9 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 are come there, and (the waters of the sea) shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The rivers - literally, as in the margin. Perhaps with reference to the circumstance that this "brook or river" is to come into the Dead Sea through the same plain as the Jordan. The one river (Jordan) always flowed, but now, when another river comes in, and "two rivers" flow into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
Every thing - whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live - Life and salvation shall continually accompany the preaching of the Gospel; the death of sin being removed, the life of righteousness shall be brought in.
There shall be a very great multitude of fish - On the above plan this must refer to genuine converts to the Christian faith; true believers, who have got life and salvation by the streams of God's grace. The apostles were fishers of men; converts were the fish caught. See below. As the waters flow into the Dead Sea, where no fish, it is said, can live, its waters must be healed, that is, made capable of preserving life; and so its nature be thus far most surprisingly altered.
And it shall come to pass, [that] every thing that liveth, which moveth, wherever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come there: for they shall be (e) healed; and every thing shall live where the river cometh.
(e) The waters which by nature are salt and unwholesome will be made sweet and comfortable.
And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth,.... That is, every living man; everyone that lives naturally or corporeally, that lives, moves, and has his being in God, as all men have, Acts 17:28,
whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live; or, "the two rivers" (i); the waters divided as before, east and west; not the two Testaments, Old and New; nor the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper; but the Gospel, which, wherever it shall come with power, and to whomsoever it so comes, they shall live spiritually; not to whomsoever it is preached, for to some it is not profitable; see Ezekiel 47:11, but is the savour of death unto death; but to all to whom it is accompanied by the Spirit of God it is the savour of life unto life; the Spirit that gives life, and is the means of it: indeed, the love of God is the river of water of life, Revelation 21:1, it is the spring of spiritual life to dead sinners, and what revives drooping saints, quickens their graces, faith, hope, and love; enlivens and cheers their spirits, and greatly influences true religion and godliness, and very much promotes the life and power of it: and so the grace of the Spirit is living water, by which dead sinners are quickened; the work of grace in saints is revived, and which always continues and issues in eternal life, John 4:10, but the Gospel, and its doctrines, are rather intended; which are the means of quickening those who are dead in trespasses and sins; serve greatly to invigorate the graces of the Spirit in the hearts of God's people; to influence their lives and conversations; to support them under afflictions, and to nourish them up to everlasting life; and point out the way to eternal life, and give a true account of it.
And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither; that is, a multitude of fish in the Dead sea, where none lived before, and owing to those waters coming thither: it signifies the great number of living Christians, true believers, who shall appear wherever the Gospel is truly, purely, and powerfully preached; of these see more in the next verse:
for they shall be healed; See Gill on Ezekiel 47:8,
and everything shall live whither the river cometh; not only shall live as before, but continue to live, shall never die; their graces shall not die, nor shall they themselves die the second death, but shall have eternal life; because of the purpose of God, who has ordained them to it; and the promise of God, who is faithful to it; and because of the security of their life in Christ, to whom they are united; and because of the indwelling of the Spirit of life in them. So the Targum,
"they shall remain in every place where the waters of the river come.''
(i) "duo torrentes", Pagninus, Montanus; "geminus torrens", Tigurine version, Cocceius; "fluvius geminus", Starckius.
rivers--in Hebrew, "two rivers." Hence Hebrew expositors think that the waters from the temple were divided into two branches, the one emptying itself into the eastern or Dead Sea, the other into the western or Mediterranean. So Zac 14:8. However, though this probably is covertly implied in the Hebrew dual, the flowing of the waters into the Dead Sea only is expressed. Compare Ezekiel 47:8, "waters . . . healed," which can apply only to it, not to the Mediterranean: also Ezekiel 47:10, "fish as the fish of the great sea"; the Dead Sea, when healed, containing fish, as the Mediterranean does.
Shall live - Be preserved alive, and thrive, whereas no fish can live in the Dead - sea. For they - The poisonous waters of the Dead - sea shall be made wholesome for fish. Shall live - Thrive, and multiply in the virtue of the healing streams. Thus is the fruitfulness of the grace of God in the church set forth.
*More commentary available at chapter level.