And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.
Parallel translations
- WEB It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.
- KJV And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
- BSB Wherever the river flows, there will be swarms of living creatures and a great number of fish, because it flows there and makes the waters fresh; so wherever the river flows, everything will flourish.
- NASB And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
- NLT There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wherever the river flows, swarming creatures live and fish abound; everything lives where the river comes. Life flourishes wherever God's life-giving presence reaches.
Overview
The healing waters bring teeming abundance, the once-dead sea now full of fish. The refrain 'everything shall live wherever the river comes' captures the vision's heart: God's presence gives life. This is fulfilled in Christ, in whom is life that overcomes death and gives life to all who receive Him (John 1:4; 5:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- John 7:37–38Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
- John 6:63It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
- John 4:14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Isa 55:1“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
- Ps 78:16He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
- Eph 2:1–5You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
- Zech 2:11Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.
- Acts 2:47praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
- Acts 2:41Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
- Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
- Isa 30:26Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.
- Isa 60:3–10Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
- Isa 12:3Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation.
- Isa 49:12Behold, these shall come from afar; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”
- Zech 8:21–23and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Armies. I will go also.’
- John 11:25–26Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- John 14:19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
- John 5:25Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
- John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- Exod 15:26and he said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.”
- Ps 103:3who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- 1 Cor 15:45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
- Acts 5:14More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.
- Acts 21:20They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.
- Acts 4:4But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
- Acts 6:7The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 47:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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