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Deuteronomy 13

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1 If there arise among you a prophet, or one that dreameth dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder,

2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass that he told unto thee, when he said, Let us go after other gods, whom thou hast not known, and let us serve them,

3 -- thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for Jehovah your God proveth you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and ye shall fear him, and his commandments shall ye keep, and his voice shall ye hear; and ye shall serve him, and unto him shall ye cleave.

5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; for he hath spoken revolt against Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, -- to draw thee out of the way that Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is to thee as thy soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods (whom thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

7 of the gods of the peoples which are round about you, near unto thee, or far from thee, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth),

8 thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou pity him, neither shalt thou screen him,

9 but thou shalt in any case kill him: thy hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people;

10 and thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; for he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

11 and all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wicked thing as this in thy midst.

12 If in one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee to dwell there, thou hearest, saying,

13 There are men, children of Belial, gone out from among you, and they have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom ye have not known;

14 then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and if it be truth, [and] the thing be certain, that this abomination hath happened in the midst of thee,

15 thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it to destruction, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

16 And all the spoil of it shalt thou gather into the midst of the open place thereof, and shalt burn the city with fire, and all the spoil thereof, wholly to Jehovah thy God; and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

17 And thou shalt not let anything cleave to thy hand of the devoted thing; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

18 when thou hearkenest to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, that thou mayest do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

   

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Offerings

  

'Offerings' signify worship.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 349)

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Arcana Coelestia # 349

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349. 'A gift' is used to mean worship. This becomes clear from the representative acts in the Jewish Church where, in addition to first-fruits of the earth and of all it yields, and also presentation of the firstborn, sacrifices of every kind are called 'gifts'. It was in these acts that worship consisted. And because they each represented something heavenly and had reference to the Lord, these gifts meant true worship, a fact that anyone is capable of recognizing. For what is any representative without the real thing it represents, and what is anything external without an internal but some idol or object that is dead? That which is external has life from things that are internal, that is, from the Lord through those internal things. From this it is clear that all gifts in the representative Church mean worship of the Lord. Further details on these points will in the Lord's Divine mercy be presented later on.

[2] That 'gifts' in general means worship becomes clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Malachi,

Who endures the day of His coming? He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold, and like silver, and they will be people who present to Jehovah a gift in righteousness. Then the gift of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Jehovah as in the days of old and as in the former years. Malachi 3:2-4.

'A gift in righteousness' means something internal, which 'the sons of Levi', that is, devout worshippers, are going to offer. 'The days of old' means the Most Ancient Church, and 'former years' the Ancient Church.

In Ezekiel,

On My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, all the house of Israel, the whole of that land, will worship Me. There I will be well-disposed towards them, and there I will require your offerings and the first-fruits comprising your gifts in all your holy acts. Ezekiel 20:40.

'Offerings and first-fruits comprising gifts in holy acts' similarly are works that have been made holy through charity from the Lord. In Zephaniah,

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia those who adore Me will bring My gift. Zephaniah 3:10.

'Ethiopia' stands for people who are in possession of celestial things, namely love, charity, and works stemming from charity.

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