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Ezechiele 23

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1 LA parola del Signore mi fu ancora indirizzata, dicendo:

2 Figliuol d’uomo, vi erano due donne, figliuole d’una medesima madre,

3 le quali fornicarono in Egitto nella lor giovanezza; quivi furono premute le lor mammelle, e quivi fu compresso il seno della lor verginità.

4 Or i nomi loro sono: Ohola, la maggiore; ed Oholiba, sua sorella; ma esse divennero mie, e mi partorirono figliuoli, e figliuole; ed i lor nomi sono: d’Ohola, Samaria; e d’Oholiba, Gerusalemme.

5 Ed Ohola ha fornicato, ricevendo altri in luogo mio, e si è innamorata de’ suoi amanti, degli Assiri, suoi vicini;

6 vestiti di giacinto, principi, e satrapi, giovani vaghi tutti quanti, cavalieri montati sopra cavalli.

7 E si è abbondonata a fornicar con loro, che erano tutti la scelta de’ figliuoli di Assur; e si è contaminata con tutti gl’idoli di coloro, de’ quali ella si era innamorata.

8 E con tutto ciò, ella non ha lasciate le sue fornicazioni di Egitto; perciocchè gli Egizi erano giaciuti con lei nella sua giovanezza, ed aveano compresso il seno della sua verginità, ed aveano sparse le lor fornicazioni sopra lei.

9 Perciò, io l’ho data in man de’ suoi amanti, in man de’ figliuoli di Assur, de’ quali ella si era innamorata.

10 Essi hanno scoperte le sue vergogne, hanno presi i suoi figliuoli, e le sue figliuole, ed hanno uccisa lei con la spada; ed ella è stata famosa fra le donne, ed essi hanno eseguiti giudicii sopra lei.

11 E la sua sorella Oholiba ha veduto ciò, e si è corrotta ne’ suoi innamoramenti più di lei; e nelle sue fornicazioni, più che la sua sorella nelle sue.

12 Ella si è innamorata de’ figliuoli di Assur, suoi vicini, principi, e satrapi, vestiti perfettamente, cavalieri montati sopra cavalli, giovani vaghi tutti quanti.

13 Ed io ho veduto ch’ella si era contaminata, che amendue seguivano un medesimo procedere.

14 Anzi, che questa ha sopraggiunto alle fornicazioni dell’altra; perciocchè avendo veduti degli uomini ritratti in su la parete, delle immagini di Caldei, dipinte di minio,

15 cinte di cinture sopra i lor lombi, con delle tiare tinte in sul capo, d’aspetto di capitani tutte quante, di’ sembianza di figliuoli di Babilonia, del paese de’ Caldei, lor terra natia,

16 ella se n’è innamorata, per lo sguardo degli occhi suoi, ed ha lor mandati ambasciatori nel paese dei Caldei.

17 Ed i figliuoli di Babilonia son venuti con lei a giacitura amorosa, e l’hanno contaminata con la lor fornicazione, ed ella si è contaminata con loro; e poi l’animo suo si è stolto da loro.

18 Ella adunque ha pubblicate le sue fornicazioni, ed ha scoperte le sue vergogne; laonde l’animo mio si è stolto da lei, siccome si era stolto dalla sua sorella.

19 E pure anch’ella ha accresciute le sue fornificazioni, ricordandosi dei giorni della sua giovanezza, quando fornicava nel paese di Egitto;

20 e si è innamorata degli Egizi, più che le lor concubine stesse; perciocchè la lor carne è carne d’asini, e il lor flusso è flusso di cavalli.

21 Così tu sei tornata alla scelleratezza della tua fanciullezza, quando le tue mammelle furon compresse dagli Egizi, a cagione de’ tuoi seni di fanciulla.

22 Perciò, Oholiba, così ha detto il Signore Iddio: Ecco, io eccito contro a te i tuoi amanti, da’ quali l’animo tuo si è stolto; e li farò venire sopra te d’ogni intorno.

23 Cioè: i figliuoli di Babilonia, e tutti i Caldei; que’ di Pecod, di Soa, di Coa, e tutti i figliuoli di Assur con loro, giovani vaghi, principi, e satrapi, tutti quanti; capitani, ed uomini famosi, montati sopra cavalli tutti quanti.

24 E verranno contro a te con carri, con carrette, e con ruote, e con gran raunata di genti; porranno contro a te d’ogn’intorno scudi, e targhe, ed elmi; ed io metterò in lor potere il far giudicio, ed essi ti giudicheranno de’ lor giudicii.

25 Ed io eseguirò la mia gelosia contro a te, ed essi opereranno inverso te con ira; ti taglieranno il naso, e gli orecchi, e ciò che di te sarà rimasto caderà per la spada; prenderanno i tuoi figliuoli, e le tue figliuole; e il tuo rimanente sarà consumato per lo fuoco.

26 E ti spoglieranno dei tuoi vestimenti, e rapiranno gli ornamenti della tua magnificenza.

27 Ed io farò venir meno in te la tua scelleratezza, e la tua fornicazione, nel paese di Egitto; e tu non leverai più gli occhi a loro, e non ricorderai più l’Egitto.

28 Perciocchè, così ha detto il Signore Iddio: Ecco, io ti do in man di coloro che tu odii: in man di coloro da’ quali l’animo tuo si è stolto.

29 Ed essi procederanno teco con odio, e rapiranno tutti i tuoi beni, e ti lasceranno ignuda, e scoperta; e sarà palesata la turpitudine delle tue fornicazioni, e la tua scelleratezza, e le tue prostituzioni.

30 Io ti farò queste cose, perciocchè tu hai fornicato dietro alle genti; perciocchè tu ti sei contaminata co’ loro idoli.

31 Tu sei camminata nella via della tua sorella; io altresì ti darò in mano la sua coppa.

32 Così ha detto il Signore Iddio: Tu berrai la coppa profonda, e larga, della tua sorella; tu sarai in derisione, ed in ischerno; quella coppa sarà di gran capacità.

33 Tu sarai ripiena di ebbrezza, e di affanno, per la coppa della desolazione, e del disertamento, per la coppa di Samaria, tua sorella.

34 E tu la berrai, e la succerai, e ne spezzerai i testi, e ti strapperai le mammelle; perciocchè io ho parlato, dice il Signore Iddio.

35 Perciò così ha detto il Signore Iddio: Perciocchè tu mi hai dimenticato, e mi hai gettato dietro alle spalle, tu altresì porta la tua scelleratezza, e le tue fornicazioni.

36 Poi il Signore mi disse: Figliuol d’uomo, non giudicherai tu Ohola, ed Oholiba? or dichiara loro le loro abbominazioni.

37 Perciocchè han commesso adulterio, e vi è del sangue nelle lor mani, ed han commesso adulterio co’ loro idoli; ed anche han fatti passar per lo fuoco i lor figliuoli, i quali mi aveano partoriti, per consumarli.

38 Ancor questo mi han fatto: in quel medesimo giorno hanno contaminato il mio santuario, ed han profanati i miei sabati.

39 E dopo avere scannati i lor figliuoli a’ loro idoli, son venute in quel medesimo giorno nel mio santuario, per profanarlo; ed ecco, così han fatto dentro della mia Casa.

40 Ed oltre a ciò, han mandato ad uomini, vegnenti di lontano, i quali, tosto che il messo è stato loro mandato, son venuti; ed alla giunta loro, tu ti sei lavata, tu ti sei lisciato il viso, e ti sei adorna di ornamenti.

41 E ti sei posta a sedere sopra un letto magnifico, davanti al quale era una tavola apparecchiata; e sopra quella tu hai posti i miei profumi, ed i miei olii odoriferi.

42 Quivi è stato uno strepito di moltitudine sollazzante; ed oltre agli uomini della turba del popolazzo, sono stati introdotti degli ubriachi del deserto; i quali han poste delle maniglie in su le mani di quelle due donne, ed una corona di gloria sopra le lor teste.

43 Ed io ho detto di quella, invecchiata in adulterii: Ora fornicheranno essi con lei a suo modo.

44 Altri dunque è venuto a lei, come si viene ad una meretrice; così son venuti coloro ad Ohola, e ad Oholiba, donne scellerate.

45 Perciò, gli uomini giusti le giudicheranno, come si giudicano le adultere, e quelle che spandono il sangue; conciossiachè esse sieno adultere, ed abbiano del sangue nelle lor mani.

46 Perciocchè, così ha detto il Signore Iddio: Io fo venir contro a loro una gran raunata di genti, e le metterò in turbamento ed in preda.

47 E quella raunata le lapiderà con pietre, e le taglierà a pezzi con le sue spade; ucciderà i lor figliuoli, e le lor figliuole, e brucerà le lor case col fuoco.

48 Ed io farò cessar la scelleratezza nel paese; e tutte le donne saranno ammaestrate a non fare secondo le vostre scelleratezze.

49 E coloro vi metteranno la vostra scelleratezza addosso; e voi porterete i peccati de’ vostri idoli, e conoscerete che io sono il Signore Iddio.

   


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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Ezechiele 5:13

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13 E il mio cruccio si adempierà, ed io acqueterò l’ira mia sopra loro, e mi appagherò; ed essi conosceranno che io, il Signore, ho parlato nella mia gelosia, quando avrò adempiuta l’ira mia sopra loro.


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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Apocalypse Revealed # 485

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485. CHAPTER 11

1. Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.

2. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.

3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.

5. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire will proceed from their mouth and devour their enemies. And if anyone wants to do them injury, he must be killed in this manner.

6. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

7. Then, when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

8. And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days, and not allow their bodies to be put into tombs.

10. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and be glad, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

11. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

12. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

13. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell. And in the earthquake seven thousand people by name were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

15. Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"

16. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,

17. saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are and who were and who are to come, because You have taken Your great power and entered Your kingdom.

18. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead, and to reward Your servants the prophets and saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and to destroy those who are destroying the earth."

19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING

The Contents of the Whole Chapter

The subject continues to be the state of the church among the Protestant Reformed and the character of those inwardly caught up in faith alone in opposition to the two essential elements of the New Church, namely, that the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth, whose humanity is Divine, and that people ought to live in accordance with the Ten Commandments. These two essential elements were proclaimed before them (verses 3-6). But they were utterly rejected (verses 7-10). The Lord revived them (verses 11, 12). Those people perished who rejected them (verse 13). From the New Heaven the state of the New Church was shown (verses 15-19).

The Contents of the Individual Verses:

Verse ContentsSpiritual Meaning
1. Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod.John was given the ability and power to learn and see the state of the church in heaven and in the world.
And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.The Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven.
2. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it,The state of the church on earth, as it is still, must be set aside and not learned.
for it has been given to the gentiles.Because, owing to evil practices, the state of that church has been lost and forsaken.
And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.It has dispelled every truth of the Word to the point that none remains.
3. And I will give power to my two witnesses,Those people who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, whose humanity is Divine, and who are conjoined with Him by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments.
and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days,These two - an acknowledgment of the Lord and a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments, which are the two essential elements of the New Church - must be taught until the end and a new beginning.
clothed in sackcloth."The grief experienced meanwhile over the truth's not being accepted.
4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.The love and intelligence, or charity and faith, that people have in them from the Lord.
5. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire will proceed from their mouth and devour their enemies.Anyone who wishes to destroy these two essential elements perishes from a hellish love.
And if anyone wants to do them injury, he must be killed in that way.Anyone who condemns the two essential elements is likewise condemned.
6. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy;People who turn away from these two essential elements cannot receive any truth from heaven.
and they have power over waters to turn them to blood,People who turn away from these two essential elements falsify the Word's truths.
and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.People who wish to destroy these two essential elements propel themselves into evils and falsities of every kind, as often as, and in the measure that, they do so.
7. Then, when they finish their testimony,After the Lord has taught these two essential elements of the New Church,
the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.those people who are caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will reject these two elements.
8. And their bodies will lie in the street of the great cityThese two elements have been utterly rejected.
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,The two hellish loves, namely, a love of ruling springing from a love of self, and a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, loves which are present in the church where there is not one God and where the Lord is not worshiped, and where people do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments.
where also our Lord was crucified.A failure to acknowledge the Lord's Divine humanity, and thus a state in which He is rejected.
9. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days,All those who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and evil practices at the end of the church still existing, when they have heard and later hear about these two essential elements at the beginning of the New Church,
and not allow their bodies to be put into tombs.have condemned them and will continue to condemn them.
10. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and be glad,The delight of the heart and soul's affection among those people in the church caught up in faith alone.
and send gifts to one another,Their consociation by love and friendship.
because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.These two essential elements of the New Church, opposed as they are to the two essential elements accepted in the Protestant Reformed Church, are objects of contempt, distress, and repugnance.
11. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet,As the New Church commences and grows, these two essential elements are made living by the Lord in people who accept them.
and great fear fell on those who saw them.A disturbance of the mind and alarm at Divine truths.
12. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here."The two essential elements of the New Church raised by the Lord into heaven, where they originate and where they remain, and where they are protected.
And they ascended to heaven in a cloud,Their elevation into heaven and conjunction with the Lord there through the Divine truth of the Word in its literal sense.
and their enemies saw them.People caught up in a faith divorced from charity heard of these, but remained in their falsities.
13. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell.A considerable change of state occurring then in those people, and their being plucked away from heaven and sinking into hell.
And in the earthquake seven thousand people by name were killed,All those people who professed faith alone and for that reason made works of charity of no account, perished.
and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.People who saw their destruction acknowledged the Lord and were set apart.
14. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.A lamentation over the corrupted state of the church, and lastly a final lamentation, as depicted after this.
15. Then the seventh angel sounded,An examination and exposure of the state of the church after its end, at the time of the Lord's advent and the advent of His kingdom.
and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"Celebrations on the part of angels, that heaven and the church had become the Lord's, as they had been from the beginning, and that they had now become those of His Divine humanity, thus that the Lord would reign over heaven and earth as regards both aspects of Him to eternity.
16. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,An acknowledgment on the part of all the angels in heaven that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and their highest adoration of Him.
17. saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are and who were and who are to come,A confession and glorification on the part of the angels in heaven, that the Lord is He who exists, lives, and has power of Himself, and who governs all things, because He alone is eternal and infinite.
because You have taken Your great power and entered Your kingdom.The New Heaven and New Church, where people will acknowledge Him alone as God.
18. The nations were angry,People who were caught up in faith alone and thus in evil practices were enraged, and harassed those who opposed their faith.
and Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead,Their destruction, and the last judgment on those people who were without any spiritual life.
and to reward Your servants the prophets and saints,The happiness of eternal life for people who possess doctrinal truths from the Word and live in accordance with them.
and those who fear Your name, small and great,People who love things having to do with the Lord, in a lesser or greater degree.
and to destroy those who are destroying the earth."The casting down into hell of the people who destroyed the church.
19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.The New Heaven, in which the Lord is worshiped in His Divine humanity, and where people live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, which constitute the two essential elements of the New Church that are the means of conjunction.
And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.The reasonings, disturbances, and falsifications of goodness and truth then in the lower regions.

THE EXPOSITION

Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. (11:1) This symbolically means that the Lord gave John the ability and power to learn and see the state of the church in heaven and in the world.

A reed symbolizes weak power, the kind a person has of himself, and a rod symbolizes strong power, the kind a person has from the Lord. Consequently John's being given a reed like a measuring rod symbolizes power from the Lord. That it was the ability and power to learn and see the state of the church in heaven and in the world is apparent from the events that follow in this chapter to the end.

[2] That a reed or length of cane symbolizes weak power such as a person has of himself is apparent from the following:

Look, you are relying on the staff of (a) broken reed, on Egypt, which, when a man leans on it, will go into his hand and pierce it. (Isaiah 36:6)

That... the inhabitants of Egypt may know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke and punctured all their shoulders... (Ezekiel 29:6-7)

Egypt symbolizes the natural person who relies on his own powers, and that is why it is called the staff of a broken reed.

A reed symbolizes weak power, in Isaiah:

A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not extinguish. (Isaiah 42:3)

[3] A rod, on the other hand, symbolizes strong power, which comes from the Lord, here the power to learn the state of the church, because John used the rod to measure the temple and altar, and to measure means, symbolically, to learn, and the temple and altar symbolize the church, as depicted next.

A rod symbolizes power because in olden times people in the church made wooden rods, and wood symbolizes goodness. It also substituted for the right hand and supported it, and the right hand symbolizes power. It is owing to this that a scepter is a shortened rod, and a scepter symbolizes the power of a king. Moreover, "scepter" and "rod" in Hebrew are the same word. 1

[4] That a rod symbolizes power is apparent from the following passages:

Say, "How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!" ...Come down from your glory, and sit in thirst. (Jeremiah 48:17-18)

Jehovah shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. (Psalms 110:2)

You punctured with his shafts the head of the faithless. (Habakkuk 3:14)

...Israel the rod of (Jehovah's) inheritance. (Jeremiah 10:16; 51:19)

Your rod and Your staff will comfort me. (Psalms 23:4)

Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked... (Isaiah 14:5, cf. Isaiah 9:4, Psalms 125:3)

My people consult a piece of wood, and their staff answers them. (Hosea 4:12)

...Jehovah... takes away from Jerusalem... the whole staff of bread and the whole staff of water. (Isaiah 3:1, cf. Ezekiel 4:16; 5:16; 14:13, Psalms 105:16, Leviticus 26:26)

A staff of bread and of water symbolizes the power of goodness and truth, and Jerusalem symbolizes the church.

The rod of Levi with the name of Aaron on it, which in the Tabernacle blossomed with almonds (Numbers 17:2-10), symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, nothing else than the power of truth and goodness, because Levi and Aaron symbolized the truth and goodness of the church.

[5] That a rod symbolizes power is apparent from the power of Moses' rod: On being stretched out it turned water into blood (Exodus 7:20). It caused frogs to come up on the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:1ff.). It produced lice (Exodus 8:16f.). It summoned thunder and hail (Exodus 9:23ff.). It caused locusts to come (Exodus 10:12ff.). It caused the Red Sea to be parted and the waters to return (Exodus 14:16, 21, 26). It caused water to flow from the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:5ff., Numbers 20:7-13). In Moses' hand it enabled Joshua to prevail over the Amalekites (Exodus 17:9-12).

And an angel's staff caused fire to come forth from a rock (Judges 6:21).

It is apparent from these instances that a rod or staff symbolizes power, and also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 10:5, 24, 26; 11:4; 14:29; 30:31-32, Ezekiel 19:10-14, Lamentations 3:1, Micah 7:14, Zechariah 10:11, Numbers 21:18.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. I.e., מַטֶּה.

  
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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.