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Deuteronomy 32

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1 Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth!

2 My doctrine shall drop as rain, My speech flow down as dew, As small rain upon the tender herb, And as showers on the grass.

3 For the name of Jehovah will I proclaim: Ascribe greatness unto our God!

4 [He is] the Rock, his work is perfect, For all his ways are righteousness; A ùGod of faithfulness without deceit, Just and right is he.

5 They have dealt corruptly with him; Not his children's is their spot: -- A crooked and perverted generation!

6 Do ye thus requite Jehovah, Foolish and unwise people? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee and established thee?

7 Remember the days of old, Consider the years of generation to generation; Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; Thine elders, and they will tell thee.

8 When the Most High assigned to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For Jehovah's portion is his people; Jacob the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, And in the waste, howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he watched over him, He preserved him as the apple of his eye.

11 As the eagle stirreth up its nest, Hovereth over its young, Spreadeth out its wings, Taketh them, beareth them on its feathers,

12 So Jehovah alone did lead him, And no strange ùgod [was] with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And he made him suck honey out of the crag, And oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Cream of kine, and milk of sheep, With the fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat; And thou didst drink pure wine, the blood of the grape.

15 Then Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked -- Thou art waxen fat, Thou art grown thick, And thou art covered with fatness; -- He gave up +God who made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods, With abominations did they provoke him to anger.

17 They sacrificed unto demons who are not +God; To gods whom they knew not, To new ones, who came newly up, Whom your fathers revered not.

18 Of the Rock that begot thee wast thou unmindful, And thou hast forgotten ùGod who brought thee forth.

19 And Jehovah saw it, and despised them, Because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faithfulness.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is no ùGod; They have exasperated me with their vanities; And I will move them to jealousy with that which is not a people; With a foolish nation will I provoke them to anger.

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, And it shall burn into the lowest Sheol, And shall consume the earth and its produce, And set fire to the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; Mine arrows will I spend against them.

24 They shall be consumed with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, And with poisonous pestilence; And the teeth of beasts will I send against them, With the poison of what crawleth in the dust.

25 From without shall the sword bereave them, and in the chambers, terror -- Both the young man and the virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.

26 I would say, I will scatter, I will make the remembrance of them to cease from among men,

27 If I did not fear provocation from the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand it, Lest they should say, Our hand is high, and Jehovah has not done all this.

28 For they are a nation void of counsel, And understanding is not in them.

29 Oh that they had been wise! they would have understood this, They would have considered their latter end!

30 How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Were it not that their Rock had sold them, And Jehovah had delivered them up?

31 For their rock is not as our rock: Let our enemies themselves be judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of poison, Bitter are their clusters;

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of vipers.

34 Is not this hidden with me, Sealed up among my treasures?

35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, For the time when their foot shall slip. For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36 For Jehovah will judge his people, And shall repent in favour of his servants; When he seeth that power is gone, And there is none shut up or left.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, Their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help you, That there may be a protection over you.

39 See now that I, I am HE, And there is no god with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal, And there is none that delivereth out of my hand,

40 For I lift up my hand to the heavens, and say, I live for ever!

41 If I have sharpened my gleaming sword, And my hand take hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me.

42 Mine arrows will I make drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; [I will make them drunk] with the blood of the slain and of the captives, With the head of the princes of the enemy.

43 Shout for joy, ye nations, with his people, For he avengeth the blood of his servants, And rendereth vengeance to his enemies, And maketh atonement for his land, for his people.

44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun.

45 And when Moses had ended speaking all these words to all Israel,

46 he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words that I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to take heed to do, all the words of this law.

47 For it is no vain word for you, but it is your life, and through this word ye shall prolong your days on the land whereunto ye pass over the Jordan to possess it.

48 And Jehovah spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

49 Go up into this mountain Abarim, mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession,

50 and die on the mountain whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy peoples, as Aaron thy brother died on mount Hor, and was gathered unto his peoples;

51 because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye hallowed me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52 For thou shalt see the land before [thee]; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2906

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2906. 'The years of the life of Sarah' means when any Divine truth still existed on earth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a year' as a whole period of the Church from start to finish, and so of 'years' as periods, dealt with immediately above in 2905; and from the meaning of 'the life of Sarah' as states as regards Divine truth, also dealt with just above, in 2904. Thus here the end when no Divine truth at all existed any longer is meant, as also follows from the words that occur immediately before these.

[2] That 'a year' means the whole length of time a state of the Church lasts, from start to finish, or what amounts to the same, a whole period, and that consequently 'years' means the periods of time within the general whole, becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Jehovah has anointed Me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to captives, and opening of every kind to those that are bound, to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God. Isaiah 61:1-2.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The year of Jehovah's good pleasure' stands for the time of the new Church. In the same prophet,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

This similarly refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The year of the redeemed' stands for the time of the new Church. In the same prophet,

The day of Jehovah's vengeance, the year of retributions on account of the controversy of Zion. Isaiah 34:8.

Here the meaning is similar.

[3] That same period is also called 'the year of visitation': in Jeremiah,

I will bring evil to the men of Anathoth in the year of their visitation. Jeremiah 11:23.

In the same prophet,

I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation. Jeremiah 48:44.

And plainer still in Ezekiel,

After many days you will be visited; in the latter years you will come upon the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which will be a waste continually. Ezekiel 38:8.

'The latter years' stands for the final period of the Church when it becomes that which is not the Church, those who previously belonged to the Church having been rejected and others having been accepted from other places. In Isaiah,

Thus said the Lord to me, Within yet a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end. Isaiah 21:16.

This too stands for the final period.

[4] In Ezekiel,

You have become guilty by your blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made, and you have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. Ezekiel 22:4.

'Coming even to their years' stands for coming to the end when the Lord departs from the Church. In Isaiah,

Jehovah has now spoken, saying, In three years, as with the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will grow worthless, with all its great multitude; and the residue will be tiny and of no account. Isaiah 16:14.

'In three years' also stands for the end of the previous Church - 'three' meaning that which has been completed and that which is a beginning, see 1825, 2788.

[5] Seven, and also seventy, have the same meaning, see 720, 728, 901. Consequently it is said in Isaiah,

And it will be on that day, that Tyre will pass into oblivion for seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre according to the song of the harlot. And it will be at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to hiring herself out as a harlot. Isaiah 23:15, 17.

'Seventy years' stands for a whole period, from the time a Church comes into being until the time it breathes its last, which is also 'the days of one king', for 'a king' means a Church's truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069. The captivity which the Jews were sent into lasting seventy years entails something similar. That captivity is also spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,

These nations will serve the king of Babel seventy years, and it will be, when the seventy years are fulfilled, that I will visit the king of Babel and this nation for their iniquity, said Jehovah. Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10.

[6] That 'a year', and also 'years', is a whole period of the Church, or the time it lasts, becomes clearer still in Malachi,

Behold, I am sending My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me; and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, said Jehovah Zebaoth. And who can endure the day of His coming? Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. Malachi 3:1-2, 4.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The days of old' stands for the Most Ancient Church, 'ancient years' for the Ancient Church, 'the offering of Judah' for worship springing from celestial love, and 'the offering of Jerusalem' for worship springing from spiritual love. Here it is quite evident that neither Judah nor Jerusalem was meant. In David,

I have considered the days of old, and the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.

Here 'the days of old' and 'the years of long ago' stand for the same two Churches, as is plainer still in Moses,

Recollect the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation; ask your father and he will show you, your elders and they will tell you, When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, and Himself separated the sons of man. Deuteronomy 32:7-8.

[7] That 'a year' or 'years' is a complete period of the Church is also evident in Habakkuk,

O Jehovah, I have heard Your fame; I was afraid. O Jehovah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath You will remember mercy. God will come out of Teman, and the Holy One out of Mount Paran. Habakkuk 3:2-3.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'In the midst of the years' stands for in the fullness of time. For what the fullness of time is, see just above in 2905.

[8] As 'a year' and 'years', when used in reference to the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church, mean a complete period from start to finish, so when used in reference to the Lord's kingdom in heaven do they mean that which is eternal; as in David,

O God, Your years are from generation to generation. You are He, and Your years will have no end. The sons of Your servants will continue, and their seed will be established before You. Psalms 102:24, 27-28.

In the same author,

You will add days to the king's days; His years as generation after generation! And He will dwell for ever before God. Psalms 61:6-7.

Here 'years' stands for that which is eternal since these words refer to the Lord and His kingdom.

[9] The lambs offered in burnt offerings and sacrifices, which were to be in their first year, Leviticus 12:6; 14:10; Numbers 6:12; 7:15, 21, 33, 39, 45, 51, 57, 63, 69, 75, 81; and elsewhere, meant the celestial things of innocence in the Lord's kingdom, which are eternal. Hence burnt offerings of calves in their first year are referred to in Micah 6:6 as being most acceptable.

[10] That 'a year' in the internal sense does not mean a year is made additionally clear from the consideration that angels, who possess the internal sense of the Word, are not able to possess the idea of any year. But because a year is a complete period of time within the natural world, they have instead of the idea of a year the idea of that which is completed in relation to states of the Church, and of that which is eternal in relation to states in heaven. To them periods of time are states, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837.

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