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Daniel 7

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1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream; he told the sum of the matters.

2 Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens broke forth upon the great sea.

3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another.

4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till its wings were plucked; and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

5 And behold, another beast, a second, like unto a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; and [it had] three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and they said thus unto it: Arise, devour much flesh.

6 After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird upon its back; and the beast had four heads; and dominion was given to it.

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceeding strong; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

9 I beheld till thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was flames of fire, [and] its wheels burning fire.

10 A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

11 I beheld therefore, because of the voice of the great words that the horn spoke; I beheld till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given up to be burned with fire.

12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away; but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven [one] like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.

15 As for me Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the certainty of all this. And he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things:

17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, [that] shall arise out of the earth.

18 But the saints of the most high [places] shall receive the kingdom, and they shall possess the kingdom for ever, even to the ages of ages.

19 Then I desired to know the certainty concerning the fourth beast, which was different from them all, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet;

20 and concerning the ten horns that were in its head, and the other that came up, and before which three fell: even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and whose look was more imposing than its fellows.

21 I beheld, and that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed over them;

22 until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most high [places]; and the appointed time arrived, and the saints possessed the kingdom.

23 He said thus: The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

24 And as to the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall arise ten kings; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be different from the former, and he shall subdue three kings.

25 And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High [places], and think to change seasons and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and a half time.

26 And the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

27 But the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heavens, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high [places]. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

28 So far is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my countenance was changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 1062

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1062. The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sitteth upon them, signifies the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned by those who are in dominion from that religious persuasion. This is evident from the signification of "the seven heads of the beast," as being the holy things of the Word profaned (See n. 1040); also from the signification of "seven mountains," as being the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned. (That "mountains" signify the goods of love, and in the contrary sense evils pertaining to the love, see n. 405, 510, 850, 1025; also that "seven" is predicated of what is holy, and in the contrary sense of what is profane, n. 1040; therefore "seven mountains" signify the goods of love, which are the goods of the Word, adulterated and profaned.) Also from the signification of "where the woman sitteth upon them," as being where there is dominion from that religious persuasion. (That "the woman" signifies the religious persuasion of those that belong to Babylon, may be seen above, n. 1038; and that "to sit" signifies to have dominion, see above, n. 1033, 1038, where the woman is said "to sit upon many waters," and "to sit upon a scarlet beast.") Dominion from that religious persuasion is meant because those who are in dominion over the holy things of the church, and exercise that dominion, are the ones meant by this "woman," who is called a "harlot," and "the mother of the whoredoms and the abominations of the earth," and not those who are in worship according to that religious persuasion and are not in dominion. When such live according to the statutes of the Pope, and acknowledge him to be the Lord's vicar, and observe the holy things of worship as they have been instituted, they are not dissimilar to upright pagans, who know not otherwise than that they are truths, goods and holy things which their ministers and monks teach; and this the more because they do not read the Word, some because it has been taken away from them, and some because under persuasion they depend upon the mouth of their monks, and believe that these alone and no others understand the Word.

[2] But those of their people who look to the Lord, and to the Pope only as to the head of the church, and who are in some affection for truth, are indeed in Babylon, but are not of it; for after death these can be drawn away from the vanities of that religious persuasion and from idolatries, and can be led to worship and adore the Lord; and they also receive truths from the Lord through the Word or through those who teach it. For this reason, after the Last Judgment many societies, which are so many churches, were instituted from these by the Lord (of which in what follows). In regard to "the seven mountains" upon which the woman was seen to sit, it is believed that they are the seven mountains of Rome, where the Papal throne is. But admitting that Rome is meant, still "the seven mountains" signify the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned; for the Word is spiritual in every part, and this is the spiritual of it. That "the seven mountains" signify the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned is evident also from what immediately follows, where it is said that "the seven heads of the beast" mean also "seven kings;" and "seven kings" signify in the spiritual sense the truths of the Word falsified and profaned.

(Continuation respecting the Fourth Kind of Profanation)

[3] Those who give themselves up wholly to a life of piety, who walk continually in pious meditations, who pray frequently upon their knees, and talk about salvation, faith, and love at all times and in all places, and yet do not shun frauds, adulteries, hatreds, blasphemies, and the like, as sins against God, nor fight against them, are the kind that more fully profane; for by the impurities of their minds they defile the piety of their lips, especially when they renounce the world, and lead solitary lives. Of this kind there are some who still more fully profane; these are like those just described, but by reasonings and by the Word falsely interpreted they defend their vices, as adulteries and lusts that belong to their nature, and thus to their enjoyment. Such first regard themselves as free from danger, afterwards as blameless, and at length as holy; and thus under the veil of sanctity they cast themselves into uncleannesses with which they pollute both themselves and their garments.

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

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Jeremiah 4:7

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7 The lion is come up from his thicket, the destroyer of the nations is on his way; he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate; thy cities shall be laid waste, without inhabitant.