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9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
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[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:6-12
(Ver. 6 seqq.) And he said to me: You have certainly seen, son of man; and he brought me out, and turned me toward the bank of the river (or the stream). And when I turned (or had turned), behold, on the bank of the river (or the stream) there were very many trees (or very many trees) on both sides. And he said to me: These waters that go out to the hills of the East (or Oriental), and go down to the plains of the desert (or this water that goes out into Galilee, which turns to the East, and goes down to Arabia), shall enter the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed. And every living creature (or animal) that crawls (or of crawling creatures), wherever the torrent (or river) shall come, shall live; and there shall be very many fish, after these waters come there; and they shall be healed, and all things to which the torrent (or river) shall come shall live. And the fishermen shall stand upon its banks from Engaddi even to Engallim; it shall be a place to spread their nets. The fish of it shall be of very many kinds, like the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the marshes that go out of the banks will not be healed, but will be given to the salt marshes. And over the torrent (or river) there shall spring up on its banks on both sides every fruit-bearing tree, its leaf shall not wither (or it shall not grow old): and its fruit shall not fail. Every month they shall bring forth first fruits (or all things shall be renewed); because its waters shall go forth from the sanctuary, and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaves for medicine (or its ascent for health). Although this whole chapter may be lengthy, I wanted to present it all at once so as not to interrupt the reader's understanding and to avoid disrupting the listener's comprehension. First, it should be noted that in Hebrew it is called Nehel () and in Greek it is called χειμάῤῥους, which the Septuagint translates as 'river'. Then, for Galilee, which is called Galila () in Hebrew, Aquila translates it as θίνας, which means 'sand dunes'; Symmachus translates it as μεθόριον, which we can translate as 'border'. Symmachus also transferred to Arabia, which is uninhabitable; Aquila, the low and flat areas; Theodotius, to Araba. Let us therefore say what seems to us in each. That man who was the leader of Ezekiel, advises the prophet to look more closely and see, and to attentively observe the hidden mysteries with the eyes of the mind. He calls the son of man, or in the likeness of the Lord and Savior; and indeed Ezekiel is interpreted as strength, or the kingdom of God: or certainly for the disturbance of human weakness; lest he forget his own condition, while great things are shown to him: and he leads and turns to the bank of the river, so that because he could not cross the middle depth, at least he may recognize those things which are on the banks. And when, he said, I turned, or he turned me, who was the guide and teacher; behold on the river bank, or the stream, many logs, or very many trees on both sides. This torrent, which is carried by the abundance of water like a torrent, and receives rain from the sky, as we mentioned in the previous lesson, is called a river by LXX, because it has perpetual waters: not from rains collected here and there, but from a living and perpetual source. Of which river we read many things in the holy Scriptures; but for the present few things are to be said, and first this: The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods have lifted up their waves. (Psalm 93:3) And in Isaiah: I will make a way in the desert and rivers in the wilderness (Isa. XLIII, 19). And in another place of the same book, more clearly: There will appear in Zion a river flowing glorious in a thirsty land (Isa. XLIV, 3). Above this river there were many trees on both sides of the bank; so that between two instruments, the old and the new, the enclosed river would flow. However, there were many wood or rather, very many trees, which I believe abound in various fruits as the Scripture mentions in paradise; and the leading guide and teacher, the prophet, teaches and says: These waters that come out, either into the Galilee of the Gentiles, according to the Septuagint, or (as it is more accurately contained in Hebrew) into the hills of the eastern sand, and they descend to the plains of the desert, or to Arabia, they will enter the sea, or to the ends of the sea, and the waters will be healed. We previously said that waters either signify the grace of baptism or the Evangelical doctrine. If these waters leave the threshold of the Lord's temple and hold fast to the Apostolic discipline, they make the previously barren and infertile hills fruitful and turn everything flat and deserted into a well-watered land, so that they embody the sacrament of the Jordan River. This river, which Elisha cured with Evangelical and Apostolic salt, transformed barrenness and death into abundance and life. Not only did they heal the deserts, but they entered the Dead Sea, a sea in which nothing living could exist, and the most bitter sea, which in Greek is called λίμνην ἀσφαλτῖτιν, that is, the lake of bitumen. And in a wonderful way, the dead waters are healed by the waters of the Gospel, which, because they have nothing living in them, are given the name of death. For they had not known Him who says: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). And truly, according to the letter, nothing that breathes and can walk can be found in this sea due to excessive bitterness: not even snails, small worms, eels, and other types of animals or serpents, whose bodies we can know more than their names. Finally, if the Jordan river, swollen by rain, carries fish to this place, they immediately die and float on the oily waters. Since these things have no usefulness, as simple speech testifies, even if they were done, which the foolish superstition of the Jews believes, they will have many fish according to the spiritual understanding of the Lord, when the river is healed, and all things will live to which this river has come; so that fishermen will stand on the shores from Engedi to En-galim: the former means the source or spring of goats, and the latter means the source or spring of calves. For in the beginning, there is the sea of the Dead, where the Jordan enters. And there is En-gedi, where it ends and is consumed. But I believe that the Dead Sea is the one Zacharias speaks of: In that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it towards the eastern sea and half towards the western sea (Zach. XIV, 8). Daniel also agrees with these words: I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea (Dan. VII, 2). And David: The waves of the sea are marvelous (Psal. XCII, 4). And from the person of the Savior in the Psalm: Come into the deep sea and the tempest has overwhelmed me (Psalm 68, 2). The King of Egypt also is called the dragon according to the same Ezekiel (Ezekiel 32), who dwells in the sea, and stirs up the rivers as with his horns. And again, This great and spacious sea (Psalm 103, 25). As long as it has not taken in the waters of the river, or the torrent, it kills everything that is in it; but the Lord, of whom it is said, He will strike, and he will heal us after two days, and on the third day we shall rise, and we shall live in his sight (Hosea 6, 23), He speaks in the same Prophet Hosea: I have bound up Ephraim, I have taken him upon my arm, and they have not known, because I have healed them in the corruption of man (Hosea 11, 9); who was wounded for our sins, and weakened for our iniquities. By the discipline of our peace on him, and by his bruises we were healed (Isaiah 53:5). He himself healed this sea, which is very salty and dead with excessive bitterness, by his death. He who says through Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1). Therefore, he also cries out through Jeremiah: Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings (Jeremiah 3:22). For the impatient people have said, unable to bear the pain of their wounds any longer: Summer has passed, the harvest is over, and we are not saved. Then the Lord answered them: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not come (Jeremiah 8:22)? And Jeremiah himself cries out and says: Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved (Jeremiah 17:14). Finally, the angels who were the protectors of the people of the Jews at that time when the foolish crowd cried out, saying, 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' (Matth. XXVII, 25); and, 'The veil of the temple was torn, and all the Hebrew sacraments were revealed,' they responded to the Lord who was commanding, and said, 'We have cared for Babylon, and she has not been healed: let us leave her' (Jerem. LI, 9), the city of confusion and vices. And Josephus also relates in his History that after the Lord was crucified and the veil of the temple was torn, or the doorpost of the temple collapsed, a voice was heard in the innermost part of the temple of celestial powers, saying, Let us depart from these dwellings. All of this is not said in vain, but necessarily, because the Dead Sea, when the river of the Lord flows into it, is said to be healed. Above this sea, from Engedi, the eye and fountain of the goat, which is always offered for sin at Engallim, the fountain of the calves that are sacrificed to the Lord, and they imitate the calf carrying its horns and hooves, which in the type of the Savior is sacrificed at the altar, there will be fishermen, to whom the Lord Jesus speaks: Come to me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt. IV, 19): of whom also Jeremiah says: Behold, I will send fishermen (Jer. XVI, 16). And there will be very many species, indeed, genera of fish in the once-dead sea. These fish, at the command of the Lord, were drawn out by Peter to the right side, and they were one hundred fifty-three: so much so that because of their multitude the nets were torn (John 21). However, those who have written about the nature and properties of animals, both in Latin and Greek language, say that there are one hundred fifty-three fishing methods, which were all used by the apostles, and nothing remained uncaught, while both noble and common, rich and poor, and every kind of human being from the sea of this world is drawn out for salvation. But what follows, In its shores and swamps, or in those that extend beyond the shores, the waters will not be healed, covertly shows that those who were not in Noah's ark will perish during the reign of the flood; and those whom the river did not touch will not receive health; but they will be thrown into salt pits, as it is written: When the pestilence rages, the fool becomes wiser (Prov. XIX, 25). For the examples of the wicked educate the good. Whether they are given in the salt ponds, according to what is written in the Gospel: Salt is good; but if the salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? (Matthew 5:13) so that they may forever lack fruits and vitality. This is also demonstrated by a city that, after its destruction, is sprinkled with salt. But above the torrent or river, on its banks, every fruitful tree, or as they all agree, βρῶσιμον (Al. βρῶμα) which gives food and nourishment and can be eaten, is called in the Hebrew language, Machal, and nothing will decay in it according to the Septuagint, but its fruits will be renewed daily, and its leaves will not wither, and its fruit will not fail; according to what is written in the first psalm. And he shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, that shall bring forth its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off (Psalm 1:3). Each month, he says, it shall bring forth its firstfruits, or as it is written in the Septuagint: Its fruit shall be its firstfruits in its renewal; so that all the fruits of the believers may be firstfruits, and each month may be assigned to each apostle. And this shall happen, because its waters shall come forth from the sanctuary: Let us not think that the abundance of banks, trees, or months, is the cause and source of such great fruitfulness: because its waters shall come forth from the sanctuary. Therefore it is not of the one who wants or of the one who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Rom. 9:16). The principle of all these trees is the tree of life, which is understood as wisdom, of which it is written: The tree of life is to all who believe in it (Prov. 3). And that which is said: And its fruits shall be for food, and its leaves for medicine, demonstrates the sacraments of the divine books: of which one pertains to the letter, the other to the spirit: so that we may understand simple words in the leaves, and the hidden meaning in the fruits. For just as the knowledge of the Scriptures leads to the kingdom of heaven and provides us with the bread that says, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven' (John 6:41), so do its leaves contain moral doctrine and offer healing, so that they may heal the wounds of sinners. Concerning the leaves, which are called 'Ale' in Hebrew, they were translated by the Septuagint as 'ascension,' because it can also be understood in such a way that after partaking of the nourishment of the fruits, we ascend to heavenly things by the admonitions of the words.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel