但以理書 9
2
就是他在位第一年,我但以理從書上得知耶和華的話臨到先知耶利米,論耶路撒冷荒涼的年數,七十年為滿。
4
我向耶和華─我的神祈禱、認罪,說:主啊,大而可畏的神,向愛主、守主誡命的人守約施慈愛。
6
沒有聽從你僕人眾先知奉你名向我們君王、首領、列祖,和國中一切百姓所說的話。
7
主啊,你是公義的,我們是臉上蒙羞的;因我們猶大人和耶路撒冷的居民,並以色列眾人,或在近處,或在遠處,被你趕到各國的人,都得罪了你,正如今日一樣。
8
主啊,我們和我們的君王、首領、列祖因得罪了你,就都臉上蒙羞。
10
也沒有聽從耶和華─我們神的話,沒有遵行他藉僕人眾先知向我們所陳明的律法。
11
以色列眾人都犯了你的律法,偏行,不聽從你的話;因此,在你僕人摩西律法上所寫的咒詛和誓言都傾在我們身上,因我們得罪了神。
12
他使大災禍臨到我們,成就了警戒我們和審判我們官長的話;原來在普天之下未曾行過像在耶路撒冷所行的。
13
這一切災禍臨到我們身上是照摩西律法上所寫的,我們卻沒有求耶和華─我們神的恩典,使我們回頭離開罪孽,明白你的真理。
14
所以耶和華留意使這災禍臨到我們身上,因為耶和華─我們的神在他所行的事上都是公義;我們並沒有聽從他的話。
15
主─我們的神啊,你曾用大能的手領你的子民出埃及地,使自己得了名,正如今日一樣。我們犯了罪,作了惡。
16
主啊,求你按你的大仁大義,使你的怒氣和忿怒轉離你的城耶路撒冷,就是你的聖山。耶路撒冷和你的子民,因我們的罪惡和我們列祖的罪孽被四圍的人羞辱。
17
我們的神啊,現在求你垂聽僕人的祈禱懇求,為自己使臉光照你荒涼的聖所。
18
我的神啊,求你側耳而聽,睜眼而看,眷顧我們荒涼之地和稱為你名下的城。我們在你面前懇求,原不是因自己的義,乃因你的大憐憫。
19
求主垂聽,求主赦免,求主應允而行,為你自己不要遲延。我的神啊,因這城和這民都是稱為你名下的。
20
我說話,禱告,承認我的罪和本國之民以色列的罪,為我神的聖山,在耶和華─我神面前懇求。
21
我正禱告的時候,先前在異象中所見的那位加百列,奉命迅速飛來,約在獻晚祭的時候,按手在我身上。
22
他指教我說:但以理啊,現在我出來要使你有智慧,有聰明。
23
你初懇求的時候,就發出命令,我來告訴你,因你大蒙眷愛;所以你要思想明白這以下的事和異象。
24
為你本國之民和你聖城,已經定了七十個七。要止住罪過,除淨罪惡,贖盡罪孽,引進(或譯:彰顯)永義,封住異象和預言,並膏至聖者(者:或譯所)。
25
你當知道,當明白,從出令重新建造耶路撒冷,直到有受膏君的時候,必有七個七和六十二個七。正在艱難的時候,耶路撒冷城連街帶濠都必重新建造。
26
過了六十二個七,那(或譯:有)受膏者必被剪除,一無所有;必有一王的民來毀滅這城和聖所,至終必如洪水沖沒。必有爭戰,一直到底,荒涼的事已經定了。
27
一七之內,他必與許多人堅定盟約;一七之半,他必使祭祀與供獻止息。那行毀壞可憎的(或譯:使地荒涼的)如飛而來,並且有忿怒傾在那行毀壞的身上(或譯:傾在那荒涼之地),直到所定的結局。
Apocalypse Revealed # 757
757. "A prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird!" This symbolically means that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and in consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.
A prison symbolizes a hell, because these Roman Catholics were imprisoned there. A spirit symbolizes everything pertaining to their affection or will and of the consequent action, and a bird symbolizes everything pertaining to the thought or intellect and consequent intention. A foul spirit and an unclean bird accordingly symbolize all the evils willed and so done, and all the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention. Moreover, since the evils and falsities entertained by these people are found in the hells, therefore the symbolical meaning is that their evils and falsities are diabolical. In addition, because these people have turned away from the Lord to themselves, every unclean bird is also called loathsome.
Similar symbolism is used to describe Babylon in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:
Babylon... will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited..., so that Arabs will not tarry there... But ziyyim 1 will lie there, their houses will be full of 'ochim, 2 the offspring of owls will dwell there, and satyrs will caper there. 'Iyyim 3 also will reply in its palaces, and dragons in its pleasant palaces. (Isaiah 13:19-22)
I will... cut off from Babylon the name and remnant... I will make it a possession of the bittern... (Isaiah 14:22-23)
And in Jeremiah:
...in Babylon shall dwell ziyyim 1 and 'iyyim 3 and the offspring of owls... As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors..., no son of man shall dwell in it. (Jeremiah 50:39-40)
It is apparent from this that a prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird, means symbolically that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.
[2] It is apparent from the Word that birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and thought and consequent intention, and this in both senses, bad and good. They are found in a bad sense in the following passages there:
In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice... (At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation. Even until the consummation... there shall rain down devastation. (Daniel 9:27)
The pelican and the bittern shall possess (the land). The screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:11)
Nothing else than hellish falsities are symbolized by 'ochim, 2 ziyyim, 1 the offspring of owls, and dragons in the passages cited above, as also by the birds that came down on the carcasses which Abram drove away (Genesis 15:11), by the birds which were given human corpses for food (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2).
[3] Birds are found in a good sense in the following passages:
Creeping thing and bird... shall praise the name of Jehovah. (Psalms 148:10, 13)
In that day I will make a covenant for them... with the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)
...ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you... Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah does this? (Job 12:7-9)
I looked, when behold, there was no man; all the birds of the sky had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:24-26)
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled away..., (because) I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 9:10-11)
There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God... Therefore the land will mourn... as regards the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. (Hosea 4:1, 3)
I am God... calling a bird from the east, a man of My counsel from a far country. (Isaiah 46:9, 11)
Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon... In its branches all the birds of the sky made their nests..., and in its shade all great nations dwelled. (Ezekiel 31:3, 6)
[4] Similar statements to that made of Assyria as a cedar here are found elsewhere, as in Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19.
Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ."..come... to... a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel...." (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17, 21, cf. Revelation 19:17)
And so on regarding birds elsewhere, as in Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:10-11.
That birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and its consequent thought and intention is clearly apparent from birds in the spiritual world. There, too, one sees birds of every kind and every species - in heaven very beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtle doves, and doves - in hell dragons, screech owls, eagle owls, and others of that kind - all of which are objective representations of thoughts springing from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts springing from evil affections in hell.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. A Hebrew word (צִיִּים), appearing six times in the Old Testament (Psalms 72:9; 74:14). It seems to refer to desert dwellers, and in contexts suggesting animals, to desert creatures, but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.
2. Another Hebrew word (אֹחִים), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21:4 identifies them as birds of the night.
3. Another Hebrew word (אִיִּים), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14