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Ezekiel 37

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1 Herrens hånd kom over mig, og han førte mig i ånden ud og satte mig midt i dalen. Den var fuld af Ben;

2 og han førte mig rundt omkring dem, og se, de lå i store Mængder ud over Dalen, og se, de var aldeles tørre.

3 Derpå sagde han til mig: "Menneskesøn! kan disse Ben blive levende?" Jeg svarede: "Herre, HE E, du ved det!"

4 sagde han til mig: Profeter over disse Ben og sig til dem: I tørre Ben, hør HE ENs Ord!

5 siger den Herre HE EN til disse Ben: Se, jeg bringer Ånd i eder, så I bliver levende.

6 Jeg lægger Sener om eder, lader Kød vokse frem på eder, overtrækker eder med Hud og indgiver eder Ånd, så I bliver levende; og I skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

7 Så profeterede jeg, som mig var pålagt, og der hørtes en Lyd, da jeg profeterede, og se, der hørtes aslen, og Benene nærmede sig hverandre.

8 Og jeg skuede, og se, der kom Sener på dem, Kød voksede frem, og de blev overtrukket med Hud, men der var ingen Ånd i dem.

9 sagde han til mig: Profeter og tal til Ånden, profeter, du Menneskesøn, og sig til dem: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Ånd, kom fra de fre Verdenshjørner og blæs på disse dræbte, at de må blive levende!

10 Da profeterede jeg, som han bød mig, og Ånden kom i dem, og de blev levende og rejste sig på deres Fødder, en såre, såre stor Hær.

11 Derpå sagde han til mig: Menneskesøn! Disse Ben er alt Israels Hus. Se, de siger: "Vore Ben er tørre, vort Håb er svundet, det er ude med os!"

12 Profeter derfor og sig til dem: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Se, jeg åbner eders Grave og fører eder ud af dem, mit Folk, og bringer eder til Israels Land;

13 og I skal kende, at jeg er HE EN, når jeg åbner eders Grave og fører eder ud af dem, mit Folk.

14 Jeg indgiver eder min Ånd, så I bliver levende, og jeg bosætter eder i eders Land; og I skal kende, at jeg er HE EN; jeg har talet, og jeg fuldbyrder det, lyder det fra HE EN.

15 HE ENs Ord kom til mig således:

16 Du, Menneskesøn, tag dig et Stykke Træ og skriv derpå: Juda og hans Medbrødre blandt Israeliterne! Tag så et andet Stykke Træ og skriv derpå: Josef Efraims Træ og hans Medbrødre, alt Israels Hus!

17 Føj dem så sammen til eet Stykke, så de bliver eet i din Hånd.

18 Og når så dine Landsmænd siger til dig: "Vil du ikke sige os, hvad du mener dermed?"

19 sig så til dem: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Se, jeg tager Josefs Træ", som var i Efraims Hånd, og Israels Stammer, hans Medbrødre, og føjer dem til Judas Træ og gør dem til eet Stykke og de skal blive eet i Judas Hånd.

20 Og Træstykkerne, du skrev på, skal være i din Hånd, så de kan se dem.

21 Tal så til dem: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Se, jeg henter Israeliterne fra Folkene, til hvilke de vandrede hen, og samler dem alle Vegne fra og bringer dem til deres Land.

22 Jeg gør dem til eet Folk i Landet på Israels Bjerge; og de skal alle have en og samme Konge og ikke mere være to Folk eller delt i to iger.

23 De skal ikke mere gøre sig urene ved deres Afgudsbilleder og væmmelige Guder eller alle deres Overtrædelser, og jeg vil frelse dem fra alt deres Frafald, hvormed de forsyndede sig, og rense dem, og de skal være mit Folk, og jeg vil være deres Gud.

24 Min Tjener David skal være Konge over dem, og alle skal de have en og samme Hyrde. De skal følge mine Lovbud og holde mine Vedtægter og gøre efter dem.

25 De skal bo i det Land, jeg gav min Tjener Jakob, der hvor deres Fædre boede; de skal bo der til evig Tid, de, deres Børn og Børnebørn; og min Tjener David skal være deres Fyrste evindelig.

26 Jeg slutter en Fredspagt med dem, en evig Pagt skal det være; og jeg gør dem mangfoldige og sætter min Helligdom i deres Midte evindelig;

27 min Bolig skal være over dem; jeg vil være deres Gud, og de skal være mit Folk.

28 Og Folkene skal kende, at jeg er HE EN, som helliger Israel, når min Helligdom bliver i deres Midte evindelig

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

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Word

  

'Word,' as in Isaiah 9:8, signifies the doctrine of internal and external worship. 'Word,' as in Psalms 119:6-17, stands for doctrine in general.

'The Word,' as in Psalms 147:18, signifies divine good united with divine truth.

The whole Word is nothing but the doctrine of love towards the Lord, and love towards our neighbor, as in Matthew 22.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 1288; Isaiah 8, 9; Psalms 6, 18, 119, 147)


Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Sacred Scripture # 79

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79. There are many passages in the prophets about our understanding of the Word, passages about the church, where it tells us that the church exists only where the Word is properly understood, and that the quality of a church depends on the quality of the understanding of the Word among its members. There are also many passages in the prophets that describe the church among the Israelite and Jewish people, a church that was utterly destroyed and annihilated by the distortion of the Word’s meaning or message, for this is exactly what destroys a church.

[2] The name Ephraim in the prophets, especially in Hosea, symbolizes both true and false understandings of the Word, because Ephraim in the Word means the understanding of the Word in the church. It is because the understanding of the Word makes a church that Ephraim is called “a precious child, and one born of delights” (Jeremiah 31:20), “the firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9), “the strength of Jehovah’s head” (Psalms 60:7; 108:8), “powerful” (Zechariah 10:7), and “filled with a bow” (Zechariah 9:13); and the children of Ephraim are called “armed” and “bow-shooters” (Psalms 78:9). The bow means a body of teaching from the Word fighting against what is false.

So too, Ephraim was transferred to the right of Israel and blessed, and accepted in place of Reuben (Genesis 48:5, 11, and following; [1 Chronicles 5:1]). And therefore Ephraim, together with his brother Manasseh, was exalted over all by Moses in his blessing of the children of Israel in the name of their father Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:13-17).

[3] The prophets, especially Hosea, also use “Ephraim” to describe what the church is like when its understanding of the Word has been lost, as we can see from the following:

Israel and Ephraim will stumble. Ephraim will be desolate. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment. I will be like a lion to Ephraim: I will tear them and leave; I will carry them off and no one will rescue them. (Hosea 5:5, 9, 11, 14)

What shall I do to you, Ephraim? Your holiness goes away like a cloud at dawn and like the morning dew that falls. (Hosea 6:4)

[4] They will not dwell in the land of Jehovah: Ephraim will go back to Egypt and will eat what is unclean in Assyria. (Hosea 9:3)

The land of Jehovah is the church, Egypt is the preoccupation of the earthly self with mere facts, and Assyria is rationalizing based on those facts; all of which lead to distortion of the Word in regard to the way it is understood. That is why it says that Ephraim will go back to Egypt and will eat what is unclean in Assyria.

[5] Ephraim feeds on the wind and chases the east wind. Every day he increases lies and devastation. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried down into Egypt. (Hosea 12:1)

To feed on the wind, chase the east wind, and increase lies and devastation is to distort what is true and in this way destroy the church.

[6] Much the same is also meant by Ephraim’s whoredom, since whoredom means distortion of the way the Word is understood - that is, distortion of its genuine truth. See the following passages:

I know Ephraim; he has committed whoredom in every way and Israel has been defiled. (Hosea 5:3)

I have seen something foul in the house of Israel: Ephraim has committed whoredom there, and Israel has been defiled. (Hosea 6:10)

Israel is the church itself and Ephraim is the understanding of the Word that is the source of the church and that determines its quality, so it says that Ephraim has committed whoredom and Israel has been defiled.

[7] Since the church among Jews had been completely destroyed because of its distortions, it says of Ephraim,

Am I to give you up, Ephraim? Am I to hand you over, Israel? Like Admah? Shall I make you like Zeboiim? (Hosea 11:8)

Since the book of the prophet Hosea, from the first chapter to the last, is about the distortion of the Word and the consequent destruction of the church, and since whoredom means the distortion of truth in the church, the prophet was commanded to represent that state of the church by taking a whore as his wife and fathering children by her (chapter 1); and also by forming a relationship with a woman who was committing adultery (chapter 3).

[8] These instances have been presented so that readers may know and be assured from the Word that the quality of a church depends on the quality of the understanding of the Word in it - outstanding and priceless if its understanding comes from genuine truths from the Word, but in ruins, actually filthy, if it comes from distortions.

For further evidence that Ephraim means the understanding of the Word, and in its opposite sense a distorted understanding leading to the destruction of the church, you may check some other passages that deal with Ephraim: Hosea 4:17-18; 7:1, 11; 8:9, 11; 9:11-13, 16; 10:11; 11:3; 12:1, 8, 14; 13:1, 8, 14; Isaiah 17:3; 28:1; Jeremiah 4:15; 31:6, 18; 50:19; Ezekiel 37:16; 48:5; Obadiah verse 19; Zechariah 9:10.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.