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Ezekiel 22

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1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? Yea, cause her to know all her abominations,

3 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: A city that sheddeth blood in her midst, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.

4 Thou art become guilty by thy blood which thou hast shed, and hast defiled thyself with thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the nations, and a mocking unto all countries.

5 Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, who art infamous [and] full of tumult.

6 Behold, the princes of Israel have been in thee to shed blood, each according to his power.

7 In thee have they made light of father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

8 Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.

9 In thee there have been slanderous men to shed blood; and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness;

10 in thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her separation.

11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.

12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast overreached thy neighbours by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah.

13 And behold, I have smitten mine hand at thine overreaching which thou hast done, and at thy bloodshed which hath been in the midst of thee.

14 Shall thy heart endure, shall thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I Jehovah have spoken, and will do [it].

15 And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee through the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

16 And thou shalt be polluted through thyself in the sight of the nations, and thou shalt know that I [am] Jehovah.

17 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

18 Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: they are all copper, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace: they are become the dross of silver.

19 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

20 [As] they gather silver, and copper, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will lay you on and melt you.

21 Yea, I will collect you, and blow upon you the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I Jehovah have poured out my fury upon you.

23 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they devour souls; they take away treasure and precious things; they increase her widows in the midst of her;

26 her priests do violence to my law, and profane my holy things: they put no difference between the holy and profane, neither do they make known [the difference] between the unclean and the clean, and they hide their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27 Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

28 And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered [mortar], seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah! and Jehovah hath not spoken.

29 The people of the land use oppression and practise robbery; and they vex the poor and needy, and oppress the stranger wrongfully.

30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon them; I will consume them in the fire of my wrath: their own way will I recompense upon their head, saith the Lord Jehovah.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 148

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148. And upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth except he that receiveth, signifies a state of interior life unknown to all except those who are in it. This is evident from the signification of "name," as being the quality of state (of which see Arcana Coelestia (1754, 1896, 2009, 3237, 3421); here the quality of the state of the interior life, because it is said "a new name, which no one knoweth except he that receiveth," for the quality of the state of the interior life is wholly unknown to those who are not in the interior life. Those are in the interior life who are in love to the Lord, and none are in love to the Lord except those who acknowledge the Divine in His Human (that to love the Lord is to live according to His precepts, see Arcana Coelestia 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829). Interior life is the spiritual life, in which the angels of heaven are; but the exterior life is the natural life, in which are all who are not in heaven. With those, moreover, who live according to the precepts of the Lord and acknowledge the Divine in His Human, the interior mind is opened, and man then becomes spiritual; but those who do not so live, and do not acknowledge the Lord, remain natural. (That to all who are not in heavenly love the state of the interior or spiritual life is unknown, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 395-414; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 105, 238.)

[2] That "name" in the Word signifies quality of state is evident from many passages there, some of which I will here cite in confirmation. Thus in Isaiah:

Lift up your eyes on high and see; who hath created these? He that leadeth out the host in number; that calleth them all by name (Isaiah 40:26).

"His calling them all by name" is knowing the quality of all, and giving to them according to the state of love and faith with them. In John the meaning is similar:

He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out (John 10:2-3).

In Isaiah:

Thus saith Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, and have called thee by name; thou art Mine (Isaiah 43:1).

In the same:

That thou mayest know that I am Jehovah, who had called thee by thy name. For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My chosen, I have called thee by thy name, when thou didst not know Me (Isaiah 45:3-4).

"I have called thee by thy name" means that He knew the quality of the state of the church; for "Jacob" and "Israel" are the church, "Jacob" the external church, and "Israel" the internal.

[3] In the same:

Israel, if thou hadst hearkened to My commandments, his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me (Isaiah 48:18-19).

"The name being cut off and destroyed from before Jehovah" denotes the quality of the state by which conjunction is effected, which state is the spiritual state of him who is of the church signified by "Israel." Again in the same prophet:

Jehovah hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother doth He make mention of my name (Isaiah 49:1).

here "making mention of the name" is knowing the quality. In the same:

For Zion's sake I will not be still, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet. And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter (Isaiah 62:1, 2).

In the same:

He shall call His servants by another name (Isaiah 65:15).

"To call by a new name," and "by another name," is to bestow another state of life, namely, a state of spiritual life. In Ezekiel:

The city of bloods, polluted by name (Ezekiel 22:2, 5).

"The city of bloods" is the doctrine that offers violence to the good of charity; this is said to be "polluted by name" when it abounds with falsities and evils therefrom, which constitute its quality.

[4] In Moses:

Moses said unto Jehovah, Thou hast said, I know thee by thy name. And Jehovah said unto Moses, This word also that thou hast spoken I will do, for I know thee by name (Exodus 33:12, 17).

"His knowing Moses by name" is knowing his quality. In Revelation:

Thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white garments, and I will confess his name before My Father. He that overcometh, I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, and My new name (Revelation 3:4, 5, 12).

It can be seen that "name" here signifies the quality of state in respect to the good of love and the truth of faith. In another place:

Whose names have not been written in the book of life (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).

"Names written in the book of life" are the quality of all things of man's love and faith, the all things of his spiritual life. In another place:

They shall see the face of God and the Lamb, and His name shall be in their forehead (Revelation 22:4).

"His name in their forehead" is a state of love, for "forehead" corresponds to love, and therefore signifies love.

[5] "Name" in the Word signifies the quality of man's state, because in the spiritual world each one is named according to the state of life in which he is, thus variously; for spiritual speech is not like human speech; all things there are expressed according to ideas of things and of persons; and these ideas fall into words. (This can be seen more clearly from what is shown on The Speech of the Angels in Heaven, in the work on Heaven and Hell 234-245; also see above, n. 102, 135, where it is shown what "the name of Jehovah," "of the Lord," and "of Jesus Christ" signify in the Word.)

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