The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Earlier text
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.
Zechariah 14:8 prophesies, "And on that day living water (mayim hayyim) 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." Revelation 22:1 describes "a river of the water of life (hydōr zōēs), as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb." Both texts share living/life-giving water flowing from Jerusalem/God's throne. Zechariah envisions waters flowing in two directions to vivify the land; Revelation shows a single river flowing down the main street of the New Jerusalem. The escalation is from geographical water reviving the land of Israel to the water of eternal life flowing from the divine throne. This allusion joins the canonical river trajectory: Eden (Gen 2:10), Ezekiel's temple river (47:1-12), and Joel 3:18 — all converging in the river of the water of life.