The river from the temple

47 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw water that was pouring out from under the entrance. It was pouring towards the east. (The front entrance of the temple opened towards the east.) The river of water came from under the south side of the temple. It went past the south side of the altar. ² The man took me out through the north gate of the temple. We went around the outside to the gate that opens towards the east. There I saw a small stream of water. It was coming out from the south side of the gate.

³ The man went towards the east. He measured 500 metres in that direction. He took me through the water there. The water was as high as my ankles. ⁴ Then he measured another 500 metres along the stream. He took me through the water again. Here, the water was as high as my knees. He measured another 500 metres. He took me through the water and it was now as high as my belt. ⁵ Then he measured another 500 metres. Here the water had become a deep river. It was too deep for me to go across. Nobody could walk through it. They would need to swim.

⁶ The man said to me, ‘Son of man, you must remember what you have seen.’

Then he took me back to the river's edge. ⁷ When I got there, I saw very many trees. They were on each side of the river. ⁸ He said to me, ‘This river of water goes towards the land in the east. It goes into the valley of the Jordan River. Then the water goes into the Salt Sea. When it goes into the sea there, the water becomes pure instead of salty.^{[a] 9} Wherever the river goes, many kinds of animals and fish will live. There will be lots of fish in the Salt Sea because the water that goes in there will make it pure. There will be many living things in places where the river goes. ¹⁰ Men will stand on the edge of the sea to catch fish. They will use their nets to catch fish, all the way from En-Gedi to En-Eglaim. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹ But the water in the pools and the wet places around the Salt Sea will not become pure. There will still be salt for people there. ¹² All kinds of fruit trees will live on each side of the river. Their leaves will never become dry. They will always give fruit every month. This is because the water that feeds them comes from the holy temple. The fruit from these trees will provide food. And their leaves will make sick people well.’

The borders of Israel's land

¹³ This is what the Almighty Lord says: ‘This is the land that you will share among Israel's 12 tribes. Give one part to each tribe, but Joseph's descendants will have two parts.^{[b] 14} Share the land in equal parts for each tribe. I promised your ancestors that I would give them this land to live in. So now it will belong to you and your descendants.

¹⁵ These will be the borders of your land:

The north border goes from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Hethlon. It continues to go east, past Lebo-Hamath and to Zedad. ¹⁶ From there, it continues through Berothah and Sibraim. Those towns are on the border between Damascus and Hamath. Then it goes as far as Hazer-Hattikon, which is on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷ The border goes from the Mediterranean Sea to Hazar-Enan. The border of Hamath is on the north side and the border of Damascus is on the south side. That is the north border of your land.

¹⁸ On the east side, the border of your land is the Jordan River. It starts between Hauran and Damascus. It goes between the region of Gilead and Israel's land, past the Salt Sea as far as Tamar. That is the east border.

¹⁹ On the south side, the border goes from Tamar to the springs of water near Meribath Kadesh. Then it goes along the Stream at Egypt's border to the Mediterranean Sea. That is the south border.

²⁰ On the west side, the Mediterranean Sea is the border of your land. It goes north to a place on the west side of Lebo-Hamath. That is the north border of your land.

²¹ You must share this land among yourselves so that each tribe of Israel receives a part. ²² Each part that you receive will belong to you and to the foreigners who live among you. Those foreigners have given birth to their own children among you. Accept them as if they were born as Israelites. They must receive land for themselves among Israel's tribes. ²³ Give them land among the tribe where they have decided to live.’

That is what the Almighty Lord says.