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Exodus 10

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1 And Jehovah said to Moses, Come to Pharaoh; for I have made·​·heavy his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may set these My signs in among him;

2 and that thou mayest recount in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have worked in Egypt, and My signs which I have set in them, and that you may·​·know that I am Jehovah.

3 And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, How long dost thou refuse to be afflicted before Me? let· My people ·go, that they may serve Me.

4 For if thou refuse to let· My people ·go, behold tomorrow I will bring the locust into thy border.

5 And it shall cover the surface* of the land, and one shall not be·​·able to see the land; and it shall eat·​·up the remnant of that which escaped that is left for you from the hail; and it shall eat·​·up every tree that grows for you from the field.

6 And thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, shall be filled; such as thy fathers, and the fathers of thy fathers, had not seen, from the day that they were upon the ground even·​·to this day. And he turned· his ·face back, and went·​·out from being with Pharaoh.

7 And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, How long shall this be for a snare to us? Send· the men ·away, and let them serve Jehovah their God; knowest thou not·​·yet that Egypt is perishing?

8 And Moses and Aaron were returned to Pharaoh; and he said to them, Go ye, serve Jehovah your God; who and who are going?

9 And Moses said, We will go with our lads, and with our elders; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flock and with our herd, will we go; for we have a festival of Jehovah.

10 And he said to them, So shall Jehovah be with you, when I send· you ·out, and your infants; see ye that evil is in·​·front·​·of your faces.

11 Not so; go, I pray, you who are mighty·​·men, and serve Jehovah; for it is what you seek. And he drove· them ·out from the faces of Pharaoh.

12 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch forth thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locust, and it shall come up upon the land of Egypt, and shall devour all the herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.

13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locust.

14 And the locust went·​·up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the border of Egypt, very heavy; before it there was no such locust as this, and after it there shall not be such.

15 And it covered the surface* of all the land, and the land was darkened; and it devoured all the herb of the land, and all the fruit of the tree which the hail had left; and there was not left any green thing in the tree and in the herb of the field, in the whole land of Egypt.

16 And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron; and he said, I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you.

17 And now, I pray, bear·​·with my sin only this time, and supplicate ye to Jehovah your God that He remove from upon me this death only.

18 And he went out from before Pharaoh, and supplicated to Jehovah.

19 And Jehovah turned a very strong sea wind, and lifted·​·up the locust, and cast them toward the Suph sea*; there was not left one locust in all the border of Egypt.

20 And Jehovah made· the heart of Pharaoh ·firm, and he did not send· the sons of Israel ·away.

21 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch·​·out thy hand toward the heavens, and there shall be darkness on the land of Egypt, and one shall feel·​·around in darkness.

22 And Moses stretched·​·out his hand toward the heavens; and there was a darkness of thick·​·darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.

23 They saw not a man his brother, and there rose· not ·up a man from what was under him for three days; and all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.

24 And Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only your flock and your herd shall stay*; your infants also shall Go with you.

25 And Moses said, Thou shalt also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt·​·offerings, that we may make it to Jehovah our God.

26 And our livestock also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left; for of it we must take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Jehovah until we come thither.

27 And Jehovah made· the heart of Pharaoh ·firm, and he was· not ·willing to send· them ·away.

28 And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from before me, take·​·heed to thyself that thou see my faces no more; for in the day thou seest my faces thou shalt·​·die.

29 And Moses said, Thou hast rightly spoken; I will see thy faces again no more.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 7673

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7673. 'Stretch out your hand' means an exercising of power. This is clear from the meaning of 'stretching out' as that which is connected with the exercising of control, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with in 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6292, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189, 7518. The reason why 'stretching out the hand' means the exercising of power is that there is power in the hand or arm when it is stretched out. When therefore Jehovah is said to stretch out His hand or arm, boundless or infinite power in action is meant. This explains why Jehovah told Moses on so many occasions, when miracles were to be performed, to stretch out his hand or his rod; for example,

Stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, and they will be blood. Exodus 7:19.

Stretch out your hand over the rivers, and cause frogs to rise up. Exodus 8:1-2. 1

Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the land, and it will then be lice. Exodus 8:11, 12. 2

Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and there will be hail. Exodus 9:22-23.

Such words would never have been used but for the meaning of 'stretching out the hand' in the highest sense as Jehovah's almighty power.

[2] The same thing is meant by Joshua's being told to stretch out his javelin, described in his book as follows,

Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand towards Ai. When therefore Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand towards Ai, the ambush rose up quickly out of their place and ran, as soon as he stretched out his hand, and came to the city and took it. Joshua did not withdraw his hand which he had stretched out together with the javelin until all the inhabitants of Ai had been utterly destroyed. Joshua 8:18-19, 26.

Being representative of God's almighty power, this too, like all other representative actions when they were commanded in those times, had force.

[3] There are a number of other places in which almighty power is described when it says that Jehovah 'stretches out His hand', or else His 'outstretched hand' or His 'outstretched arm' is spoken of. It is described by Jehovah stretching out His hand in Isaiah,

The anger [of Jehovah] has been roused against His people, and He has stretched out His hand over them and struck them, and the mountains were shaken. Isaiah 5:25.

In Ezekiel,

I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him. Ezekiel 14:9, 13.

In the same prophet,

I will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations. Ezekiel 25:7.

I will stretch out My hand over Edom, and cut off from it man and beast. I will stretch out My hand over the philistines, and cut off . . . Ezekiel 25:13, 16.

Other places like these are Ezekiel 35:3; Isaiah 31:3; Zephaniah 1:4; 2:13. The use of 'outstretched hand' to describe almighty power occurs in Isaiah,

Jehovah's outstretched hand is over all the nations; who will turn it back? Isaiah 14:26, 27.

In Jeremiah,

I will fight with you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, and in anger and in fury. Jeremiah 21:5.

In Isaiah,

Still His hand is outstretched. Isaiah 9:12, 17; 10:4.

The use of 'outstretched arm' occurs in Jeremiah,

I have made the earth, man, and beast by My great strength and by My outstretched arm. Jeremiah 27:5.

In the same prophet,

You have made heaven and earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm; there is no matter 3 that is too impossible for You. Jeremiah 32:17.

Here it is self-evident that 'outstretched arm' means almighty power. The same applies to many other places in which the expression 'by a strong hand and an outstretched arm' is used, such as Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 9:29; 11:2; 26:8; 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Kings 17:36; Jeremiah 32:21; Ezekiel 20:33, 34.

[4] There are places too in which Jehovah is said to 'stretch out the heavens', and in these places also 'stretching out' means almighty power; that is to say, He expands the limits of heaven and fills those who are there with life and wisdom, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a thin veil, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath 4 to His people upon it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.

In Jeremiah,

. . . He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.

There are still more places besides these, such as Isaiah 44:24; 45:12; Psalms 104:2.

From all this one may now see why Moses was commanded to stretch out his hand and rod, that miracles were performed when he did so, and that 'stretching out the hand' for that reason means the exercising of power, and in the highest sense almighty power.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1Exodus 8:5-6 in English Bibles

2Exodus 8:16-17 in English Bibles

3. or word

4. literally, soul

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