48
E quando un forestiere dimorerà teco, e vorrà far la Pasqua del Signore, circoncidasi prima ogni maschio di casa sua; e allora accostisi per farla, e sia come colui ch’è natio del paese; ma niuno incirconciso ne mangi.
Esodo 12:48
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.
Apocalypse Explained # 522
522. Because they were made bitter. - That this signifies, because the truths of the Word were falsified, is evident from the signification of the waters in the rivers and in the fountains, which denote truths of the understanding and truths of doctrine; see above (n. 518); and from the signification of bitter and bitterness, which denote what is falsified by an intermingling of truth with the falsities of evil. For bitter here means the bitter of wormwood, and wormwood, on account of its bitterness, signifies truth mingled with the falsity of evil, thus truth falsified, as explained above (n. 519). Bitter, in the Word, signifies what is undelightful, but the bitter of wormwood signifies one kind of undelightfulness, the bitter of gall another, the bitter of hemlock another, and the bitter of unripe fruit another, while the bitter which is neither from herbs nor fruit, another; the latter signifies a grief of mind and anxiety arising from various causes.
[2] From these things the signification of bitternesses in the following passages is evident; as in Isaiah:
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine (vinum), and men of strength to mingle strong drink (sicera)" (5:20, 22).
Again, in the same prophet:
"The new wine (mustum) mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. They shall not drink wine (vinum) with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it" (24:7, 9).
Again in Moses:
"The waters in Marah, which they could not drink on account of their bitterness, were healed by wood cast into them (Exodus 15:23-25).
At the time of the passover they ate unleavened bread with bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8; Num. 9:11).
Again, waters that caused the curse were given to a woman accused of adultery by her husband, and, if she was guilty, those waters became changed into bitterness in her, and her belly swelled and her thigh fell away (Num. 5:12-29).
The little book which the prophet was told to eat, was sweet as honey in his mouth, but his belly was made bitter by it (Apocalypse 10:9, 10), similarly elsewhere.
But here where it is said that many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter, the bitter of wormwood is meant, the signification of which bitterness has just been explained.
Numbers 5:12-29
12
"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: 'If any man's wife goes astray, and is unfaithful to him,
13
and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and is kept close, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she isn't taken in the act;
14
and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she isn't defiled:
15
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.
16
The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh;
17
and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.
18
The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman's head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.
19
The priest shall cause her to swear, and shall tell the woman, "If no man has lain with you, and if you haven't gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.
20
But if you have gone astray, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband:"
21
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, "Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;
22
and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away." The woman shall say, "Amen, Amen."
23
"'The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.
24
He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
25
The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar.
26
The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
27
When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away: and the woman will be a curse among her people.
28
If the woman isn't defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29
"'This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;
