Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 47:8

"Then said he unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea [shall the waters go] which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed." — Ezekiel 47:8 (ASV)

Go down into the desert.— The word for country is the same as is used in Joshua 22:10-11, for the borders of the Jordan, and undoubtedly has the same meaning here: the valley of the Jordan, called the Ghor. The word desert is better translated in the margin as plain, and refers to that expansion of the Jordan valley just north of the Dead Sea in which the city of Jericho was situated.

So far the course of the river has been due east; now, without any allusion to the Jordan, it apparently takes its place and flows into the sea. Both the situation and the description show that the Dead Sea is intended. By its entrance the waters of the sea shall be healed, that is, they shall be so changed that, from being incapable of supporting life, they shall become the home of life in all abundance and variety (Ezekiel 47:9–10).