Ezekiel 47:6

Eze 47:6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen [this]? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.

Ver. 6. Son of man, hast thou seen this?] And art thou soundly sensible thereof? It is very fit thou shouldst, that God may have the glory of his great goodness and power in propagating the gospel, and bringing forward the work of his grace in the hearts of his people, maugre the malice of earth and of hell. The Reformation wrought in Germany, from how small beginnings grew it! The establishing of that among us, how imperfect soever, to be done by so weak and simple means, yea, by casual and cross means, against the force of so potent and political an adversary, this is to be looked upon as a just miracle.

To the brink of the river.] Where my work was to stand and cry, Oh the depth! Oh how great things hath God prepared for those that fear him! Oh the joy, the joy! Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 47:6-7. And he said, Son of man, hast thou seen this? — Hast thou considered, or taken notice of, this vision now showed unto thee? To see, often signifies to take notice of what we see: on the contrary, they are said to have eyes and see not, who do not observe what is placed before their eyes. This is an intimation to us, that it is our indispensable duty to consider well what is signified by these waters, and by their increase and effects: namely, to mark well the progress of the gospel in the world, and the process of the work of grace in the heart; to follow and carefully observe these waters, as Ezekiel here did; to attend to the motions and drawings of the blessed Spirit, and walk after them under a divine conduct. It is good to be often searching into the things of God, and trying to discover the depth of them; not only to look on the surface of the waters, but to go as far as we can toward the bottom of them; to be often digging, often diving into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, as those who covet to be intimately acquainted with them. If we carefully consider the things of God, we shall find some of them very plain, and easy to be understood, like the waters that came only up to the ankles; others more difficult, and which require a deeper search, as the waters which rose to the knees, or the loins; and some quite beyond our reach, which we can neither fathom nor penetrate into, but, despairing to find their bottom, or measure their depth must be content, with St. Paul, to sit down on the brink, and adore it, crying out with him, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Rom 11:33.

Then he caused me to return by the brink of the river — He made me go along by the river side. Behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees — The words allude to the trees planted in paradise, and designed for man’s food in the state of innocence; and especially to the tree of life which grew there. The reader will observe, that many of the ideas in this chapter are taken from the terrestrial paradise; see Eze 47:12, and compare Rev 22:1-2, where the same ideas are carried to the celestial paradise by St. John.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

47:6-9 The river grew as it went, bringing life to everything it touched, even the salty waters of the Dead Sea.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(6) To return to the brink.—The angel, having called the prophet’s attention to this marvellous increase, now causes him to return along the bank to observe other things. The word brink in this verse and bank in the next are the same in the original. The prophet does not return to the brink, for he had not left it, but is told to pass along it.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. to the brink] Perhaps: along the brink. River is brook or wady as Eze_47:5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said unto me, son of man, hast thou seen this? &c. That is, the man that measured the waters said to the prophet, hast thou carefully observed all this from whence the waters flowed? from what small beginnings they rose, and gradually increased? how they first issued forth, as out of a vial; and now, in the space of about two or three miles, are become a deep river, and impassable? it is right and profitable to observe the rise and progress of the Gospel; what a spread it has had in the world, and what it will have:

then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river; there to stand and observe the nature of the waters, and the course of them; the multitude of fish in them; and the trees which grew upon the banks of them; of all which some account is given in the following verses.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He said, i.e. the man with measuring line in hand.

Seen this; observed and considered this; hast thou well seen this?

Caused me to return: it is not said whether he was gone from the bank, though it be said he returned to the brink, or perhaps it is, he caused me to return along by the brink of the river.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Then he... caused me to return to the brink of the river. The difficulty lying in the word "return" has given rise to a variety of conjectures. Hengstenberg supposes the prophet had made trial of the river"s depth by wading in (perhaps up to the neck), and that the angel caused him to return from the stream to the bank According to Hitzig, the measuring had taken place at some distance from the stream, and the prophet, having come up to his guide from the bank after making trial of the water"s depth, was Once more conducted back to the river"s brink. Havernick conceives the sense to be that the prophet, having accompanied the angel to the point where the stream debouched into the Dead Sea was led back to the riverbank. All difficulty, however, vanishes if, either with Schroder we refer ynibeviyw to a mental returning, as if the import were that the angel, having ascertained that the prophet had "seen" the river"s course, now told him to direct his attention to the bank, or, with Keil and Kliefoth, translate l by "along" or "on" rather than "to." As the prophet had been led along or on the river"s bank to see the increasing breadth and depth of the water, so was he now "caused to return" along or on the same bank to note the abundance of the foliage with which it was adorned.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Son of man

"Son of a human being" or "Son of humanity." God calls Ezekiel this to emphasize that Ezekiel is only a human being. God is eternal and powerful, but humans are not. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:1. AT: "Mortal person" or "Human"

do you see this?

Yahweh is commanding Ezekiel to think about what he has just seen. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 8:15. AT: "think about this." (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

Son of Man

Arabah

Salt Sea

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Have you seen, Son of man how much this stream has swelled?

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.