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Habakkuk 3

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1 A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES.

2 O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy.

3 God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.

4 His brightness shall be as the light; horns are in his hands: There is his strength hid:

5 Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth before his feet.

6 He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.

7 I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity, the curtains of the land of Madian shall be troubled.

8 Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy horses: and thy chariots are salvation.

9 Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which thou hast spoken to the tribes. Thou wilt divide the rivers of the earth.

10 The mountains saw thee, and were grieved: the great body of waters passed away. The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its hands.

11 The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear.

12 In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath thou wilt astonish the nations.

13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked: thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck.

14 Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret.

15 Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many waters.

16 I have heard and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that are girded.

17 For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.

18 But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus.

19 The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places singing psalms.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 409

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409. And it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. This symbolically means that consequently all the Word's truths had been completely falsified.

Rivers symbolize truths in abundance, because waters symbolize truths (no. 50); and springs of water or fountains symbolize the Word (no. 384). The meaning is that the Word's truths had been completely falsified, because in the next verse we are told that a third of the waters became wormwood, and wormwood symbolizes hellish falsity (no. 410).

[2] That rivers symbolize truths in abundance can be seen from the following passages:

...I am doing a new thing... ...I will give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. (Isaiah 43:19-20)

...I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and rivers on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3)

Then... the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert plain. (Isaiah 35:6)

I will open rivers in the heights, and put fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. (Isaiah 41:18)

(Jehovah) has founded (the world) upon the seas, ...established it upon the rivers. (Psalms 24:2)

I will set His hand over the sea, and His right hand on the rivers. (Psalms 89:25)

Was Jehovah angry with the rivers? Was Your anger against the rivers? Was Your wrath against the sea, that You rode on Your horses...? (Habakkuk 3:8)

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God... (Psalms 46:4)

He showed me a pure river of water of life..., proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)

He split the rocks in the wilderness, and made the great abysses drink... ...He struck the rock..., and rivers flowed out... (Psalms 78:15-16, 20, cf. 105:41)

The waters will fail in the sea, and the river will be... dried up. (Isaiah 19:5-7; cf. 42:15; 50:2, Nahum 1:4, Psalms 107:33, Job 14:11)

(Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me,) as the Scripture has said, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)

And so, too, elsewhere, such as Isaiah 33:21, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Deuteronomy 8:7.

[3] In an opposite sense, however, rivers symbolize falsities in abundance, as can be seen from the following:

(It) will send ambassadors by sea... to a nation... downtrodden, whose land the rivers have despoiled. (Isaiah 18:2)

If not for Jehovah on our side..., ...the waters would have overwhelmed us, (and) the river would have gone over our soul. (Psalms 124:2, 4-5)

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. (Isaiah 43:2)

The cords of death surrounded me, and the rivers of Belial terrified me. (Psalms 18:5)

(The dragon) spewed water out of its mouth like a river after the woman, that it might cause her to be swallowed up by the stream. (Revelation 12:15)

...behold, Jehovah will cause to rise over them the waters of the river, strong and many..., and it will... overflow and pass through, and reach up to the neck. (Isaiah 8:7-8)

...the floods came, and... rushed upon that house; and (yet) it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:25; cf. 7:27, Luke 6:48-49)

Rivers here, too, stand for falsities in abundance, because the rock symbolizes the Lord in relation to Divine truth.

Rivers also symbolize temptations or trials, because temptations or trials are inundations of falsities.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.