Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

Then said he unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea'shall the waters go which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed.

And he said to me: These waters that issue forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and go down to the plains of the desert, shall go into the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed.

And he said unto me, These waters issue out toward the east district, and go down into the plain, and go into the sea; when they are brought forth into the sea, the waters thereof shall be healed.

Then said he to me, These waters issue out towards the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

And he saith unto me, 'These waters are going forth unto the east circuit, and have gone down unto the desert, and have entered the sea; unto the sea they are brought forth, and the waters have been healed.

And he said to me, These waters are flowing out to the east part of the land and down into the Arabah; and they will go to the sea, and the waters will be made sweet.

Then said he unto me: 'These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and when they shall enter into the sea, into the sea of the putrid waters, the waters shall be healed.

And he said to me: "These waters, which go forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and which descend to the plains of the desert, will enter the sea, and will go out, and the waters will be healed.

"The sea" is a term commonly applied to the Dead Sea. Compare Deuteronomy 3:17, "the sea of the plain (Arabah), even the salt sea." The more literal rendering of the verse in this sense would be, "and go into the sea; into the sea go the waters that issue forth, and the waters shall be healed."
Healed - Every living thing (of which there were none before) shall abound in the "healed" waters. The absence of living creatures in the Dead Sea has been remarked by ancient and modern writers. So the water which Jesus should give should bring life to the dead in trespasses and sins. Compare John 4:14; Revelation 22:2-3.

Then said he to me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the (d) sea: [which being] brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
(d) Showing that the abundance of these graces would be so great, that all the world would be full of it, which is here meant by the Persian sea, or Genezareth, and the sea called Mediterranean, (Zac 14:8).

Then said he unto me,.... The man that measured the waters spoke to the prophet again, and showed him the course of the waters; the quickening and healing virtue of them, and the multitude of fish in them:
these waters issue out toward the east country; the Gospel was first preached in the eastern parts of the world; See Gill on Ezekiel 47:3, or "towards the first, or east Galilee" (f); in Galilee Christ began to preach, and wrought his first miracle; here he called his disciples, and chiefly conversed; and here he had the greatest followers, and some of the first Christian churches were formed here after his ascension, Matthew 4:12,
and go down into the desert; or wilderness, the wilderness of the people, the Gentiles; to whom the Gospel was carried when rejected by the Jews, and who before were like a desert, but now became as a fruitful field, Isaiah 35:1. The Jews (g) interpret this of the plain, or the sea of Galilee or Tiberius, at which Christ called his disciples; near to this he delivered his discourses concerning himself, the bread of life, and eating his flesh, and drinking his blood; here he met with his disciples after his resurrection, and enjoined Peter to feed his sheep and lambs; see Matthew 4:18,
and go into the sea; the Dead sea, or sea of Sodom, the lake Asphaltites, where nothing is said to live; an emblem of dead sinners; and may represent the worst of sinners, as the Sodomites were; and to such the Gospel was sent, and became effectual to salvation: or it may rather design the great ocean, and may signify the whole world, and all the nations of it, to which the Gospel, by the commission of Christ, was to be preached; see Daniel 7:2. The Targum is,
"and go through the sea into the great sea;''
it may be rendered, "and go toward the west" (h); the Mediterranean sea being to the west of Judea, it is often put for the west; and so the sense may be, that these waters should flow east and west, as the living waters in Zac 14:8, the same with those, are said to do; and all the Jewish writers think there is such a division of the waters intended, and that they had two streams or rivers; which may receive some confirmation from the next verse, where the word for rivers is of the dual number, and signifies two rivers. The sense of the whole is, that the Gospel should be first preached in Judea and Galilee; then among the Gentiles throughout the Roman empire; and in the latter day especially throughout the world, when it shall be covered with it as the waters cover the sea, Isaiah 11:9,
which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed; that is, which waters of the river being directed and brought into, either the Dead sea, or the great ocean, the waters of the one, or of the other, were healed; and of bituminous and bitter waters were made clear, sweet, and wholesome; and signify the change made in sinful men by means of the Gospel, who are thereby quickened, made partakers of the grace of God, and have their sins pardoned, which is often meant by healing in Scripture, Psalm 103:2, pardon of sin flows from the love and grace of God; is the great doctrine of the Gospel, and by which the Lord speaks peace and pardon, and communicates healing of all spiritual diseases to sinners sensible of them; see Psalm 107:20.
(f) "in Galileam prinam", Junius & Tremellius; "ad Galileam anteriorem", Cocceius, Piscator, Starckius; "Galileam orientalem", Munster; so some in Vatablus, Tigurine version; so the Targum. (g) Tosaphta Succa in Jarchi & Kimchi in loc.; so in Ben Melec. (h) .

the desert--or "plain," Hebrew, Arabah (Deuteronomy 3:17; Deuteronomy 4:49; Joshua 3:16), which is the name still given to the valley of the Jordan and the plain south of the Dead Sea, and extending to the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea.
the sea--the Dead Sea. "The sea" noted as covering with its waters the guilty cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah. In its bituminous waters no vegetable or animal life is said to be found. But now death is to give place to life in Judea, and throughout the world, as symbolized by the healing of these death-pervaded waters covering the doomed cities. Compare as to "the sea" in general, regarded as a symbol of the troubled powers of nature, disordered by the fall, henceforth to rage no more, Revelation 21:1.

The sea - The Dead - sea, or lake of Sodom. Shall be healed - The waters of the sea shall be healed, made wholesome. So where the grace of God from his temple and altar flows, it heals the corrupt nature of man, and renders barren terrible deserts, as a land of waters and gardens.