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Ezekiel 27

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1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

2 And you, son of man, make a song of grief for Tyre;

3 And say to Tyre, O you who are seated at the doorway of the sea, trading for the peoples with the great sea-lands, these are the words of the Lord: You, O Tyre, have said, I am a ship completely beautiful.

4 Your builders have made your outlines in the heart of the seas, they have made you completely beautiful.

5 They have made all your boards of fir-trees from Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make the supports for your sails.

6 Of oak-trees from Bashan they have made your driving blades; they have made your floors of ivory and boxwood from the sea-lands of Kittim.

7 The best linen with needlework from Egypt was your sail, stretched out to be a flag for you; blue and purple from the sea-lands of Elishah gave you shade.

8 The people of Zidon and Arvad were your boatmen; the wise men of Zemer were in you; they were guiding your ships;

9 The responsible men of Gebal and its wise men were in you, making your boards watertight: all the ships of the sea with their seamen were in you trading in your goods.

10 Cush and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war, hanging up their body-covers and head-dresses of war in you: they gave you your glory.

11 The men of Arvad in your army were on your walls, and were watchmen in your towers, hanging up their arms on your walls round about; they made you completely beautiful.

12 Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.

13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; they gave living men and brass vessels for your goods.

14 The people of Togarmah gave horses and war-horses and transport beasts for your goods.

15 The men of Rodan were your traders: a great number of sea-lands did business with you: they gave you horns of ivory and ebony as an offering.

16 Edom did business with you because of the great number of things which you made; they gave emeralds, purple, and needlework, and the best linen and coral and rubies for your goods.

17 Judah and the land of Israel were your traders; they gave grain of Minnith and sweet cakes and honey and oil and perfume for your goods.

18 Damascus did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth, with wine of Helbon and white wool.

19 ... for your goods: they gave polished iron and spices for your goods.

20 Dedan did trade with you in cloths for the backs of horses.

21 Arabia and all the rulers of Kedar did business with you; in lambs and sheep and goats, in these they did business with you.

22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah did trade with you; they gave the best of all sorts of spices and all sorts of stones of great price and gold for your goods.

23 Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Asshur and all the Medes:

24 These were your traders in beautiful robes, in rolls of blue and needlework, and in chests of coloured cloth, corded with cords and made of cedar-wood, in them they did trade with you.

25 Tarshish ships did business for you in your goods: and you were made full, and great was your glory in the heart of the seas.

26 Your boatmen have taken you into great waters: you have been broken by the east wind in the heart of the seas.

27 Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.

28 At the sound of the cry of your ships' guides, the boards of the ship will be shaking.

29 And all the boatmen, the seamen and those who are expert at guiding a ship through the sea, will come down from their ships and take their places on the land;

30 And their voices will be sounding over you, and crying bitterly they will put dust on their heads, rolling themselves in the dust:

31 And they will have the hair of their heads cut off because of you, and will put haircloth on their bodies, weeping for you with bitter grief in their souls, even with bitter sorrow.

32 And in their weeping they will make a song of grief for you, sorrowing over you and saying, Who is like Tyre, who has come to an end in the deep sea?

33 When your goods went out over the seas, you made numbers of peoples full; the wealth of the kings of the earth was increased with your great wealth and all your goods.

34 Now that you are broken by the seas in the deep waters, your goods and all your people will go down with you.

35 All the people of the sea-lands are overcome with wonder at you, and their kings are full of fear, their faces are troubled.

36 Those who do business among the peoples make sounds of surprise at you; you have become a thing of fear, you have come to an end for ever.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6385

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6385. 'And he will be at the haven of ships' means in which teachings drawn from the Word are present. This is clear from the meaning of 'the haven' as the resting-place, as immediately above in 6384, thus the place where those teachings are present; and from the meaning of 'ships' as teachings drawn from the Word. The reason why they are meant by 'ships' is that ships sail across seas and along rivers, carrying commodities used to support life. For 'seas' and 'rivers' mean different kinds of knowledge; the commodities used to support life which the ships carry are teachings as well as actual truths drawn from the Word. The fact that such teachings and truths are meant by 'ships' is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

The islands will put their trust in Me, and the ships of Tarshish at their head, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them. Isaiah 60:9.

'The ships of Tarshish' stands for teachings and truths drawn from the Word. This is why it says that they would bring their sons, their silver and gold; for 'sons' means those in possession of truths, 'silver' truth itself, and 'gold' good. Anyone can see that the ships of Tarshish are not really meant here, and that sons, silver, and gold are not really meant either.

[2] In Ezekiel,

In the heart of the sea are your borders, your architects have perfected your beauty. Of fir trees from Senir they built for you all the boards; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Of oaks from Bashan they made oars; your plank they made of ivory, a daughter of steps 1 from the isles of Kittim. Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you an ensign; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your wise men, O Tyre, who were in you were your pilots. Elders of Gebal and its wisemen were in you, remedying your cracks. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were in you, to conduct your trade. Ezekiel 17:4-9.

This refers to Tyre, which means cognitions of good and truth, 1201. Those cognitions are described by means of the aspects of a ship - its boards, mast, oars, plank, sail, covering, rowers, pilots, and sailors. Who can fail to see that one must not take all these things literally? But when the cognitions of truth and good, which are 'Tyre', together with teachings drawn from the Word, are understood by 'ships', all things go beautifully together.

[3] In David,

How many are your works, O Jehovah! In wisdom You have made them all. This sea, great and wide on both hands 2 - there the ships sail, the sea monster whom you have formed to play in it. Psalms 104:24-26.

In the same author,

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of confession, and declare Jehovah's works in a triumphant shout. Those who go down to the sea with ships, doing work in many waters - these saw the works of Jehovah, and His marvels in the deep. Psalms 107:21-24.

Here also 'ships' stands for cognitions and religious teachings, 'the sea monster' for the general sources of known facts, 42. And since 'ships' are cognitions and those teachings, the words 'those who go down to the sea with ships - these saw the works of Jehovah, and His marvels in the deep' are used; for those who know those cognitions and teachings drawn from the Word see those works and marvels.

[4] In John,

The second angel sounded, and so to speak a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And a third part of the sea became blood, with the result that a third part of creatures died who had their being 3 in the sea. And a third part of the ships was destroyed. Revelation 8:8-9.

'A great mountain burning with fire' stands for self-love, 1691; 'the sea stands for the natural where factual knowledge resides, 28; 'blood' stands for violence done to charity, 374, 1005; 'the creatures who had their being in the sea' stands for truths contained in factual knowledge, together with forms of good; 'a third part' stands for something not yet complete, 2788 (end). They 'died' stands for the fact that they had no spiritual life, 6119, and therefore 'a third part of the ships was destroyed' stands for the fact that the truths and forms of good presented in teachings drawn from the Word were falsified. From all this one may see what is meant by this prophetic description.

[5] But in the contrary sense 'ships' means cognitions and teachings that present falsity and evil, as in Daniel,

At the time of the end the king of the south will clash with him; therefore the king of the north will rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter into countries, and will overflow and penetrate. Daniel 11:40.

'The king of the south' stands for truths that spring from good, 'the king of the north' for falsities that spring from evil, 'chariots with horsemen and with ships' for teachings that present falsity. 'Countries' stands for Churches, which - it is foretold - falsities springing from evils will overflow and penetrate 'at the time of the end'.

[6] In John,

Every shipmaster, and everyone on board ships, and sailors, and all who trade on the sea, stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of Babylon's burning, saying, What [city] is like the great city? Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who have ships on the sea have been made rich by her wealth. 4 Revelation 18:17-19.

Here it may be seen that 'ships' are cognitions and teachings that present falsity and evil because 'Babylon' describes worship which to outward appearance is holy but inwardly is profane. Once again no one can fail to see that 'ships' means something other than ships.

The same is so in Isaiah,

Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent to Babel, so that I may break down all the bars, and the Chaldeans in whose ships there is shouting. Isaiah 43:14.

In addition to these places falsities springing from evil are also meant by 'ships' in Isaiah 2:16; 23:1, 14; Psalms 48:7.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. a daughter of steps describes part of a ship, though exactly which part is not clear to the translator.

2. literally, wide with spaces

3. literally, their souls

4. literally, preciousness

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