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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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Arcana Coelestia # 6804

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6804. 'And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob' means on account of being joined to the Church through the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the covenant' as a joining together, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob', with whom a covenant had been made, as the Lord's Divine Human. 'Abraham' represents the Lord in respect of the Divine itself, 'Isaac' in respect of the Divine Rational, and 'Jacob' in respect of the Divine Natural, see 1893, 2011, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3194, 3210, 3245, 3251, 3305 (end), 3439, 4538, 4570, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6425. When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned in the Word those patriarchs are not meant in the spiritual sense, as may be recognized from the consideration that names never pass through into heaven. Only what is really meant by the people who are referred to - real things, the essential nature of real things, and the states of real things, that is to say, aspects of the Church, of the Lord's kingdom, and of the Lord Himself - passes through.

[2] But in addition to this the angels in heaven never fix their thoughts on specific persons; that would restrict their thoughts and remove them from that all-inclusive perception of real things that lies behind angelic speech. This explains why the things that the angels in heaven say are indescribable, far surpassing human thought, whose range does not extend to seeing things in their totality but is restricted to particular aspects. When one reads therefore in Matthew 8:11 that many will come from the east and the west and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, the angels perceive the Lord's presence and the way people make the truth and goodness emanating from His Divine Human their own. Also when one reads in Luke 16:22 that Lazarus was carried into Abraham's bosom, the angels perceive that he was carried into heaven, where the Lord is present. This too goes to show that 'a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' means in the internal sense being joined through the Lord's Divine Human.

[3] The fact that the Divine Human is 'a covenant', that is, the actual joining together, may be seen from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I will give You as a covenant of the people', a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.

In the same prophet,

I have given You as a covenant of the people, 1 to restore the land, to share out the devastated inheritances. Isaiah 49:8.

In the same prophet,

Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, and let your soul live. So will I make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a prince and lawgiver to the peoples. 2 Isaiah 55:3-4.

In Malachi,

Suddenly there comes to His temple the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Malachi 3:1

In the second Book of Samuel,

He has established an eternal covenant for Me, to be set in order for all and to be kept safe. 2 Samuel 23:5.

[4] These places plainly refer to the Lord and to the joining of the human race to the Lord's Divine Being itself through His Divine Human. In respect of His Divine Human the Lord is the Mediator, and no one can come to the Divine Being itself within the Lord, called the Father, except through the Son, that is, the Divine Human, as is well known in the Church. Thus the Lord in respect of His Divine Human is the actual joining together. Can anyone in his thought begin to comprehend the Divine Being itself? And if he cannot do this in thought how can he be joined to the Divine itself in love? But the Divine Human anyone can comprehend in thought and be joined to in love.

[5] The meaning of 'a covenant' as a joining together may be seen in the fact that covenants between countries join them together. They are bargains made by both parties which must be kept if their alliance is to remain intact. These bargains or agreements are also called a covenant. On man's side the bargains or agreements that are called 'a covenant' in the Word are in a restricted sense the ten commandments or the Decalogue. In a wider sense they are all the statutes, orders, laws, testimonies, and commandments that the Lord decreed from Mount Sinai through Moses; and in an even wider sense they are the Books of Moses. The contents of these books were what the children of Israel were required on their side to carry out. On the Lord's side it is mercy and election.

[6] The ten commandments or the Decalogue are a covenant.

This is clear from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the ten words which He wrote on two tablets of stone. Deuteronomy 4:13, 23.

And since the two tablets of stone on which the ten commandments had been written were placed in the ark, Exodus 25:16, 21, 22, 31:18; 32:15, 16, 19; 40:20, the ark was called the ark of the covenant, Deuteronomy 31:9, 24-26; Joshua 3:3, 6, 14; 4:7; Judges 20:27; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 8:21. In the last of these references Solomon says,

I have made a place there for the ark, where there is the covenant of Jehovah which He made with our fathers.

And in John,

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. Revelation 11:19.

[7] All the judgements and statutes which the Lord commanded the people of Israel through Moses are called a covenant; so too are the actual Books of Moses. In Moses,

According to the tenor 3 of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Exodus 34:27.

What are called a covenant here were many regulations regarding sacrifices, feasts, and unleavened bread. In the same author,

Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Exodus 24:7-8.

In the second Book of Kings,

Josiah the king of Judah read before them all in the house of Jehovah the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Jehovah. And he made a covenant before Jehovah, to establish the words of the covenant that were written in that book. And all the people took a stand on the covenant. The king commanded all the people to keep the Passover to Jehovah their God, in accordance with what was written in the book of the covenant. 2 Kings 23:2-3, 21.

In David,

If your sons keep My covenant and My testimony which I have taught them, their sons also will sit even forever on your throne. Psalms 132:12.

[8] A covenant is a joining together through love and faith.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they made My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33.

'Putting the law in their midst, and writing it on their heart' is endowing with faith and charity, faith and charity being the means by which the joining together described by 'I will be their God, and they will be My people' is effected. In the same prophet,

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not any more turn away from them, and I will do good to them. But I will put My fear into their heart so that they do not depart from Me. Jeremiah 32:40.

A joining together through love, which is a covenant, is meant by 'I will put My fear into their heart so that they do not depart from Me'.

[9] In Ezekiel,

I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will bless 4 them and will multiply them, and I will set a sanctuary in their midst, and it will be My dwelling-place among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Ezekiel 37:26-27.

Here a joining together through love and faith, which are a covenant, is described by 'a sanctuary in their midst' and 'dwelling-place among them', and by 'I will be their God, and they will be My people'. In the same prophet,

When I passed by you and saw you, behold, it was your time, the time of love; 5 and I entered into a covenant with you, so that you would be Mine. Ezekiel 16:8.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant, 'entering into a covenant, so that you would be Mine' plainly being a marriage or spiritual joining together. Since 'a covenant' means a joining together a wife is also called in Malachi 2:14 the wife of a covenant, while a joining together that exists among brothers is called in Amos 1:9 a covenant of brothers. 'A covenant' is also used in David to mean a joining together,

I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant. Psalms 89:3.

[10] The agreement in a covenant on the Lord's side is mercy and election. This is clear in David,

All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those keeping His covenant and His testimonies. Psalms 25:10.

In Isaiah,

The mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My mercy will not depart from you, nor the covenant of My peace be removed, said Jehovah, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10.

In Moses,

Jehovah your God, He is God, the faithful God keeping covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation. Deuteronomy 7:9, 11.

In the same author,

If you keep My covenant, you will be to Me a peculiar treasure from among all peoples. Exodus 19:5.

In the same author,

I will have regard for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and confirm My covenant with you. Leviticus 26:9.

'Having regard for them' is viewing with mercy. 'Making them fruitful and multiplying them' is endowing with charity and faith, and those endowed with them are called 'the elect'. Thus the words used here have to do with election and so do those which say that they will be 'a peculiar treasure'.

[11] In the representative Church they also had signs of the covenant. These served to remind people of the joining together. Circumcision was one such sign, Genesis 17:11; for circumcision was a sign meaning purification from filthy loves. After these loves are removed, heavenly love is introduced, through which a joining together is effected. The sabbath too is called an eternal covenant, Exodus 31:16; and of the loaves of the presence it is said that to the children of Israel they should be for an eternal covenant, Leviticus 24:8-9. Blood in particular was a sign, as is clear in Moses,

Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Then Moses took the blood of the sacrifice of a peace-offering and sprinkled it over the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you, upon all these words. Exodus 24:7-8.

In Zechariah,

Through the blood of your covenant I will let out the bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Zechariah 9:11.

'The blood' was the covenant or sign of the covenant because it meant a joining together through spiritual love, that is, through charity towards the neighbour. This was why, when the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, He called His blood 'the blood of the new covenant', Matthew 26:28. From all this one may now see what 'the covenant' is used to mean in the internal sense of the Word.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin means for the people but the Hebrew means of the people, which Swedenborg has in some other places where he quotes this verse.

2. The Latin means nations but the Hebrew means peoples, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

3. literally, Upon the mouth

4. literally, give

5. literally, loves

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