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Ezekiel 16

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1 And the word of Jehovah was unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

3 and say, Thus says the Lord Jehovih* unto Jerusalem; Thy negotiations and thy births are from the land of the Canaanites; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

4 And as for thy birth, in the day thou wast·​·born thine umbilical·​·cord was not cut·​·off, neither wast thou bathed with water for me to regard; salted thou wast not salted, swaddled thou wast not swaddled.

5 Not an eye spared thee, to do any one of these unto thee, to have pity upon thee; but thou wast cast onto the faces of the field, at the abhorrence of thy soul, in the day that thou wast·​·born.

6 And I passed by thee, and saw thee trodden·​·down in thine own blood, and I said to thee when thou wast in thy bloods*, Live; and, I said to thee when thou wast in thy bloods, Live.

7 As to becoming·​·much, I have put thee as the growth of the field, and thou hast become·​·much and hast grown·​·up, and thou hast come into decorations of decorations; thy breasts are established, and thy hair has grown, and thou wast naked and with nakedness.

8 And I passed by thee, and saw thee, and behold, thy time was the time of loves; and I spread My wing over thee, and covered thy nakedness; and, I promised to thee, and came into a covenant with thee, says the Lord Jehovih, and thou becamest Mine.

9 And I bathed thee with water; and I rinsed thy bloods from on thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

10 And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with badger skin, and I bound· thee ·up with fine·​·linen, and I covered thee with silk.

11 And I decked thee with decoration, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a necklace upon thy throat.

12 And I put a jewel above thy nose, and earrings on thine ears, and a crown of adornment on thy head.

13 And thou wast decked with gold and silver; and thy clothes were of fine·​·linen, and silk, and embroidery; thou didst eat flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast· exceedingly ·beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.

14 And thy name went·​·out among the nations with thy beauty; for it was all by My honor, which I had set on thee, says the Lord Jehovih.

15 And thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and didst commit·​·harlotry on·​·account·​·of thy name, and didst spill·​·out thy harlotries on all passing·​·by, for him to have.

16 And from thy garments thou didst take, and didst make for thee high·​·places spotted, and didst commit·​·harlotry on them; they shall not come, and it shall not be.

17 And thou hast taken the vessels of thine adornment from My gold and from My silver, which I had given thee, and didst make for thyself images of a male, and didst commit·​·harlotry with them,

18 and didst take thine embroidered garments, and didst cover them; and thou hast put My oil and My incense before them.

19 And My bread which I gave thee, flour, and oil, and honey, I caused thee to eat, and thou hast put it before them for a restful smell; and thus it was, says the Lord Jehovih.

20 And thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, to whom thou hast given·​·birth for Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy harlotries a·​·little matter,

21 that thou hast slaughtered My sons, and given them to cause them to pass·​·through the fire for them?

22 And with all thine abominations and thy harlotries thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and with nakedness, and wast trodden·​·down in thy blood.

23 And it was after all thine evil; Woe, woe to thee! says the Lord Jehovih.

24 And thou hast built for thyself an arch, and hast made for thyself a high·​·place in every avenue.

25 At the head of every way thou hast built thy high·​·place, and hast made thy beauty to be abominated, and hast opened·​·wide thy feet to all who pass·​·by, and multiplied thy harlotries.

26 And thou hast committed·​·harlotry with the sons of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy harlotries, to provoke Me.

27 And, behold, I have stretched·​·out My hand over thee, and have diminished thy stated food, and given thee into the soul of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed on account of thy way of crime.

28 And thou hast committed·​·harlotry with the sons of Assyria, without satisfying thyself; and thou hast committed·​·harlotry with them, and wast not even satisfied.

29 And thou hast multiplied thy harlotry in the land of Canaan toward Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied by this.

30 How thy heart is languishing, says the Lord Jehovih, in that thou doest all these things, the deed of a domineering woman, a harlot;

31 in that thou buildest thy arch at the head of every way, and makest thy high·​·place on every avenue; and hast not been as a harlot, for thou scoffest·​·at hire;

32 But as the wife that commits·​·adultery, which takes strangers instead of her husband!

33 They give wages to all the harlots; but thou givest thy wages to all thy lovers, and bribest them to come to thee from all around thy harlotry.

34 And in thee in thy harlotries is the contrary of other women, and after thee they commit· not ·harlotry, and in thy giving hire, and no hire is given to thee, and thus thou art contrary.

35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah:

36 thus says the Lord Jehovih; Because thy bronze was spilled·​·out, and thy nakedness revealed by thy harlotries with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thine abominations, and by the bloods of thy sons, which thou didst give to them;

37 behold, therefore I will bring·​·together all thy lovers, with whom thou art·​·agreeable, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even bring· them ·together against thee all around, and will reveal thy nakedness unto them, and they shall see all thy nakedness.

38 And I will judge thee, with the judgments on women who commit·​·adultery and shed blood; and I will give thee blood with fury and zeal.

39 And I will give thee into their hand, and they shall break·​·down thine arch, and shall tear·​·down thy high·​·places; and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take the vessels of thine adornment, and place thee naked and with nakedness.

40 And they shall bring·​·up an assembly against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

41 And they shall burn·​·up thy houses with fire, and do judgments in thee to the eyes of many women; and I will cause thee to cease from committing·​·harlotry, and also thou shalt not still give hire.

42 And I will make My fury on thee to rest, and My zeal shall be removed from thee, and I will be·​·quiet, and will be provoked no more.

43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast made Me tremble in all these things; behold, then I also will put thy way upon thy head, says the Lord Jehovih; and thou shalt not do this crime over all thine abominations.

44 Behold, every enunciator shall enunciate against thee, saying, As is her mother, so is her daughter.

45 Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that abhorred her husband and her sons; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which abhorred their men and their sons; your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell upon thy left hand; and thy younger sister, that dwells at thy right·​·hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

47 And thou hast not walked in their ways, and done their abominations; but, as though these were little, small, and loathed, thou wast corrupted more·​·than they in all thy ways.

48 As I am alive, says the Lord Jehovih, Sodom thy sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

49 Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, satiated with bread; and the tranquility of idleness was to her and to her daughters; neither did she make·​·firm the hand of the afflicted and needy.

50 And they were·​·haughty, and did abomination before Me; and I removed them as I saw good.

51 Neither has Samaria sinned half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own humiliation over thy sins that thou hast made·​·abominable more·​·than they; they are more justified than thou: and, be thou ashamed also, and bear thy humiliation, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

53 And I shall return their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and I will bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

54 so·​·that thou mayest bear thine own humiliation, and mayest be humiliated in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

55 And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their ancient times, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their times before, and thou and thy daughters shall return to your ancient times.

56 And thy sister Sodom was not reported by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,

57 before thine evil was revealed, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are all around her, the daughters of the Philistines, having·​·contempt for thee all around.

58 Thou hast borne thy crimes and thine abominations, says Jehovah.

59 For thus says the Lord Jehovih; And I will do with thee as thou hast done, in that thou hast despised the oath in making· the covenant ·of·​·none·​·effect.

60 But I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will raise·​·up unto thee an eternal covenant.

61 And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be humiliated, when thou shalt take thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger; and I will give them to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

62 And I will raise·​·up My covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah:

63 so·​·that thou mayest remember, and be·​·ashamed, and there shall not be to thee an open mouth any·​·more on·​·account·​·of thy humiliation, when I have made·​·atonement toward thee for all that thou hast done, says the Lord Jehovih.

   


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

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Apocalypse Revealed # 213

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213. "'That the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.'" This symbolically means, so as not to profane and adulterate the goodness of heavenly love.

No one can know the symbolic meaning of the shame of nakedness unless he knows that the reproductive organs in both sexes, called also the genitalia, correspond to celestial love.

To be shown that the human body and all its constituents have a correspondence with the heavens, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in , nos. 87-102. And to be shown that the reproductive organs correspond to celestial love, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), also published in London, nos. 5050-5062.

Now because these organs correspond to celestial love, which is the love found in the third or inmost heaven, and because a person is born of his parents into loves contrary to that love, it is apparent that if he does not acquire for himself the goodness of love and the truth of wisdom from the Lord, which are symbolically meant by gold refined in fire and white garments, he will be seen to be impelled by a contrary love, which in itself is profane.

[2] This latter circumstance is symbolically meant by uncovering nakedness and manifesting the shame of it, in the following places:

Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and his private parts be seen. (Revelation 16:15)

...daughter of Babylon (and of the Chaldeans), sit on the ground... Uncover your hair..., uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers. Let your nakedness be uncovered; yes, let your shame be seen. (Isaiah 47:1-3)

Woe to the bloody city! ...Because of the multitude of (her) harlotries... I will uncover your skirts in front of you, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your disgrace. (Nahum 3:1, 4-5)

Contend with your mother... lest I strip her naked... (Hosea 2:2-4)

When I passed by you... I covered your nakedness... Then I washed you... and... I clothed you... But you... played the harlot... not remembering your youth, when you were naked and bare... (Therefore) your nakedness was uncovered... (Ezekiel 16:6ff.)

Jerusalem has sinned gravely; therefore... all... despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. (Lamentations 1:8)

Jerusalem, of which these things were said, means the church; and to play the harlot means, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the Word (no. 134).

Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink..., making him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! ...Drink, you too, that your uncircumcised foreskin may be exposed! (Habakkuk 2:15-16)

[3] Someone who knows what nakedness symbolizes can understand what is symbolically meant by the statement that when Noah was drunk from drinking wine he lay uncovered inside his tent, and Ham saw and laughed at his nakedness, but Shem and Japheth covered his nakedness, turning their faces away so as not to see it (Genesis 9:21-23). He can understand also why it was decreed that Aaron and his sons should not go up by steps to the altar, that their nakedness might not be exposed (Exodus 20:26). And so, too, why it was decreed that they should make for them linen trousers to cover their naked flesh, that they should have these on when they came near the altar, and that otherwise they would bear their iniquity and die (Exodus 28:42-43).

Nakedness in these places symbolizes the evils into which a person is born, which, because they are contrary to the goodness of celestial love, are in themselves profane and are removed only by truths and by living in accordance with those truths. Linen also symbolizes truth (no. 671[1-2]).

[4] Nakedness in addition symbolizes innocence, and also ignorance of goodness and truth. Innocence is symbolized by the statement, "they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they had no cause for shame" (Genesis 2:25). Ignorance of goodness and truth is symbolized by the following:

...this... fast that I choose: ...to break bread with the hungry..., and... when you see the naked man, to cover him. (Isaiah 58:6-7)

He gives his bread to the hungry man, and covers the naked one with clothing. (Ezekiel 18:7)

...I was hungry and you gave Me food...; I was naked and you clothed Me. (Matthew 25:35-36)

  
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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.