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Deuteronomy 9

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1 Hear, O Israel; Thou art crossing·​·over the Jordan today, to go·​·in to possess nations greater and more numerous than thyself, cities great and fortified to the heavens,

2 a people great and made·​·high, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak!

3 And know today, that Jehovah thy God is He who crosses·​·over before thee; as a devouring fire He shall blot· them ·out, and He shall humble them before thee. And thou shalt dispossess them, and make· them ·perish hastily, as Jehovah has spoken to thee.

4 Say not thou in thy heart, after Jehovah thy God has pushed· them ·out from before thee, saying, For my justice Jehovah has brought· me ·in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah dispossesses from before thee.

5 Not for thy justice, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou go·​·in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah thy God dispossesses them from before thee, and so·​·that He may secure the word which Jehovah promised to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Know that Jehovah thy God gives thee not this good land to possess it by thy justice; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

7 Remember, forget not, that thou hast enraged Jehovah thy God in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst go·​·out from the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious with Jehovah.

8 And in Horeb you enraged Jehovah, and Jehovah was·​·angry with you to blot· you ·out.

9 When I was gone·​·up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah cut with you, then I dwelt in the mountain forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water;

10 and Jehovah delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which Jehovah spoke with you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 And it was, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 And Jehovah said to me, Arise, come·​·down hastily from hence; for thy people whom thou hast brought·​·out from Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have hastily turned·​·aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten image.

13 Furthermore Jehovah said to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people;

14 let· Me ·go, and I will blot· them ·out, and wipe·​·away their name from under the heavens; and I will make thee into a nation more numerous and greater than they.

15 And I turned and came·​·down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were on my two hands.

16 And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Jehovah your God, and had made you a molten calf; you had turned·​·aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you.

17 And I caught up the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

18 And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which you sinned, in doing evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him.

19 For I was afraid of the faces of the anger and the fury with which Jehovah was·​·enraged against you to blot· you ·out. But Jehovah hearkened to me even at that time.

20 And Jehovah was· very ·angry with Aaron to blot· him ·out; and I prayed for Aaron also at that time.

21 And I took your sin which you had made, the calf, and burnt· it ·up with fire, and beat· it ·in·​·pieces, and ground it well, until it was made·​·thin as dust; and I cast its dust into the brook going·​·down from the mountain.

22 And at Taberah, and at Massah*, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you were enraging Jehovah.

23 And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go·​·up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the mouth of Jehovah your God, and you believed not, nor obeyed His voice.

24 You have rebelled against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.

25 Thus I fell down before Jehovah forty days and forty nights, as I fell down before; for Jehovah had said He would blot· you ·out.

26 And I prayed to Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovih*, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast redeemed in Thy greatness, whom Thou hast brought·​·out from Egypt with a firm hand.

27 Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; turn· not Thy ·face to the hardness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin;

28 lest the land whence Thou broughtest· us ·out say, Because Jehovah was· not ·able to bring them into the land of which He spoke to them, and because from His hatred of them, He has brought· them ·out to make· them ·die in the wilderness.

29 But they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, whom Thou broughtest·​·out by Thy great power and by Thy stretched·​·out arm.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Calves

  

In Genesis 18:7, this signifies natural good which here is called tender from the truth of good. (Arcana Coelestia 2180)

In Hosea 14:2, the calves of the lips signify confessions from the affection of truth.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 242)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Revealed # 242

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242. The second living creature like a calf. This symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its affection.

Beasts of the earth symbolize various natural affections. They are also embodiments of them. And a calf symbolizes an affection for knowing. This affection is represented by a calf in the spiritual world, and in the Word it is consequently also symbolized by a calf, as in Hosea,

...we repay (to Jehovah) the calves of our lips. (Hosea 14:2)

"Calves of the lips" are confessions from an affection for truth.

In Malachi:

To you who fear My name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings... that you may grow fat like fattened calves. (Malachi 4:2)

A comparison is made with fattened calves because they symbolize people who are filled with concepts of truth and goodness owing to an affection for knowing them.

In the book of Psalms:

The voice of Jehovah... makes (the cedars of Lebanon) dance like a calf... (Psalms 29:5, 6)

The cedars of Lebanon symbolize concepts of truth. That is why the passage says that the voice of Jehovah makes them dance like a calf. The voice of Jehovah is Divine truth, in the process here of affecting.

[2] Since the Egyptians loved knowledge, they therefore made themselves calves as a sign of their affection for it. But after they began to worship the calves as deities, then calves in the Word symbolized affections for knowing falsities, as in Jeremiah 46:20-21). Therefore we are told in Hosea:

...they have made for themselves a molten image... of their silver... Sacrificing a human being, they kiss the calves. (Hosea 13:2)

To make for oneself a molten image of silver means, symbolically, to falsify truth. To sacrifice a human being means, symbolically, to destroy wisdom. And to kiss calves means, symbolically, to accept falsities out of an affection for them.

In Isaiah:

There the calf will feed; there it will lie down and consume its branches. (Isaiah 27:10)

The same is symbolically meant by the calf in Jeremiah 34:18-20.

[3] Since all Divine worship springs from affections for truth and goodness and so for concepts of them, therefore the sacrifices in which the worship of the church primarily consisted among the children of Israel used various animals, such as lambs, she-goats, kids, sheep, he-goats, calves, and oxen; and calves were used because they symbolized an affection for knowing truths and goods, which is the first natural affection. This affection was symbolically meant by the sacrifices of calves in Exodus 29:11-12, 1 1 Samuel 1:25; 16:2, 1 Kings 18:23-26, 33.

The second living creature looked like a calf because the Divine truth of the Word, which it symbolizes, affects hearts, and so teaches and instills.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Prima editio: 29.

  
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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.