Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Theme · narrative

Water and Living Water

Water appears in Scripture's first verses as the primordial deep over which the Spirit hovers. It is both life-giving and destructive — the flood, the Red Sea, the Jordan. God provides water from a rock in the wilderness. The prophets promise that in the last days, living waters will flow from Jerusalem. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman he gives water that becomes a spring welling up to eternal life, and on the last day of the feast cries out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.' Revelation ends with the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb.

Passages expressing this theme

  • Exod 14:21 — And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
  • Exod 17:6 — Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elde
  • Ezek 47:1 — Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the w
  • Ezek 47:9 — 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 co
  • Gen 1:2 — And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
  • Gen 7:17 — And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
  • Isa 12:3 — Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
  • Isa 35:6 — Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
  • Isa 44:3 — For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
  • Isa 55:1 — Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
  • Jer 2:13 — For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
  • Jer 17:13 — O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
  • Joel 3:18 — And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come fo
  • Num 20:11 — And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
  • Ps 23:2 — He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
  • Ps 42:1 — As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
  • Ps 46:4 — There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
  • Rev 7:17 — For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
  • Rev 21:6 — And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
  • Rev 22:1 — And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
  • Rev 22:17 — And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
  • Zech 14:8 — 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.