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Exodus 19

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1 In the third month of the going·​·out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, on this day they came·​·into the wilderness of Sinai.

2 And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came·​·into the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped in·​·front·​·of the mountain.

3 And Moses went up to God, and Jehovah called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell to the sons of Israel,

4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and I bore you on eagleswings, and brought you to Me.

5 And now, if obeying you shall obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be for Me a special possession more* than all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;

6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Jehovah commanded him.

8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people to Jehovah.

9 And Jehovah said to Moses, Behold I come to thee in the thick cloud, on·​·account·​·of which the people will hear when I speak with thee, and will also believe in thee to eternity; and Moses told the words of the people to Jehovah.

10 And Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their raiment.

11 And let them be prepared for the third day, for in the third day Jehovah will come·​·down to the eyes of all the people on Mount Sinai.

12 And thou shalt set·​·a·​·border to the people round·​·about, saying, Take·​·heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mountain, or touch the extremity of it; everyone that touches the mountain, dying he shall·​·die;

13 a hand shall not touch it, for stoning he shall be stoned, or shooting he shall be shot; if a beast, if a man, he shall not live; when the jobel* is drawn out, they shall come·​·up into the mountain.

14 And Moses went·​·down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their raiment.

15 And he said to the people, Prepare for three days, approach not a woman.

16 And it was, on the third day, when it was morning, that there were voices* and lightnings, and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the voice of a shophar* exceedingly firm, and all the people who were in the camp were·​·frightened.

17 And Moses made the people go·​·out from the camp to meet God; and they stood·​·forth in the lower part of the mountain.

18 And Mount Sinai smoked, all of it, because Jehovah came·​·down upon it in fire; and the smoke’thereof went·​·up as the smoke of a furnace, and all the mountain trembled* exceedingly.

19 And when the voice of the shophar was going, and waxing strong mightily, Moses spoke, and God answered him in a voice.

20 And Jehovah came·​·down on Mount Sinai, to the head of the mountain; and Jehovah called Moses to the head of the mountain, and Moses went·​·up.

21 And Jehovah said to Moses, Go·​·down, call· the people ·to·​·testify, lest they break·​·through to Jehovah to see, and many of them fall.

22 And the priests also, who approach Jehovah, shall sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break·​·forth on them.

23 And Moses said to Jehovah, The people are· not ·able come·​·up to Mount Sinai; for Thou callest· us ·to·​·testify, saying, set·​·a·​·border on the mountain, and sanctify it.

24 And Jehovah said to him, Go, Go·​·down; and come·​·up, thou and Aaron with thee; and let not the priests and the people break·​·through to come·​·up to Jehovah, lest He break·​·forth against them.

25 And Moses went·​·down to the people, and talked with them.

   


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

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Apocalypse Revealed # 335

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335. Then the sky departed like a book rolled up. (6:14) This symbolizes the people's separation from heaven and conjunction with hell.

The text says that the sky departed like a book rolled up because a person's inner intellect and thus thought is as the sky or a kind of heaven, for his intellect can be raised into the light of heaven and can think about God, love and faith, and eternal life on the same elevated level as angels. But if his will is not raised at the same time into the warmth of heaven, the person is not yet united with the angels of heaven, thus is not a kind of heaven. The reality of this may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, Part Five.

Through this faculty of the intellect, the evil people who are the subject here could be associated with angels of the lowest heaven. But when the two were separated, their heaven then departed, like a book rolled up.

A book rolled up means a parchment rolled up, since their books were scrolls of parchment, and the comparison is made with a book, since a book also means the Word (no. 256). Consequently, when it is rolled up like a scroll, whatever it contains is not visible, and it is as though gone.

Something similar is accordingly said in Isaiah:

All the host of heaven shall waste away, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a book, and... it falls down as the leaf falls... from a fig tree. (Isaiah 34:4)

The host of heaven is the church's goods and truths from the Word (no. 447).

It can be seen from this that "the sky departed like a book rolled up" symbolizes separation from heaven and conjunction with hell. That separation from heaven means conjunction with hell, is apparent.

  
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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.