The River From the Temple

The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple,
and I saw water coming out
from under the threshold of the temple 
toward the east (for the temple faced east).
The water was coming down
from under the south side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He then brought me out through the north gate
and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east,
and the water was flowing from the south side.

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.
Their leaves will not wither,
nor will their fruit fail.
Every month they will bear,
because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.
Their fruit will serve for food
and their leaves for healing.

(Ezekiel 47:1-2, 12)

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AE 1072 [2, 3]

The Word is like a garden,
that may be called a heavenly paradise,
in which are dainties and delightful things of every kind,
dainties from the fruits,
and delightful things from the flowers;
and in the middle of it trees of life,
and near them fountains of living water,
and round about trees of the forest,
and near them rivers.

[3] Again, the Word is like fruit
within which there is a nutritious pulp,
and in the middle of it seed vessels,
in which inmostly is a living germ
that germinates in good soil.
Again, the Word is also like a most beautiful infant,
which, except the face,
is enveloped in wrappings upon wrappings;
the infant itself is in the inmost heaven,
the wrappings are in the lower heavens,
and the general covering of the wrappings is on the earth.
As the Word is such
it is holy and Divine from inmosts to the externals.