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Zephaniah 2

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1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation that hath no shame;

2 before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah's anger come upon you.

3 Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; Seek righteousness, Seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger.

4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

6 And the sea-coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed [their flocks] thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and bring back their captivity.

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

9 Therefore as I live, saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall make a prey of them, and the remnant of my nation shall inherit them.

10 This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah of hosts.

11 Jehovah will be terrible unto them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the nations.

12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.

14 And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and the porcupine shall lodge in the capitals thereof; [their] voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he hath laid bare the cedar-work.

15 This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

   

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Seek

  

The meaning of "to seek" in the Bible is pretty straightforward, but there is a bit of nuance. In most cases "seek" or "look for" is connected with truth and knowledge, where "desire" is connected with love and affection. This makes sense; the idea of "seeking" is connected to sight, and sight corresponds to our intellect and capacity to understand truth.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 550; Apocalypse Revealed 429; Arcana Coelestia 4719, 6770, 6771, 7021, 8298)

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Arcana Coelestia # 7021

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7021. 'For all the men seeking your soul are dead' means the removal of falsities endeavouring to destroy the life of truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'being dead' as the fact that they have been removed, since those who are dead have also been removed; from the meaning of the Egyptians, to whom 'the men' refers here, as those who are under the influence of falsities, dealt with in 6692; and from the meaning of 'those seeking the soul' as those who endeavour to destroy life. And since spiritual life is the life of truth which belongs to faith and of good which belongs to charity, it is called the life of truth and good. From all this it is evident that 'all the men seeking your soul are dead' means the removal of falsities endeavouring to destroy the life of truth and good. In the Word 'soul' (anima) is used to mean every living thing and is also attributed to living creatures (animalia). But the proper use of the word 'soul' is in reference to a human being; and when used in this way it can vary in meaning. A person himself is called a soul, because the life in general within him is called the soul; more specifically the life or activity of his understanding is called such, and so too is the life or activity of his will.

[2] But in the spiritual sense 'soul' is used to mean the life of truth belonging to faith and the life of good belonging to charity, or in general to mean a person himself in respect of his spirit that lives after death, which is the meaning that 'soul' has in Matthew,

Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Matthew 10:28.

In the same gospel,

What does it profit a person if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul? Or what will a person give as a price sufficient for the redemption of his soul? Matthew 16:26.

In Luke,

The Son of Man did not come to destroy people's souls but to save them. Luke 9:56.

In Ezekiel,

You have desecrated Me among My people, to kill souls that ought not to die, and to keep alive souls that ought not to live. Ezekiel 13:19.

In these places 'soul' stands for a person's spiritual life, the life which is that of his spirit after death. 'Killing the soul', 'suffering the loss of one's soul', and 'destroying the soul' stand for dying spiritually or being subject to damnation.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.