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Ezekiel 31

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1 Now in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his people; Whom are you like in your great power?

3 See, a pine-tree with beautiful branches and thick growth, giving shade and very tall; and its top was among the clouds.

4 It got strength from the waters and the deep made it tall: its streams went round about its planted land and it sent out its waterways to all the trees of the field.

5 In this way it became taller than all the trees of the field; and its branches were increased and its arms became long because of the great waters.

6 In its branches all the birds of heaven came to rest, and under its arms all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young, and great nations were living in its shade.

7 So it was beautiful, being so tall and its branches so long, for its root was by great waters.

8 No cedars were equal to it in the garden of God; the fir-trees were not like its branches, and plane-trees were as nothing in comparison with its arms; no tree in the garden of God was so beautiful.

9 I made it beautiful with its mass of branches: so that all the trees in the garden of God were full of envy of it.

10 For this cause the Lord has said: Because he is tall, and has put his top among the clouds, and his heart is full of pride because he is so high,

11 I have given him up into the hands of a strong one of the nations; he will certainly give him the reward of his sin, driving him out.

12 And men from strange lands, who are to be feared among the nations, after cutting him off, have let him be: on the mountains and in all the valleys his branches have come down; his arms are broken by all the waterways of the land; all the peoples of the earth have gone from his shade, and have let him be.

13 All the birds of heaven have come to rest on his broken stem where it is stretched on the earth, and all the beasts of the field will be on his branches:

14 In order that no trees by the waters may be lifted up in their growth, putting their tops among the clouds; and that no trees which are watered may take their place on high: for they are all given up to death, to the lowest parts of the earth among the children of men, with those who go down to the underworld.

15 This is what the Lord has said: The day when he goes down to the underworld, I will make the deep full of grief for him; I will keep back her streams and the great waters will be stopped: I will make Lebanon dark for him, and all the trees of the field will be feeble because of him.

16 I will send shaking on the nations at the sound of his fall, when I send him down to the underworld with those who go down into the deep: and on earth they will be comforting themselves, all the trees of Eden, the best of Lebanon, even all the watered ones.

17 And they will go down with him to the underworld, to those who have been put to the sword; even those who were his helpers, living under his shade among the nations

18 Whom then are you like? for you will be sent down with the trees of Eden into the lowest parts of the earth: there you will be stretched out among those without circumcision, with those who were put to the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his people, says the Lord.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 130

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130. The person who wishes to become wise from the world has for his 'garden' sensory evidence and factual knowledge. His 'Eden' is self-love and love of the world, his 'east' is the west or himself. His 'river Euphrates' is all his factual knowledge, which is condemned; his 'second river', where Asshur is, is his insane reasoning from which come falsities; his 'third river', where Cush is, is the resulting assumptions he makes consisting of evil and falsity, which are his cognitions of faith; his 'fourth' is the wisdom that results, which in the Word is called magic. This is why Egypt, which means knowledge, after it has become magical, means this kind of person, the reason being that he wants to become wise from self, as shown throughout the Word. Such people are described in Ezekiel as follows,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of his rivers, who said, My river is my own, and I have made myself. And the land of Egypt will be made into a desolation and a waste. And they will know that I am Jehovah. Moreover he has said, The river is mine, and I made it. Ezekiel 29:3, 9.

People like this are also called in the same prophet where again Pharaoh or the Egyptian is the subject 'the trees of Eden in hell' as follows,

I will cause him to go down into hell with those going down into the pit. Whom have you become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world, in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those pierced by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his horde. Ezekiel 31:16, 18.

Here 'trees of Eden' stands for facts and cognitions drawn from the Word which they profane in this manner by means of reasonings.

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