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Exodus 7

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1 And Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have given thee as a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak to Pharaoh, and let him send the sons of Israel out of his land.

3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My miracles in the land of Egypt.

4 And Pharaoh will not hear you; and I will put My hand upon the Egyptians, and lead out My armies, My people, the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, with great judgments.

5 And the Egyptians shall·​·know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt, and lead out the sons of Israel from the midst of them.

6 And Moses and Aaron did so; as Jehovah commanded them, so they did.

7 And Moses was a son of eighty years, and Aaron a son of three and eighty years, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

9 And Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Give for yourselves a miracle, and thou shalt say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, it shall become a sea·​·serpent*.

10 And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did as Jehovah had commanded; and Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a sea·​·serpent.

11 And Pharaoh also called the wise and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did so with their enchantments.

12 And they cast every man his rod, and they became sea·​·serpents; and Aaron’s rod swallowed·​·up their rods.

13 And the heart of Pharaoh was made·​·firm, and he hearkened not to them; as Jehovah had spoken.

14 And Jehovah said to Moses, The heart of Pharaoh is made·​·heavy, he refuses to send· the people ·away.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning; behold, he goes·​·out to the waters; and thou shalt stand on the lip of the river to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent take in thy hand.

16 And thou shalt say to him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has sent me to thee, saying, Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and behold hitherto thou hast not heard.

17 Thus says Jehovah, In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; behold I smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

18 And the fish that is in the river shall·​·die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall be·​·weary to drink waters from the river.

19 And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch·​·out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over the branches of their Nile, and over their ponds, and over every reservoir of their waters, and they shall be blood; and there shall be blood in all the land of Egypt, and in the trees and in the stones.

20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as Jehovah commanded; and he lifted·​·high the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, to the eyes of Pharaoh, and to the eyes of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.

21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and there was blood in all the land of Egypt.

22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and the heart of Pharaoh was made·​·firm, and he hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had spoken.

23 And Pharaoh turned· his ·face back, and came to his house, and did not set his heart even to this.

24 And all the Egyptians dug all around the river for waters to drink; for they could not drink of the waters of the river.

25 And seven days were·​·fulfilled after that Jehovah had smitten the river.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 7272

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7272. 'And I will harden Pharaoh's heart' means obstinacy rising from the evil of falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'hardening' as obstinacy. Its rise from the evil of falsity is meant by 'Pharaoh's heart', for in the genuine sense 'the heart' means the good which belongs to heavenly love, 3313, 3887, 3889, and therefore in the contrary sense it means hellish evil. And the reason why it is the evil of falsity is that 'Pharaoh' represents those who are steeped in falsity. The evil of falsity is anything which traces its origin back to basic ideas of falsity. Take for example the idea, such as existed among the Israelites and Jews, that they were made holy by means of external acts - by sacrifices, washings, or the sprinkling of blood - and that they were not made holy through charity and faith, thus that they were holy even though their lives were filled with hatred, vengeance, plundering, savagery, and the like. These evils are what are called the evils of falsity, because they trace their origin back to basic ideas of falsity.

[2] Take as another example a person who believes that faith alone saves and that the works of charity contribute nothing to salvation, a person who also believes that he can be saved even in his final hour before death, no matter what kind of life he has been leading throughout the whole course of his life. If on the basis of these ideas he leads a life devoid of any charity and is filled with contempt for others, enmity and hatred towards anyone who does not pay him respect, the desire for revenge, the craving to deprive others of their goods, lack of pity, trickery, and deceit, these evils too are evils of falsity. They are such because he convinces himself on the basis of a falsity either that they are not evils or that even if they were evils they would nevertheless be purged, provided that before he breathed his last he declared with apparent trust his belief that the Lord is the Mediator and that sins are purged through His passion on the Cross.

[3] Take as yet another example those who approach people who have died, make supplication to them as saints, and so venerate them, even images of them. The evil contained in that practice is the evil of falsity. Doers of the evil of falsity all believe that falsity is the truth, and consequently that evil either is not evil or else cannot cause damnation. It is similar with those who believe that sins can be pardoned by mere human beings, and also with those who believe that they can be brought into heaven, regardless of their sins, that is, of their foul spiritual odour and stench. In short the evils of falsity are as many in number as the falsities of faith and worship. Such evils do cause condemnation, but not to so great an extent as evils that have their origin in evil. Evils that have their origin in evil are those which exist as a result of a desire welling up from self-love and love of the world.

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