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Joel 3

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1 Sillä katso, niinä päivinä ja sillä ajalla, kuin minä Juudan ja Jerusalemin vankiuden palautan,

2 Tahdon minä koota kaikki pakanat, ja viedä heitä alas Josaphatin laaksoon; ja tahdon siellä heidän kanssansa riidellä, minun kansani ja minun perimiseni Israelin tähden, jonka he pakanain sekaan hajoittivat, ja jakoivat minun maani itsellensä,

3 Ja ovat minun kansastani arpaa heittäneet; ja ovat pojan porton edestä antaneet, ja piian myyneet viinan edestä, ja sen juoneet.

4 Mitä myös minun on teidän kanssanne, te Tyrosta ja Zidonista, ja te kaikki Philistealaisten rajat? vai tahdotteko te minulle kaiketi kostaa? Jos te minulle tahdotte kostaa, niin minä tahdon sen äkisti ja pian kostaa teidän päänne päälle.

5 Sillä te olette minun hopiani ja kultani ottaneet, ja minun kauniit kappaleeni teidän kirkkoihinne vieneet;

6 Ja myyneet Juudan ja Jerusalemin lapset Grekiläisille, heitä kauvas heidän rajoistansa saattaaksenne.

7 Katso, minä tahdon heidät sieltä herättää, johonka te heidät myyneet olette; ja tahdon sen kostaa teidän päänne päälle;

8 Ja tahdon myydä jälleen teidän poikanne ja tyttärenne Juudan lasten kautta; ne pitää heidät rikkaasen Arabiaan, kaukaisen maan kansalle myymän; sillä Herra on sen puhunut.

9 Julistakaat näitä pakanain seassa, pyhittäkäät sota, herättäkäät väkevät, käyköön edes, ja menköön ylös kaikki sotaväki.

10 Tehkäät vannanne miekoiksi ja viikahteenne keihäiksi. Ja joka heikko on, se sanokaan: minä olen väkevä.

11 Kootkaat teitänne, ja tulkaat tänne kaikki pakanat ympäristöltä, ja kootkaat teitänne; anna, Herra, sinun väkevät sinne astua alas.

12 Nouskaat pakanat ja menkäät ylös Josaphatin laaksoon; sillä minä tahdon siellä istua, ja tuomita kaikki pakanat ympäristöltä.

13 Sivaltakaat viikahteella, sillä elo on kypsä; tulkaat ja astukaat alas; sillä kuurnat ovat täydet, ja kuurna-astiat kuohuvat; sillä heidän pahuutensa on suuri.

14 Paljo kansaa pitää oleman ympärillä joka paikassa Tuomiolaaksossa; sillä Herran päivä on läsnä Tuomiolaaksossa.

15 Aurinko ja kuu pimenevät, ja tähdet peittävät valkeutensa.

16 Ja Herra on Zionista kiljuva, ja antaa kuulla äänensä Jerusalemista, että taivaan ja maan pitää vapiseman. Mutta Herra on kansansa turva, ja linna Israelin lapsille.

17 Ja teidän pitää tietämän, että minä Herra teidän Jumalanne asun Zionissa minun pyhällä vuorellani; silloin on Jerusalem pyhäksi tuleva, ja ei pidä muukalaisen käymän enään sen lävitse.

18 Sillä ajalla pitää vuoret makiaa viinaa tiukkuman, ja kukkulat rieskaa vuotaman, ja kaikki Juudan ojat pitää vettä täynnä oleman; ja lähde pitää Herran huoneessa käymän, ja Sittimin ojaan juokseman.

19 Vaan Egyptin pitää autioksi tuleman, ja Edom synkiäksi erämaaksi; sen vääryyden tähden, mikä Juudan lapsille tehty on, että he viattoman veren heidän maassansa vuodattaneet ovat.

20 Mutta Juudassa pitää ijankaikkisesti asuttaman, ja Jerusalemissa ijankaikkiseen aikaan.

21 Ja minä tahdon puhdistaa heidän verensä, jota en minä ennen ole puhdistanut; ja Herra on asuva Zionissa.

   


SWORD version by Tero Favorin (tero at favorin dot com)

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Arcana Coelestia # 10287

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10287. 'And he who puts any of it on a foreigner' means a joining together for those who do not acknowledge the Lord, and so who are subject to evils and to the falsities of evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting it on someone' - when the subject is Divine Truths, meant by the sweet-smelling ointment - as a joining together; and from the meaning of 'a foreigner' as those who do not belong to the Church, thus those who do not acknowledge the Lord, consequently who are subject to evils and falsities. Anyone who does not acknowledge the Lord does not belong to the Church; and anyone who rejects the Lord is subject to evils and falsities. For goodness and truth come from no other source than Him. The fact that such people are meant by 'foreigners' will be clear from the places in the Word which will follow below. But first something must be stated regarding the joining of Divine Truth among those who do not acknowledge the Lord. Such a joining together constitutes profanation, for profanation is a joining of Divine Truth to falsities arising from evil. The joining together that constitutes profanation is something which cannot happen with any at all except those who have first acknowledged the things which are the Church's, and especially the Lord, but subsequently reject them. For acknowledgement of the Church's truths and of the Lord leads to contact with the heavens, and consequently to an opening of a person's interiors towards heaven; and a subsequent rejection of them leads to a joining of the same truths to falsities arising from evil. For everything a person acknowledges remains implanted in him; nothing present with a person which has entered through acknowledgement is destroyed.

[2] The state of a person with whom profanation exists is one in which he is in contact with the heavens and at the same time with the hells, through truths with the heavens and through the falsities of evil with the hells. As a result of this, in the next life a tearing apart takes place with such people, which destroys the whole of their inner life. After the tearing apart they hardly look like human beings any longer; they look like bones that have been scorched and have little life in them. See what has been stated and shown previously regarding profanation in the following places,

Profaners are those who have first acknowledged God's truths but subsequently reject them, 1001, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 4289, 4601, 6348, 6959, 6963, 6971, 8394.

People who have rejected them since early childhood, such as Jews and others, are not profaners, 593, 1001, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3489, 6963.

The Lord takes the greatest care to guard against the occurrence of profanation with a person, 301-303, 1327, 1328, 2426, 3398, 3402, 3489, 6595.

[3] But it should be realized that the genera of profanation are very many, and the species composing those genera are very many. For there are those who profane the Church's forms of good and those who profane its truths; there are those who profane greatly and those who profane slightly; there are those who profane on a more internal level and those who profane on increasingly external levels; there are those who profane through belief contrary to the Church's truths and forms of good, there are those who profane through the life they lead, and those who profane through their worship. Consequently there exist very many hells of profaners, which are distinct and separate from one another, in accord with their different kinds of profanation. The hells of those who profane good are behind one's back, whereas the hells of profanation of truth are underfoot and to the sides. They are deeper than the hells of all other evils and are rarely opened.

[4] Those who do not acknowledge the Lord and refuse to do so, whether they are outside the Church or inside it, thus those who are subject to evils and to the falsities of evil, are meant by 'foreigners'; and in the abstract sense, without reference to actual persons, evils and the falsities of evil are meant. This is clear from very many places in the Word. The reason for saying 'those who do not acknowledge the Lord, thus those who are subject to evils and the falsities of evil' is that people who do not acknowledge the Lord are inevitably subject to evils and the falsities of evil; for the Lord is the source of all good and of all the truth of good. Those therefore who reject the Lord are subject to evils and the falsities of evil, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

[5] The fact that such people are meant by 'foreigners' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Your land will be a lonely place, your cities have been burned with fire; foreigners will devour your ground before you, and it will be a lonely place, as if overturned by foreigners 1 . Isaiah 1:7.

Here land should not be understood by 'land', nor cities and ground by 'cities' and 'ground'. Instead the Church should be understood by 'land' and likewise by 'ground', and by 'cities' the Church's truths, called its doctrinal teachings, which are said to have been 'burned with fire' when they have been destroyed by the evils of self-love and love of the world. From this it is evident what is meant by 'foreigners will devour your ground', namely evils and the falsities of evil destroying the Church, and by 'your land will be a lonely place' and 'your cities have been burned with fire'.

'Land' or earth means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325, and 'ground' likewise, 566, 1068.

'Cities' are the Church's doctrinal teachings, thus its truths, 2268, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

'Fire' means the evil of self-love and love of the world, 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7575, 9141.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Shame covered our faces when foreigners came against the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house. Jeremiah 51:51.

'Foreigners coming against the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house' are evils and the falsities of evil that go against the Church's truths and forms of good. The word 'foreigners' was used to mean members of the gentile nations who were slaves in the Jewish Church, and the gentile nations of that land also mean evil and falsities, 9320. In the same prophet,

You say, There is no hope, no; but I will love foreigners, and after them I will go. Jeremiah 2:25.

'Loving foreigners and going after them' means loving evils and the falsities of evil, and worshipping them.

[7] In Ezekiel,

I will bring a sword upon you, and will give you into the hand of foreigners. Ezekiel 11:8-9.

'Bringing a sword upon' means falsities arising from evil set in conflict against truths springing from good. 'Giving into the hand of foreigners' means to the end that they may believe and serve those falsities. For the meaning of 'a sword' as truth engaged in conflict against falsities, and in the contrary sense falsity engaged in conflict against truths, see 2799, 6353, 7102, 8294.

[8] In the same prophet,

You will die the deaths of the uncircumcised in the hand of foreigners. Ezekiel 28:10.

'The uncircumcised' are those who, for all the religious teachings they know, lead lives steeped in foul loves and the desires that go with them, 2049, 3412, 3413, 4462, 7045, 7225, the death they die being spiritual death. 'In the hand of foreigners' means subject to evils themselves and the falsities of evil.

[9] In the same prophet,

Jerusalem, an adulterous woman, takes foreigners instead of her husband. Ezekiel 16:32.

'Jerusalem, an adulterous woman' stands for the Church in which good has been adulterated; 'taking foreigners' stands for its acceptance, in life and doctrine, of evils and the falsities of evil. In Joel,

Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will not pass through her any longer. Joel 3:17.

Here also 'Jerusalem' stands for the Church, but one in which people acknowledge the Lord, lead good lives, and believe truths coming from the Lord. 'Foreigners will not pass through her any longer' means that evils and the falsities of evil coming from hell will not enter it.

[10] In David,

Foreigners have risen up against me, and violent ones have sought my soul. Psalms 54:3.

Here also 'foreigners' stands for evils and the falsities of evil, and 'violent ones' for these same evils and falsities acting violently against forms of good and truths. Those who see solely the literal sense of the Word take 'foreigners' to mean nothing more than those outside the Church who were rising up against David. But no ideas of actual persons enter the thinking of those in heaven, only the realities meant by them, 8343, 8985, 9007, so that they think not of people but things that are foreign or alien, that is, those which are alienated from the Church, thus evils and the falsities of evil which destroy the Church. And by 'David', against whom the foreigners were rising up, those in heaven understand the Lord, 1888, 9954.

[11] In Moses,

He forsook the God who made him, and despised the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy through foreign [gods]. Deuteronomy 32:15-16.

'Forsaking God' and 'despising the Rock of salvation' stand for rejecting the Lord, 'provoking through foreign [gods]' for doing so through evils and the falsities of evil, 'the Rock of salvation' being the Lord in respect of the truths of faith, see 8581. In addition to all this there are other places in which 'foreigners' stands for evils and falsities, such as Isaiah 25:2, 4-5; Jeremiah 30:8; Ezekiel 31:11-12.

[12] Since 'foreigners' meant those who are subject to evils and the falsities of evil, and consequently in the abstract sense meant evils and the falsities of evil, it was forbidden for a foreigner to eat that which was holy, Leviticus 22:10; no foreigner was permitted to come near and perform the priestly function or guard the sanctuary; and any who did come near was to be put to death, Numbers 1:51; 3:10, 38; 18:7;

[13] furthermore no incense was to be offered on foreign 2 fire, and because Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu did offer incense on it they were devoured by fire from heaven, Leviticus 10:1-2. For holy fire which was taken from the altar was a sign of love derived from God, whereas foreign fire was a sign of love coming from hell, and therefore also of evils and the desires that go with them, see 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7575, 9141.

[14] Mention is also made in the Word of those who are foreign-born, a different word being used in the original language from that rendered 'foreigners', and by them falsities themselves are meant, as in Lamentations,

O Jehovah, look upon our shame. Our inheritance has been turned over to foreigners, and our houses to the foreign-born. Lamentations 5:1-2.

In Obadiah,

Foreigners led his strength 3 captive, and the foreign-born entered his gates and cast 4 lots for Jerusalem. Obad. verse 11.

'Casting lots for Jerusalem' stands for destroying the Church and scattering its truths.

[15] In Zephaniah,

I will punish 5 the princes and the king's sons, and all clothed with the clothing of him who is foreign-born. Zephaniah 1:8.

Those 'clothed with the clothing of him who is foreign-born' stand for people subject to falsities; for 'the princes' and 'the king's sons' who are to undergo punishment mean leading truths and in the contrary sense leading falsities. For this meaning of 'princes', see 1482, 2089, 5044, and for that of 'kings' as truths themselves and in the contrary sense falsities themselves, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148, so that 'the king's sons' means things derived from those truths or falsities.

[16] In David,

Deliver me, and rescue me from the hands of the sons of him who is foreign-born, whose mouths speak vanity, and whose right hands are the right hands of falsehood. Psalms 144:7-8, 11.

'The sons of him who is foreign-born', it is plainly evident, means those subject to falsities, and so means falsities themselves, for it says, 'Whose mouths speak vanity, and whose right hands are right hands of falsehood', 'vanity' meaning false ideas composing doctrine, and 'falsehood' false ways of life, 9248.

  
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Arcana Coelestia # 2015

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2015. That 'kings will come out of you' means that all truth comes from Him is clear from the meaning of 'a king' as truth in both the historical and the prophetical sections of the Word, as stated in 1672 but not yet shown to be so. From the meaning of 'nations' as goods, and from the meaning of 'kings' as truths, the nature of the internal sense of the Word becomes clear, and also how remote it is from the sense of the letter. No one reading the Word, especially the historical section, believes anything other than that 'nations' referred to there means nations, or that 'kings' there means kings, and therefore that the nations mentioned there, or the kings, are the real subject of the very Word itself. But when the idea of nations and also of kings reaches angels it perishes altogether, and good and truth take their place instead. This is bound to seem strange and indeed a paradox, but it is nevertheless the truth. The matter may also become clear to anyone from the fact that if nations were meant in the Word by 'nations' and kings by 'kings', the Word of the Lord would hardly embody anything more than some historical or other piece of writing and so would be something of a worldly nature, when in fact everything in the Word is Divine and so is celestial and spiritual.

[2] Take merely the statement in the present verse about Abraham's being made fruitful, nations being made of him, and kings coming out of him. What else is this but something purely worldly and nothing at all heavenly? Indeed these assertions entail no more than the glory of this world, a glory which is absolutely nothing in heaven. But if this is the Word of the Lord then its glory must be that of heaven, not that of the world. This also is why the sense of the letter is completely erased and disappears when it passes into heaven, and is purified in such a way that nothing worldly at all is intermingled. For 'Abraham' is not used to mean Abraham but the Lord; nor is 'being fruitful' used to mean his descendants who would increase more and more but the endless growth of good belonging to the Lord's Human Essence. 'Nations' do not mean nations but goods, and 'kings' do not mean kings but truths. Nevertheless the narrative in the sense of the letter remains historically true, for Abraham was indeed spoken to in this way; and he was indeed made fruitful in this way, with nations as well as kings descending from him.

[3] That 'kings' means truths becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. You will suck the milk of nations, and the breast of kings will you suck. Isaiah 60:10, 16.

What 'sucking the milk of nations and the breast of kings' means is not at all evident from the letter but from the internal sense, in which being endowed with goods and instructed in truths is meant. In Jeremiah,

There will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes seated on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses. Jeremiah 17:25; 22:4.

'Riding in chariots and on horses' is a prophecy meaning the abundance of things of the understanding, as becomes clear from very many places in the Prophets. Thus the prophecy that 'kings will enter through the gates of the city' means in the internal sense that they were to be endowed with truths of faith. This sense of the Word is the heavenly sense into which the worldly sense of the letter passes.

[4] In the same prophet,

Jehovah has spurned in His fierce indignation king and priest. The gates of Zion have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. King and princes are among the nations; the law is no more. Lamentations 2:6, 9.

Here 'king' stands for the truth of faith, 'priest' for the good of charity, 'Zion' for the Church, which is destroyed and its bars broken in pieces. Consequently 'king and princes among the nations', that is, truth and what belongs to truth, will be so completely banished that 'the law is no more', that is, nothing of the doctrine of faith will exist any more. In Isaiah,

Before the boy knows to refuse evil and to choose good, the ground will be abandoned which you loathe in the presence of its two kings. Isaiah 7:16.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'The land that will be abandoned' stands for faith which at that time would not exist. 'The kings' are the truths of faith which would be loathed.

[5] In the same prophet,

I will lift up My hand to the nations and raise My ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulder. Kings will be your foster fathers and their queens your wet-nurses. Isaiah 49:22-23.

'Nations' and 'daughters' stand for goods, 'peoples' and 'sons' for truths, as shown in Volume One. That 'nations' stands for goods, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, as does 'daughters', 489-491, while 'peoples' stands for truths, 1259, 1260, as does 'sons', 489, 491, 533, 1147. 'Kings' therefore stands for truths, in general by which they will be nourished, and 'queens' for goods by which they will be suckled. Whether you speak of goods and truths or of those who are governed by goods and truths it amounts to the same.

[6] In the same prophet,

He will spatter many nations, kings will shut their mouths because of him, 1 for that which has [not] been told them they have seen, and that which they have not heard they have understood. Isaiah 52:15.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'Nations' stands for those who are stirred by an affection for goods, 'kings' those who are stirred by an affection for truths. In David,

Now, O kings, be intelligent; be instructed, O judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He perhaps be angry and you perish in the way. Psalms 2:10-12.

'Kings' stands for people who are governed by truths, and who by virtue of truths are also in many places called 'king's sons'. 'The Son' here stands for the Lord, and he is called the Son here because he is Truth itself, and the source of all truth.

[7] In John,

They will sing a new song, You are worthy to take the Book and to open its seals. You have made us kings and priests to our God so that we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5:9-10.

Here people who are governed by truths are called 'kings'. The Lord also calls them 'the sons of the kingdom' in Matthew,

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one. Matthew 13:37-38.

In John,

The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the east. Revelation 16:12.

'Euphrates' clearly does not mean the Euphrates, nor does 'kings from the east' mean kings from that quarter. What 'Euphrates' does mean may be seen in 120, 1585, 1866, from which it is evident that 'the way of the kings who were from the cast' means truths of faith that derive from goods of love.

[8] In the same book,

The nations that are saved will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour into it. Revelation 21:24.

Here 'nations' stands for people who are governed by goods, 'kings of the earth' for those who are governed by truths, which is also evident from the fact that the details here are prophetical, not historical. In the same book,

With the great harlot seated on many waters the kings of the earth have committed whoredom and have become drunk with the wine of her whoredom. Revelation 17:2.

And elsewhere in the same book,

Babylon has given all nations drink from the wine of the fury of her whoredom; and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her. Revelation 18:1, 3, 9.

Here similarly it is clear that 'the kings of the earth' does not mean kings, for the subject is the falsification and adulteration of the doctrine of faith, that is, of truth, which are 'whoredom'. 'Kings of the earth' stands for truths that have been falsified and adulterated.

[9] In the same book,

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom but are receiving authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These will be of one mind, and they will hand over power and authority to the beast. Revelation 17:12-13.

That 'kings' here does not mean kings may also be evident to anyone. If kings were meant, then 'ten kings receiving authority as kings for one hour' would be quite unintelligible, as similarly with the following words in the same book,

I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered to make war with Him who was sitting on the horse, and with His army. Revelation 19:19

In verse 13 of the same chapter it is stated explicitly that the One who was sitting on the horse was The Word of God, against which the kings of the earth are said to have been gathered. 'The beast' stands for goods of love that have been profaned, 'kings' for truths of faith that have been adulterated; these are called 'kings of the earth' because they exist within the Church - 'earth' meaning the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067, 1262. 'The white horse' stands for the understanding of truth, 'He who was sitting on the horse' for the Word. This matter is plainer still in Daniel 11, describing the war between the king of the south and the king of the north, by which is meant the conflict of truths with falsities. Here such conflicts are described as a war that took place in history.

[10] Since 'a king' means truth, what is meant in the internal sense when the Lord is called King, and also a Priest, is made clear; and what essential quality of the Lord was represented by kings, and what by priests, is also made clear. 'Kings' represented His Divine Truth, and 'priests' His Divine Good. All the laws of order by which the Lord governs the universe as King are truths, while all the laws by which He governs the universe as Priest and by which He rules even over truths themselves are goods. For government from truths alone condemns everyone to hell, but government from goods lifts them out of that place and raises them up into heaven; see 1728. Because, in the Lord's case, these two - truths and goods - are joined together, they were also represented in ancient times by kingship and priesthood combined, as with Melchizedek who was at one and the same time king of Salem and priest to God Most High, Genesis 14:18. And at a later time among the Jews where the representative Church was established in a form of its own He was represented by judges and priests, and after that by kings.

[11] But because 'kings' represented truths which ought not to be paramount for the reason, already stated, that they condemn, the very idea was so objectionable that the Jews were reproached for it. The nature of truth regarded in itself has been described in 1 Samuel 8:11-18, as the rights of a king; and previous to that, in Moses, in Deuteronomy 17:14-18, they had been commanded through Moses to choose genuine truth deriving from good, not spurious truth, and not to pollute it with reasonings and factual knowledge. These are the considerations which the directive concerning a king given in the place in Moses referred to above embodies within itself. No one can possibly see this from the sense of the letter, but it is nevertheless evident from the details within the internal sense. This shows why 'a king' and 'kingship' represented and meant nothing other than truth.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, over him

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