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Daniel 8

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1 NELL’anno terzo del regno del re Belsasar, una visione apparve a me, Daniele, dopo quella che mi era apparita al principio.

2 Io adunque riguardava in visione or io era, quando vidi quella visione, in Susan, stanza reale, ch’è nella provincia di Elam; riguardava, dico, in visione, essendo in sul fiume Ulai.

3 Ed alzai gli occhi, e riguardai, ed ecco un montone stava in piè dirincontro al fiume, il quale avea due corna, e quelle due corna erano alte; me l’uno era più alto dell’altro, e il più alto saliva l’ultimo.

4 Io vidi che quel montone cozzava verso l’Occidente, verso il Settentrione, e verso il Mezzodì; e niuna bestia poteva durar davanti a lui; e non vi era alcuno che riscotesse di man sua, e faceva ciò che gli piaceva, e divenne grande.

5 Ed io posi mente, ed ecco un becco veniva d’Occidente, sopra la faccia di tutta la terra, e non toccava punto la terra; e questo becco avea un corno ritorto in mezzo degli occhi.

6 Ed esso venne fino al montone che avea quelle due corna, il quale io avea veduto stare in piè, dirincontro al fiume; e corse sopra lui nel furor della sua forza.

7 Ed io vidi che, essendo presso del montone, egli infellonì contro a lui, e cozzò il montone, e fiaccò le sue due corna, e non vi fu forza nel montone da durar davanti a lui; laonde lo gettò per terra, e lo calpestò; e non vi fu chi scampasse il montone di man sua.

8 E il becco divenne sommamente grande; ma come egli si fu fortificato, quel gran corno fu rotto; e in luogo di quello, sorsero quattro altre corna ritorte, verso i quattro venti del cielo.

9 E dell’uno d’essi uscì un piccol corno, il quale divenne molto grande verso il Mezzodì, e verso il Levante, e verso il paese della bellezza;

10 e divenne grande fino all’esercito del cielo, ed abbattè in terra una parte di quell’esercito, e delle stelle, e le calpestò.

11 Anzi si fece grande fino al capo dell’esercito; e da quel corno fu tolto via il sacrificio continuo e fu gettata a basso la stanza del santuario d’esso.

12 E l’esercito fu esposto a misfatto contro al sacrificio continuo; ed egli gettò la verità in terra, ed operò, e prosperò.

13 Ed io udii un santo, che parlava; e un altro santo disse a quel tale che parlava: Fino a quando durerà la visione intorno al servigio continuo, ed al misfatto che devasta? infino a quando saranno il santuario, e l’esercito, esposti ad esser calpestati?

14 Ed egli mi disse: Fino a duemila trecento giorni di sera, e mattina; poi il santuario sarà giustificato.

15 Ora, quando io Daniele ebbi veduta la visione, ne richiesi l’intendimento; ed ecco, davanti a me stava come la sembianza di un uomo.

16 Ed io udii la voce d’un uomo, nel mezzo di Ulai, il qual gridò, e disse: Gabriele, dichiara a costui la visione.

17 Ed esso venne presso del luogo dove io stava; e quando fu venuto, io fui spaventato, e caddi sopra la mia faccia; ed egli mi disse: Intendi, figliuol d’uomo; perciocchè questa visione è per lo tempo della fine.

18 E mentre egli parlava a me, mi addormentai profondamente, con la faccia in terra; ma egli mi toccò, e mi fece rizzare in piè, nel luogo dove io stava.

19 E disse: Ecco, io ti farò assapere ciò che avverrà, alla fine dell’indegnazione; perciocchè vi sarà una fine al tempo ordinato.

20 Il montone con due corna, che tu hai veduto, significa i re di Media, e di Persia.

21 E il becco irsuto significa il re di Iavan; e il gran corno, ch’era in mezzo de’ suoi occhi, è il primo re.

22 E ciò che quello è stato rotto, e quattro son sorti in luogo di esso significa che quattro regni sorgeranno della medesima nazione, ma non già con medesima possanza di quello.

23 Ed alla fine del lor regno, quando gli scellerati saranno venuti al colmo, sorgerà un re audace, e sfacciato, ed intendente in sottigliezze.

24 E la sua potenza si fortificherà, ma non già per la sua forza; ed egli farà di strane ruine, e prospererà, ed opererà, e distruggerà i possenti, e il popolo de’ santi.

25 E per lo suo senno, la frode prospererà in man sua; ed egli si magnificherà nel cuor suo, e in pace ne distruggerà molti; e si eleverà contro al Principe de’ principi; ma sarà rotto senza opera di mani.

26 E la visione de’ giorni di sera, e mattina, ch’è stata detta, è verità; or tu, serra la visione; perciocchè è di cose che avverranno di qui a molto tempo.

27 Ed io Daniele fui tutto disfatto, e languido per molti giorni; poi mi levai, e feci gli affari del re; ed io stupiva della visione; ma niuno se ne avvide.

   


To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.

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De Verbo (The Word) # 15

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15. XV. The lost ancient Word.

It was reported to me by angels of the third heaven that the ancients had a Word written entirely by means of correspondences like our Word, but that it has been lost. I was told that this Word is still preserved among them, and is used by the ancients in that heaven who had that Word when they were in the world. The ancients among whom that Word is still in use in the heavens were in part from the land of Canaan and the neighbouring region, and also from some kingdoms of Asia, for instance, from Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldaea and Assyria, from Egypt, Sidon and Tyre. The inhabitants of all these kingdoms had a representative form of worship, and so knew about correspondences. This knowledge was the basis of the wisdom of that time, since it enabled them to communicate with the heavens, to have inner perception, and in many cases to speak with spirits. But because this Word was full of correspondences of a kind which only remotely meant heavenly things, so that as time passed it began to be falsified by many people, the Lord's Divine Providence ensured its gradual disappearance, and another Word was given, which was written by means of less distant correspondences. This was delivered to the Children of Israel by the Prophets. This Word, however, kept the names of places in the land of Canaan and the surrounding parts of Asia with similar meanings. It was for this reason that the descendants of Abraham from Jacob were brought into the land of Canaan, and the Word which names these places was written there.

[2] A further proof of the existence among the ancients of such a Word is found in the writings of Moses, who mentions it by name; and a passage was taken from it found in Numbers 21:14, 27. The historical parts of that Word were called 'The Wars of Jehovah' and the prophetic part 'The Utterances'. Moses took the following quotation from the historical parts of that Word:

Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah and the streams of Arnon, and the water-channel of streams which dropped down to where Ar lived and stopped at the boundary of Moab. Numbers 21:14-15.

By the Wars of Jehovah are to be understood and described the Lord's battles with the hells and His victories over them, when He should come into the world. The same battles are also to be understood and described in the historical parts of our Word, as in Joshua's wars with the peoples of the land of Canaan, in the wars of the Book of Judges, and in those of David and the other kings.

[3] The following passage was taken by Moses from the prophetical parts of that Word:

Therefore the Prophetic Utterances say, Enter into Heshbon, the city of Sihon will be built and strengthened. For fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, which devoured Ar of Moab, the possessors of the heights of Arnon. Woe betide you, Moab; you are ruined, people of Chemosh. He made his sons fugitives and his daughters captives of the Sihon king of the Amorites. We killed them with arrows, Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon; and we laid them waste as far as Nophah, even as far as Medeba. Numbers 21:27-30.

These prophetic passages are called Utterances, and not Proverbs or the Composers of Proverbs, as the translators have it. This may be established from the meaning of the Hebrew word meshalim. A further proof that they are not just proverbs, but also prophetic utterances may be drawn from Numbers 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, where it is said that Balaam gave forth his utterance, which was a prophecy, also concerning the Lord. His utterance is there called mashal in the singular. (The things in them described by Moses too are prophecies, not proverbs.) 1

[4] This Word was Divine or divinely inspired in the same way, as is evident in Jeremiah, where almost the same words are repeated, namely:

A fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from among Sihon, which devoured the corner of Moab, and the top of the sons of tumult. Woe betide you, Moab; the people of Chemosh has been ruined, for your sons are snatched away into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. 45-46.

In addition to these a prophetic book of that ancient Word called the Book of Jashar or the Book of the Upright Man is quoted by David (2 Samuel 1:18) and by Joshua (10:13). This plainly shows that the story of the sun and the moon there was a prophecy from that book. Moreover I was told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are so clearly to be seen in that same Word, that there is not so much as a little word missing.

[5] The religious beliefs of many peoples were drawn and transcribed from that Word, passing for instance from the land of Canaan and various parts of Asia to Greece, and thence to Italy; and by way of Ethiopia and Egypt to some African kingdoms. But in Greece they made up myths by means of correspondences, and turned the attributes of God into as many deities; they called the greatest of them Jove after Jehovah. 2

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. These words are added in the margin. -Translator

2. This is not strictly true; neither Latin Jupiter (genitive Jovis) nor the corresponding Greek name Zeus have anything to do with the Hebrew Yahweh or Jehovah. -Translator

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