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Jóel 2

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1 Trubte trubou na Sionu, a křičte na hoře svaté mé, nechť se třesou všickni obyvatelé této země, nebo přichází den Hospodinův, nebo blízký jest,

2 Den temnosti a mračna, Den oblaku a mrákoty, jako záře jitřní rozprostřená po horách: Lid mnohý a silný, jemuž rovného nebylo od věků, aniž po něm kdy bude až do let národů i pronárodů.

3 Před tváří jeho oheň zžírati bude, a za ním plamen plápolati; Před ním země tato jako zahrada Eden, ale po něm bude poušť přehrozná, a aniž bude, což by ušlo Před ním.

4 Způsob jeho bude jako způsob koní, a jako jízdní, tak poběhnou.

5 Jako s hřmotem vozů po vrších hor skákati budou, jako hluk plamene ohně zžírajícího strniště, jako lid silný zšikovaný k bitvě.

6 Tváři jeho děsiti se budou lidé, všecky tváře zčernají jako hrnec.

7 Jako rekové poběhnou, jako muži váleční vstoupí na zed, a jeden každý cestou svou půjde, aniž se uchýlí z stezek svých.

8 Jeden druhého nebude tlačiti, každý silnicí svou půjde, a byť i na meč upadli, nebudou raněni.

9 Po městě těkati budou, po zdech běhati, na domy vstupovati, a okny polezou jako zloděj.

10 Před tváří jeho třásti se bude země, pohnou se nebesa, slunce i měsíc se zatmí, a hvězdy potratí blesk svůj.

11 Hospodin pak sám vydá hlas svůj před vojskem svým, proto že velmi veliký bude tábor jeho, proto že silný ten, kdož vykoná slovo jeho. (Nebo veliký bude den Hospodinův a hrozný náramně), i kdož jej bude moci snésti?

12 A protož ještě nyní dí Hospodin: Obraťte se ke mně samému celým srdcem svým, a to s postem a s pláčem i s kvílením.

13 A roztrhněte srdce vaše, a ne roucha vaše, a navraťte se k Hospodinu Bohu vašemu; neboť jest on milostivý a lítostivý, dlouhočekající a hojný v milosrdenství, a kterýž lituje zlého.

14 Kdo , neobrátí-li se a nebude-li želeti, a nezůstaví-li po něm požehnání, oběti suché a mokré Hospodinu Bohu vašemu.

15 Trubte trubou na Sionu, uložte půst, svolejte shromáždění.

16 Shromažďte lid, posvěťte shromáždění, shromažďte starce, shromažďte maličké i ty, jenž prsí požívají; nechť vyjde ženich z pokojíka svého a nevěsta z schrany své.

17 Kněží, služebníci Hospodinovi, ať plačí mezi síňcí a oltářem, a řeknou: Odpusť, ó Hospodine, lidu svému, a nevydávej dědictví svého v pohanění, tak aby nad nimi panovati měli pohané. Proč mají říkati mezi národy: Kde jest Bůh jejich?

18 I bude horlivou milostí zažžen Hospodin k zemi své, a slituje se nad lidem svým.

19 A ohlásí se Hospodin, a řekne lidu svému: Aj, já pošli vám obilé, mest a olej, i budete jím nasyceni, aniž vás vydám více v pohanění mezi pohany.

20 Nebo půlnoční vojsko vzdálím od vás, a zaženu je do země vyprahlé a pusté, přední houf jeho k moři východnímu, konec pak jeho k moři nejdalšímu; i vzejde z něho smrad a puch, jakžkoli sobě mocně počíná.

21 Neboj se země, plésej a vesel se; neboť mocně dělati bude Hospodin dílo své.

22 Nebojtež se zvířátka polí mých; neboť se zotaví pastviska na poušti, a stromoví přinese ovoce své, fík i vinný kmen vydadí moc svou.

23 I vy, synové Sionští, plésejte a veselte se v Hospodinu Bohu vašem; nebo vám dá déšť příhodný, a sešle vám déšť hojný, podzimní i jarní, v čas.

24 I budou naplněny stodoly obilím, a oplývati budou presové mstem a olejem.

25 A tak nahradím vám léta, kteráž sežraly kobylky, brouci, chroustové a housenky, vojsko mé veliké, kteréž jsem posílal na vás.

26 Budete zajisté míti co jísti, a nasyceni jsouce, chváliti budete jméno Hospodina Boha svého, kterýž učinil s vámi divné věci, aniž zahanben bude lid můj na věky.

27 A poznáte, že já jsem u prostřed Izraele, a že já Hospodin jsem Bohem vaším, a že není žádného jiného; neboť nebude zahanben lid můj na věky.

28 I stane se potom, že vyleji Ducha svého na všeliké tělo, a budou prorokovati synové vaši i dcery vaše; starci vaši sny mívati budou, mládenci vaši vidění vídati budou.

29 Nýbrž i na služebníky a na služebnice v těch dnech vyleji Ducha svého,

30 A ukáži zázraky na nebi i na zemi, krev a oheň a sloupy dymové.

31 Slunce obrátí se v tmu a měsíc v krev, prvé než přijde den Hospodinův veliký a hrozný,

32 A však stane se, že kdož by koli vzýval jméno Hospodinovo, vysvobozen bude; nebo na hoře Sion a v Jeruzalémě bude vysvobození, jakož pověděl Hospodin, totiž v ostatcích, kterýchž povolá Hospodin.

   

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1 Královská 8:36

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36 Ty vyslýchej na nebi, a odpusť hřích služebníků svých a lidu svého Izraelského, vyuče je cestě výborné, po níž by chodili, a dej déšť na zemi svou, kterouž jsi dal lidu svému za dědictví.

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Apocalypse Revealed # 424

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424. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth. (9:3) This symbolically means that from them issued falsities of the lowest sort, such as are found in the case of people who have become sensual and who view and judge everything in accordance with the senses and their fallacies.

Falsities that we term falsities of the lowest sort are those which occur on the lowest level of a person's life, called sensual, which we will speak of below. These falsities are symbolized in the Word by locusts. It should be known, however, that the locusts here did not look like the locusts found in fields, which hop about and devastate pastures and crops. Instead they looked like pygmies or midgets, as is apparent also from their description, as for instance, that they had crowns on their heads, faces like the faces of men, hair like women's hair, teeth like lions' teeth, breastplates of iron, and the angel of the bottomless pit as king over them.

Ancient peoples, too, called midgets locusts, as we can conclude from these verses:

(Those who spied out the land of Canaan said:) ."..we saw the Nephilim, the descendants of the Anakim..., and we were like locusts... in their sight." (Numbers 13:33)

(Jehovah) who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants like locusts... (Isaiah 40:22)

[2] However, because falsities of the lowest sort, such as existed in the people here, are in the Word symbolized by locusts, therefore in Nahum the people are called locusts, as well as being termed crowned and commanders:

...the fire will devour you..., it will eat you up like a locust's larva. Make yourself many like the locust's larva! Make yourself many like locusts! ...Your crowned ones are like locusts, and your commanders like great locusts... (Nahum 3:15-17)

Because falsities of the lowest sort devour the growing truths and goods of the church in a person, they are symbolized by locusts which devour the grasses in fields and the vegetation on farms, as is clear from the following passages:

You shall carry much seed out to the field, but... the locust shall consume it. (Deuteronomy 28:38)

What the caterpillar left, the locust will eat; what the locust left, the beetle grub will eat; and what the beetle grub left, the locust's larva will eat. (Joel 1:4)

I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the beetle grub, the locust's larva, and the caterpillar... (Joel 2:25)

[3] The locusts in Egypt have the same symbolic meaning, of which we read the following in Exodus:

Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and... the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt...; previously there had been no such locusts...; and they ate every herb... of the field... (Exodus 10:12ff.)

And afterward Moses stretched out his rod, and the locusts were cast into the Red Sea.

Further, in the book of Psalms:

He gave their produce to the locust's larva, and their labor to the locust. (Psalms 78:46, cf. 105:34-35)

The miracles in Egypt describe the devastation of the church, and this particular miracle, its devastation by falsities of the lowest sort. And when the inner levels of a person's life are closed, on which the lowest levels depend, the lowest levels become hellish. Therefore the locusts were cast into the Red Sea, which symbolizes hell.

[4] Since few people today know what we mean by the sensual level, or what the character of a sensual person is, and since this is what locusts symbolize, therefore we will introduce from our Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven) the following extracts regarding it:

The sensual level is the lowest of a person's mental life, attaching to and uniting with his five physical senses (nos. 5077 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730).

That person is called sensual who judges of everything in accordance with his physical senses, and who believes in nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, saying that if he can, it is real, and rejecting everything else (nos. 5094 7693).

The inner levels of that person's mind, which see in the light of heaven, are closed, so that he sees no truth on those levels which has to do with heaven and the church (nos. 6564, 6844, 6845).

A person like that thinks on the lowest levels, and not interiorly in any spiritual light (nos. 5089 5094, 6564, 7693).

In a word, people like that have a crude natural sight (nos. 6201 6310, 6564, 6844, 6845, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624).

Inwardly they are therefore hostile to matters having to do with heaven and the church, though it is possible for them to speak in favor of them outwardly, even ardently, according to the power they have by virtue of them (nos. 6201, 6316, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949).

The educated and learned who have deeply confirmed themselves in falsities, and still more those who are hostile to the Word's truths, are more sensual than others (no. 6316).

Sensual people reason keenly and skillfully, because their thinking is so near to speech as to almost reside in it, and to be, so to speak, on the lips, and because they place all intelligence in speech from the memory alone; moreover, some of them can cleverly defend falsities, and after they have done so, believe they are true (nos. 195 196, 5700, 10236).

They reason from fallacies of the senses and defend them, which they use to captivate and persuade the populace (nos. 5084 6948, 6949, 7693).

Sensual people are craftier and more malicious than others (nos. 7693, 10236).

Greedy people, adulterers, hedonists, and the deceitful are especially sensual, even though to the world they do not appear so (no. 6310).

The interiors of their minds are foul and filthy (no. 6201).

Through them they are in communication with the hells (no. 6311).

People residing in the hells are sensual, and the more so the deeper the hell (nos. 4623 6311).

The atmosphere of spirits in hell mixes with a person's sensual level from behind (no. 6312).

People who have based their reasoning on the evidence of the senses only, and so are hostile to the genuine truths of the church, were called by ancient peoples serpents of the tree of knowledge (nos. 195, 196, 197, 6398, 6399, 10313).

In addition, a person's sensual level and the sensual person are described (no. 10236), together with the extent of the sensual things in a person (no. 9731).

Sensual things ought to be held in last place, and not in first place, and in a wise and intelligent person they are held in last place, subject to more interior ones, while in a foolish person they are in first place and dominant; the latter are those properly called sensual (nos. 5077 5125, 5128, 7645).

If sensual things are in last place, they are the means by which a path is opened to understanding, and truths are refined by a process of abstraction (no. 5580).

These sensual things are the closest to the world, and they admit things that flow in from the world and, so to speak, sift them (no. 9726).

By these sensual things a person is in communication with the world, and by rational things with heaven (no. 4009).

Sensual things supply materials that are of service to the interior levels of the mind (nos. 5077 5081).

Some sensual things are of service to the intellectual faculty, and some are of service to the volitional faculty (no. 5077).

If a person does not raise his thought from sensual things, he is hardly wise (no. 5089).

A wise person thinks above the level of sensual things (nos. 5089, 5094).

When a person raises his thinking above the level of sensual things, he comes into a clearer sight, and finally into the light of heaven (nos. 6183 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922).

An elevation above the level of sensual things and withdrawal from them was something known to ancient peoples (no. 6313).

A person can be conscious in his spirit of things that occur in the spiritual world, if he can be withdrawn from sensual things by the Lord and elevated into the light of heaven (no. 4622). That is because it is not the body that thinks, but a person's spirit in the body, and to the extent that it dwells in the body, it thinks dimly and in a state of darkness; however, to the extent that it does not dwell in the body, it thinks clearly and in a state of light - but only as regards spiritual matters (nos. 4622, 6614, 6622).

The lowest level of the intellect is sensual knowledge, and the lowest level of the will is sensual delight (no. 9996).

The difference between sensual characteristics possessed in common with animals, and those not possessed in common with them (no. 10236).

Some sensual people are not evil, because their interior levels have not been closed: their state in the other life (no. 6311).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.