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Matthew 7

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1 Be not judges of others, and you will not be judged.

2 For as you have been judging, so you will be judged, and with your measure will it be measured to you.

3 And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?

4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take out the grain of dust from your eye, when you yourself have a bit of wood in your eye?

5 You false one, first take out the bit of wood from your eye, then will you see clearly to take out the grain of dust from your brother's eye.

6 Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, or put your jewels before pigs, for fear that they will be crushed under foot by the pigs whose attack will then be made against you.

7 Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you:

8 Because to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire, and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open.

9 Or which of you, if his son makes a request for bread, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he makes a request for a fish, will give him a snake?

11 If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him?

12 All those things, then, which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets.

13 Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it.

14 For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it.

15 Be on the watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are cruel wolves.

16 By their fruits you will get knowledge of them. Do men get grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?

17 Even so, every good tree gives good fruit; but the bad tree gives evil fruit.

18 It is not possible for a good tree to give bad fruit, and a bad tree will not give good fruit.

19 Every tree which does not give good fruit is cut down and put in the fire.

20 So by their fruits you will get knowledge of them.

21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will go into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the pleasure of my Father in heaven.

22 A great number will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?

23 And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.

24 Everyone, then, to whom my words come and who does them, will be like a wise man who made his house on a rock;

25 And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock.

26 And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand;

27 And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.

28 And it came about, when Jesus had come to the end of these words, that the people were surprised at his teaching,

29 for he was teaching as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8223

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8223. 'And let the waters return onto the Egyptians' means that the falsities arising from evil would flow back onto and surround those steeped in falsities arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'the waters' as falsities, dealt with in 6346, 7307, 8137, 8138, so that 'let the waters return' means falsity flowing back or recoiling on them, at this point surrounding them too, since they were surrounded by the waters of the Sea Suph, which are the falsities arising from evil of those belonging to the Church who have championed faith separated from charity and led a life of evil; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as those steeped in falsities arising from evil, dealt with very often. For what this implies when it is said that the falsities would flow back or recoil on those whose aim was to pour them out onto those governed by truth and good, who are represented by 'the children of Israel', see above in 8214. There it is shown that the evil which they aim in the direction of others recoils on themselves, and that this has its origin in the following law of God's order, You are not to do to another anything except that which you wish others to do to you. Matthew 7:12. This law, which is unchanging and everlasting in the spiritual world, is the source of the laws of retaliation that were laid down in the representative Church, that is to say, the following laws in Moses,

If harm should come about you shall give soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow. Exodus 21:23-24,

In the same author,

If a man disfigures his neighbour, it shall be done to him as he has done - fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has disfigured the person, so it shall be done to him. Leviticus 24:19-20.

In the same author,

If a lying witness replies with a lie against his brother, you shall do to him as he has thought to do to his brother. Deuteronomy 19:18-19.

From these quotations it is plainly evident that these laws have their origin in the universal law that is unchanging and perpetual in the spiritual world, that is to say, the law that you are not to do to others anything except that which you wish others to do to you. This shows clearly how to understand the idea that the falsities arising from evil which people aim to inflict on others flow back or recoil on themselves.

[2] But the situation with that law in the next life is in addition such that when some like or retaliatory action carried out is evil it is inflicted by the evil, and never by the good; that is, it comes from hell and never from heaven. For hell or the evil there have an unending desire to do evil to others; that is altogether the delight of their life. They perform evil therefore the moment they are allowed to; and they do not care whom they do it to. They do not care whether the person is bad or good, companion or foe. And since it accords with a law of order that the evil which people aim in the direction of others recoils on themselves, they rush in to do it when this law allows it. The evil in hell behave in this way, the good in heaven never do. The latter desire constantly to do good to others, for that is the delight of their life, and therefore the moment the opportunity exists they do good both to enemies and to friends. Nor indeed do they resist evil, for the laws of order defend and protect what is good and true. This is why the Lord says,

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Evil is not to be resisted. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:38-39, 43-45.

[3] It is a frequent occurrence in the next life for the evil to be severely punished when they wish to inflict evil on the good, and for the evil which they aim at others to recoil on themselves. Such an occurrence has the appearance of being an act of revenge on the part of the good. But it is not an act of revenge; nor are the good responsible for what happens but evil people who are allowed the opportunity by the law of order so to act. Indeed the good do not wish them any harm, but they cannot take away from them the misery of punishment because they are held intent on good, exactly like a judge when he sees a wrong-doer being punished or like a father when he sees his son being punished by his teacher. The evil who carry out punishment act from an inordinate desire to do ill, whereas the good act from a fondness for doing good. From all this one may see what should be understood by the Lord's words in Matthew, quoted above, about loving one's enemy, and about the law of retaliation, which the Lord did not set aside but opened out; that is to say, He explained that those governed by heavenly love should take no delight in any act of retaliation or revenge but in doing good. His words should also be taken to mean that the actual law of order which protects good achieves this of itself by means of those who are evil.

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