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Exodus 20

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1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 I am Jehovah thy God, who brought· thee ·out of the land of Egypt, out·​·of the house of servitude*.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before My faces.

4 Thou shalt not make to thee a graven image, nor any figure of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters beneath the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow· thyself ·down to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah, thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation* of those who hate Me;

6 and doing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold· him ·innocent who takes His name in vain.

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep· it ·holy.

9 Six days shalt thou serve, and do all thy work*;

10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God; thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor thy sojourner who is in thy gates;

11 for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and made· it ·holy.

12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be prolonged upon the ground that Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.

13 Thou shalt not murder.

14 Thou shalt not commit·​·adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not answer against thy neighbor as a false witness*.

17 14 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

18 15 And all the people saw the voices, and the torches, and the voice of the shophar*, and the mountain smoking; and the people saw, and they quaked, and stood far·​·off.

19 16 And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; and let not God Speak with us, lest perchance we die.

20 17 And Moses said to the people, Fear not; for God has come for the sake of tempting you, and so·​·that the fear of Him may be before your faces, that you sin not.

21 18 And the people stood far·​·off, and Moses approached the dense·​·darkness where God was.

22 19 And Jehovah said to Moses, Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, You have seen that I have spoken with you from the heavens.

23 20 You shall not make with Me gods of silver and gods of gold; you shall not make them to you.

24 21 An altar of ground thou shalt make to Me, and shalt sacrifice on it thy burnt·​·offerings, and thy peace·​·offerings, thy flocks, and thy herds; in every place where I shall cause My name to be remembered, I will come to thee, and I will bless thee.

25 22 And if thou make for Me an altar of stones, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou move thy chisel on it, then thou wilt profane it.

26 23 And thou shalt not go·​·up on stairs on My altar, that thy nakedness be not revealed upon it.

   


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

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Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) # 43

  
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43. I will touch, in a few words, upon the manner in which the representative Church with them was turned into an idolatrous one: All the spiritual things which are of heaven and the Church were presented before them in visible and tangible images, as was mentioned just above; those images were taken from the subjects of the three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable and mineral, by which were represented such things as are of the heavenly kingdom. They placed these typical images in their sanctuaries, in the inner chambers of their houses, and in the market-places and streets, arranging them according to their significations. But after the knowledge of correspondences was lost, and consequently the discernment of the signification of those images had perished, a later posterity began to look upon and acknowledge them as so many Divine and holy things; and then to some they bowed the knee, some they kissed, and some they adorned and decorated with necklaces, boxes of perfumes and anklets, just as children do their dolls, and as papists do their images; yea, of some they made household gods, of some guardian demigods, and of some Pythons; some, moreover, they carried in miniature forms in their hands, some they hugged in their bosoms, stroked, and whispered petitions in their ears; and so on. Thus were heavenly types turned into infernal types, and the Divine things of heaven and the Church into idols. On account of this transformation and distortion of heavenly things, a new representative Church was raised up among the sons of Israel, in which genuine representations, as was stated above, were instituted; and to which it was forbidden to celebrate Divine worship by any others, as is evident from these words in the first Commandment of the Decalogue:

Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any figure that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor worship them (Exod. 20:4-5; Deut. 5:8-9).

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