Zechariah 14:8

THE MESSAGE

What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea, in summer and winter alike.

Hebrew Names Version
It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Yerushalayim; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.

King James Version (1611)
And it shal be in that day, that liuing waters shall goe out from Ierusalem: halfe of them toward the former Sea, and halfe of them toward the hinder Sea: in Summer and in winter shall it be.

King James Version
And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

English Standard Version
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

New American Standard Bible
And on that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

New Century Version
At that time fresh water will flow from Jerusalem. Half of it will flow east to the Dead Sea, and half will flow west to the Mediterranean Sea. It will flow summer and winter.

Amplified Bible
And in that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea (Dead Sea) and half of them to the western sea (the Mediterranean); it will be in summer as well as in winter.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And in that day shall there waters of life goe out from Ierusalem, halfe of them towarde the East sea, and halfe of them towarde the vttermost sea, and shall be, both in sommer and winter.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

Legacy Standard Bible
And it will be in that day, that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

Berean Standard Bible
And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea, in summer and winter alike.

Contemporary English Version
In both summer and winter, life-giving streams will flow from Jerusalem, half of them to the Dead Sea in the east and half to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

Complete Jewish Bible
On that day, fresh water will flow out from Yerushalayim, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both summer and winter.

Darby Translation
And it shall come to pass in that day [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

Easy-to-Read Version
At that time water will flow continually from Jerusalem. That stream will split and part of it will flow east, and part of it will flow west to the Mediterranean Sea. And it will flow all year long, in the summer as well as in the winter.

George Lamsa Translation
And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; they shall continue to flow in summer and in winter.

Good News Translation
When that day comes, fresh water will flow from Jerusalem, half of it to the Dead Sea and the other half to the Mediterranean. It will flow all year long, in the dry season as well as the wet.

Lexham English Bible
And then on that day, living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea, and the other half to the western sea; it will happen both in the summer and in the winter.

Literal Translation
And it shall be in that day, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them shall go toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter it shall be.

American Standard Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

Bible in Basic English
And on that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them flowing to the sea on the east and half to the sea on the west: in summer and in winter it will be so.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
In that time shall there waters of lyfe runne out from Hierusalem: the halfe part of them towarde the cast sea, and the other halfe towarde the vttermost sea, and shall continue both sommer and winter.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And in that day living water shall come forth out of Jerusalem; half of it toward the former sea, and half of it toward the latter sea: and so shall it be in summer and spring.

English Revised Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

World English Bible
It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And it schal be, in that dai quyke watris schulen go out of Jerusalem, the myddil of hem schal go out to the eest see, and the myddil of hem to the laste see; in somer and in wynter thei schulen be.

Update Bible Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and in winter it shall be.

Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them towards the former sea, and half of them towards the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

New English Translation
Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it will happen both in summer and in winter.

New King James Version
And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur.

New Living Translation
On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter.

New Life Bible
On that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. Half of them will flow toward the sea in the east. The other half will flow toward the sea in the west. They will flow in summer and in winter.

New Revised Standard
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And it shall come to pass, in that day, that there shall go forth living waters out of Jerusalem, half of them unto the sea before, and half of them unto the sea behind, in summer and in winter, shall it he.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them to the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter.

Revised Standard Version
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

Young's Literal Translation
And it hath come to pass, in that day, Go forth do living waters from Jerusalem, Half of them unto the eastern sea, And half of them unto the western sea, In summer and in winter it is.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
In that tyme shall there waters of life runne out from Ierusalem: the half parte of them towarde the east see, ad the other half towarde the vttemost see, and shall continue both somer and wynter.

Contextual Overview

⁸ What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter! ⁹ God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one. What a Day that will be! ¹⁰The land will stretch out spaciously around Jerusalem—to Geba in the north and Rimmon in the south, with Jerusalem towering at the center, and the commanding city gates—Gate of Benjamin to First Gate to Corner Gate to Hananel Tower to the Royal Winery—ringing the city full of people. Never again will Jerusalem be totally destroyed. From now on it will be a safe city. ¹²But this is what will happen to all who fought against Jerusalem: God will visit them with a terrible plague. People's flesh will rot off their bones while they are walking around; their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues in their mouths; people will be dying on their feet! Mass hysteria when that happens—total panic! Fellow soldiers fighting and killing each other—holy terror! And then Judah will jump into the fray! Treasures from all the nations will be piled high—gold, silver, the latest fashions. The plague will also hit the animals—horses, mules, camels, donkeys. Everything alive in the military camps will be hit by the plague. All the survivors from the godless nations that fought against Jerusalem will travel to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, and celebrate the Feast of Booths. If any of these survivors fail to make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship the King, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, there will be no rain. If the Egyptians don't make the pilgrimage and worship, there will be no rain for them. Every nation that does not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths will be hit with the plague. Egypt and any other nation that does not make pilgrimage to celebrate the Feast of Booths gets punished. On that Day, the Big Day, all the horses' harness bells will be inscribed "Holy to God ." The cooking pots in the Temple of God will be as sacred as chalices and plates on the altar. In fact, all the pots and pans in all the kitchens of Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to God -of-the-Angel-Armies. People who come to worship, preparing meals and sacrifices, will use them. On that Big Day there will be no buying or selling in the Temple of God -of-the-Angel-Armies. ¹⁵The Day Is Coming Note well: God 's Judgment Day is on the way: "Plunder will be piled high and handed out. I'm bringing all the godless nations to war against Jerusalem— Houses plundered, women raped, Half the city taken into exile, the other half left behind." But then God will march out against the godless nations and fight—a great war! That's the Day he'll take his stand on the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem from the east. The Mount of Olives will be split right down the middle, from east to west, leaving a wide valley. Half the mountain will shift north, the other half south. Then you will run for your lives down the valley, your escape route that will take you all the way to Azal. You'll run for your lives, just as you ran on the day of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him. What a Day that will be! No more cold nights—in fact, no more nights! The Day is coming—the timing is God 's—when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning. What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter! God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one. What a Day that will be! The land will stretch out spaciously around Jerusalem—to Geba in the north and Rimmon in the south, with Jerusalem towering at the center, and the commanding city gates—Gate of Benjamin to First Gate to Corner Gate to Hananel Tower to the Royal Winery—ringing the city full of people. Never again will Jerusalem be totally destroyed. From now on it will be a safe city. But this is what will happen to all who fought against Jerusalem: God will visit them with a terrible plague. People's flesh will rot off their bones while they are walking around; their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues in their mouths; people will be dying on their feet! Mass hysteria when that happens—total panic! Fellow soldiers fighting and killing each other—holy terror! And then Judah will jump into the fray! Treasures from all the nations will be piled high—gold, silver, the latest fashions. The plague will also hit the animals—horses, mules, camels, donkeys. Everything alive in the military camps will be hit by the plague.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

living: Ezekiel 47:1-12, Joel 3:18, Luke 24:47, John 4:10, John 4:14, John 7:38, Revelation 22:1, Revelation 22:2, Revelation 22:17

former: or, eastern, Joel 2:20

in summer: Isaiah 35:7, Isaiah 41:17, Isaiah 41:18, Isaiah 49:10, Isaiah 58:11, Revelation 7:16, Revelation 7:17

Reciprocal: Exodus 15:7 - them that 2 Kings 5:12 - better 2 Kings 5:14 - went he down Isaiah 35:6 - for Daniel 2:35 - and filled Daniel 11:45 - between Micah 4:2 - for Micah 5:7 - as a dew Habakkuk 2:14 - the earth Zechariah 12:3 - in that Luke 14:23 - Go John 5:4 - was made 1 Corinthians 14:36 - came

Cross-References

Genesis 13:10
Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God 's garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east. That's how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom. The people of Sodom were evil—flagrant sinners against God . After Lot separated from him, God said to Abram, "Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I'll make your descendants like dust—counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. So—on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I'm giving it all to you." Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to God .

Genesis 14:3
This second group of kings, the attacked, came together at the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea. They had been under the thumb of Kedorlaomer for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, they revolted.

Genesis 14:10
The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the mountains. The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their food and equipment, and went on their way. They captured Lot, Abram's nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he owned with them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem,.... When it shall be light; and this is one of the things which will make it so; for by "living waters" are meant the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; compared to running "waters" for the sound of them, which will then go into all the earth; for the swiftness in which they shall proceed; for their rapidity and force in bearing all before them; for the great spread of them; and for their virtue and efficacy in cooling those who are inflamed with the fiery law; refreshing thirsty souls; purifying the hearts and lives of sinners, and making those that are barren fruitful: and to "living" waters, because they are the means of quickening dead sinners, and of reviving drooping saints; and because they serve to support and maintain a spiritual life, and nourish up unto eternal life, and direct the way to it, as well as give the best account of it: and these will come out of Jerusalem; which may design Jerusalem literally, which will be rebuilt at the time of the Jews' conversion; or mystically the church, the spiritual and heavenly Jerusalem; see Hebrews 12:22 reference seems to be had to the first ministration of the Gospel, which, according to prophecy, came out of Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:3.

Half of them towards the former sea; or the eastern sea, as the Targum, the Persian sea; and may signify that the Gospel shall be carried into the eastern parts of the world, into Persia, Tartary, and China, and other nations; and those great kingdoms shall become the kingdoms of Christ:

and half of them toward the hinder sea; or the western sea, as the Targum, the Mediterranean Sea; and may denote the progress and success of the Gospel in the European parts of the world: and the meaning of the whole is, that the Gospel shall be carried from east to west, and preached all the world over, to the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, who, some think, are designed by the two seas; when the abundance of the sea shall be converted by it, and the forces and fulness of the Gentiles brought in, and all Israel saved:

in summer and in winter shall it be; there will be no summer of persecution, nor winter of coldness and indifference to hinder the ministry of the word: the phrase denotes the constant ministry of the word, and the duration of it; it shall be constantly preached all the year long, and as long as summer and winter last.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And it shall be, that living waters - Kimchi: “This is what is said in the prophecy of Joel, ‘A fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord’ Joel 3:18; and in that of Ezekiel, ‘And behold there ran out waters.’ Ezekiel 47:2.” Zechariah leaves to the mind to supply what the former prophets had said of the fertilizing life-giving character of those waters. He adds that they should pervade the whole land, west as well as east; “to the former,” rather “the Eastern Sea” , into which they would by nature flow, and toward “the hinder,” that is, the Western Sea, the Mediterranean, which natural waters could not “reach.” This their flow, he adds, should be perpetual , “These streams shall not dry up and their waters shall not fail”; therefore drought shall not lessen them, nor winter-cold bind them. “From Jerusalem as from a fountain shall stream forth living waters of wisdom and grace to all nations” .

Cyril: “Again he tells us, under a figure, that exceeding great and large shall be that outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the saints, especially when they shall be removed to that holy eternal life in the world to come. For now through faith in Christ we are enriched, as with an earnest, with the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit. But after the Resurrection, sin being wholly taken away, the Holy Spirit will be in us, not as an earnest or in a measure; but richly bounteously and perfectly shall we enjoy the grace through Christ. He calleth, then, ‘living water,’ the Spirit which, he says, will come forth from the Jerusalem which is from above. But that the Holy Scripture is accustomed to liken the Divine Spirit to ‘water,’ the Giver thereof, the Son, accredits, saying, ‘he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water’ John 7:38. This the Evangelist explains, ‘This spake He of the Spirit, which they who believe in Him should receive’ John 7:39. Since then the Spirit is life-giving, rightly does he liken it to that, which is life-giving to the frame.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 14:8. Living waters shall go out — There shall be a wide diffusion of Divine knowledge, and of the plan of human salvation, which shall go out by apostles and preachers, first from Jerusalem, then to Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, the isles of the sea, Britain, c.

The former sea, and - the hinder sea — The Dead Sea and the Mediterranean see on Joel 2:20. These are metaphors.

In summer — In time of drought; or in the countries where there was no knowledge of God, there shall these waters flow. The stream shall never cease; it shall run in summer as well as winter. These are living waters - perennial, incessant, and waters that shall preserve life. See John 7:37.