:1
Then the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel, in a vision, is led by a man (an angelic guide) back to the temple entrance, where he sees water emerging from beneath the structure toward the east. This is the opening of a sequence (vv. 1–12) in which the water grows in depth and direction.
The words — יֹצְאִים (yotse'im, "going out") is a present participle, marking the water as a continuous, ongoing flow rather than a single event. The same root underlies the "living waters" of Zechariah 14:8, where water goes out from Jerusalem.
The thread — Zechariah 14:8 and Joel 3:18 both picture water issuing from a sacred center to the surrounding land; Revelation 22:1 places a river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God, completing the arc from temple to throne.
Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to hold a fixed image: life does not arrive from outside but radiates outward from the place of God's presence, and the direction is toward the east, the side the temple faced.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Afterward 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.
Cross-references
- Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
- Zechariah 14:8 And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.
- Joel 3:18 And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the LORD to water the Valley of Acacias.
- Isaiah 55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- Ezekiel 47:12 Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”
- Psalms 46:4 There is a river whose streams delight the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.
- Zechariah 13:1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.