The water that flows out of the Temple has miraculous powers to make bad water good, even to make the salty water of the Dead Sea as drinkable as fresh water. As a result, animals, fish, and trees will be able to live in areas that were previously salty wastelands.

And wherever the river goes: Instead of the river, some translations say “the rivers” (King James Version / New King James Version; similarly Complete Jewish Bible). The Hebrew actually has “two rivers” (Revised Standard Version footnote), but at the end of the verse it refers to a single “river.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators follow the Hebrew text here, suggesting “the two currents [of river],” but it is difficult to understand what these two rivers or currents are. They may refer to the mixing of the water from the Temple with the water flowing down the Jordan River, or to the water flowing into the Dead Sea and dispersing throughout the Dead Sea in various currents. Neither of these suggestions is very convincing, and we recommend that translators follow the majority of translations and refer to just one river.

Every living creature which swarms will live: Every living creature which swarms refers to reptiles and small animals that scurry about on the ground in large numbers (see the comments on Gen 1.24). These land-dwelling creatures will now be able to live in areas where nothing was able to live before.

And there will be very many fish: The Hebrew expression for very many fish stresses the huge number of fish (compare “very many trees” in verse 7). New International Reader’s Version says “huge numbers of fish,” and Complete Jewish Bible is similar with “a vast number of fish.” The many fish will be in the newly-fresh waters of the Dead Sea.

For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh explains why there will be all kinds of life. It is because the water from the Temple flows into the Dead Sea, so that the bad, salty water of the Dead Sea will become fresh water. The Hebrew text does not have the phrase the waters of the sea. Revised Standard Version adds it for clarity. Some translations make the meaning even clearer by saying “the Dead Sea” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Translators are free to do the same if necessary. For become fresh, which is literally “be healed” (King James Version), see Ezek 47.8.

So everything will live where the river goes: The end result of this river of water is that wherever it flows and whatever it touches will live, that is, the water will become good, the land will become fertile, animals and fish will be able to live where they were not able to live before, and trees and plants will flourish in areas where nothing used to grow.

A model for this verse is:

• Wherever this river goes, living creatures will be able to grow and live. There will be all kinds of animals and fish. The river will make the water in the Dead Sea become fresh [or, good]. Yes, wherever the river flows, everything will live.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .