He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen?” Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.
Parallel Translations
-
He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen?” Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.
-
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.
-
And he said unto me: 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man?' Then he led me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 47:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 40:4 The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here so that I may show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”
- Ezekiel 44:5 Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of Yahweh’s house, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.
- Jeremiah 1:11-13 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.” Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”
- Ezekiel 8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”
- Ezekiel 8:17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.
- Zechariah 4:2 He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;
- Zechariah 5:2 He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”
- Matthew 13:51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 47:6 And he said unto me, Son of…
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.
Read full note →
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He said, i.e. the man with measuring line in…
He said, i.e. the man with measuring line in hand.
Seen this; observed and considered this; hast thou well seen this?
Read full note →
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he said unto me, son of man, hast…
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.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 47:6-7. And he said, Son of man, hast…
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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. to the brink] Perhaps: along the brink. River…
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) To return to the brink.—The angel, having called…
(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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then he... caused me to return to the brink…
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Son of man
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"
Read full note →
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 47:6-9 The river grew as it went, bringing life…
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.