A trickle becomes a healing stream
1The guide took me back to the Temple entrance on the east side. I noticed a stream now flowing from under the threshold at the gate. Looking back into the Temple courtyard, I saw the stream coming from along the south side of the altar. It crossed through the courtyard and flowed down the east side of the Temple hill.2Then the guide took me up to the north gate, outside the Temple area. We turned right and walked along the eastern wall. I saw the water trickling down the eastern hillside. It came from the southern part of the Temple complex.
3He walked me right into the trickling stream and turned eastward, downstream. He measured 500 meters. [1] By the time we got to the end of the first 500, we were walking in ankle-deep water. 4He measured another 500 meters, which took us through knee-high water. Another 500 meters and we were walking waist-high in the water. 5Yet another 500 meters and the water was over my head. I couldn’t wade through it anymore. A person would have to swim it.
6So, we walked out of the water and to the bank alongside the stream. The guide said, “Human, you’ve got a deer-in-the-torchlight look on your face.” 7As we walked along the bank, I was stunned to see how many trees had grown there, along both banks of the stream.
8He said:
This stream flows eastward toward the dry Arabah [2] badlands below. It pours into the Dead Sea [3] and heals the stagnant water. Every swarming school of fish thrives in that water. 9Fish from all over have come here to enjoy these healed waters. So have all kinds of land animals.
10You’ll find fisherman along the banks of the Dead Sea, fishing all the way from En-gedi [4] to En-glaim. [5] Those are good spots for drying fishnets. And these waters hold about as many kinds of fish as the Mediterranean Sea. 11The stream hasn’t healed the swamps and marshland, though. We’re keeping those so people can go there and gather salt.
12We have a lot of different fruit trees growing alongside the river, providing food for the people. The leaves never dry up and the fruit never stops growing. There’s new fruit every month of the year now. That’s because the trees are drinking from the water that flows out of the Temple sanctuary. [6] The fruit is food, but the leaves are medicine that heals. Israel’s new boundaries 13The LORD God says:
These are the new boundaries [7] for the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph’s tribes get two shares. [8] 14I promised your ancestors that I would keep this land in your family and pass it on to you. So be fair about the way you divide it up. 15Here are the borders of Israel.
NORTH: From the Mediterranean Sea through Hethlon [9] and Lebo-hamath. [10] 16Then on to Zedad, [11] Beruthah, [12] and Sibraim [13] located between the regions of Damascus and Hamath. Then on to Hazer-hatticon, [14] along the border of Hauran. [15] 17So, the border runs from the Mediterranean Sea to Hazer-enon, [16] which lies on Damascus’s northern border with the territory of Hamath.
18EAST: The line runs south from a spot between Hauran and Damascus, between Gilead and Israel. Below that, the Jordan River forms the eastern border. From the southern tip of the Dead Sea, the border extends to Tamar. [17]
19SOUTH: The border goes from Tamar to the oasis of Kadesh-barnea, [18] and on to the usually dry riverbed called the Wadi of Egypt. From there, it stretches to the Mediterranean Sea. That’s the southern border.
20WEST. The Mediterranean Sea is the natural border on the west. The western line runs as far north as Lebo-hamath. That’s the western border.
Share the land fairly, with immigrants
21Divide this land fairly among Israel’s extended families, the 12 tribes.22This is your land. Keep it among yourselves and among immigrants who live with you and have had children born while living there. You should treat these immigrants as equals, as though they were born here in your land. Give them land like you would any other person in Israel. 23Give them land in whatever tribal area they settle. The Lord God says you need to do this.
