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Ezekiel 31

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1 And it was, in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of Jehovah was unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; to whom art thou likened in thy greatness?

3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful boughs, and shadowing woods, and of a tall stature; and his top·​·branch was between the intertwined·​·branches.

4 The waters made· him ·great, the abyss lifted· him ·up with her rivers going all around his plants, and sent·​·out her waterways to all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore his stature was·​·loftier than all the trees of the field, and his limbs were multiplied, and his branches became·​·long from many waters, when he sent· them ·out.

6 All the fowls of the heavens nested in his limbs, and under his branches did all the animals of the field give·​·birth, and in his shadow dwelt all the many nations.

7 And he was·​·beautiful in his greatness, in the length of his offshoots; for his root was by many waters.

8 The cedars did not obscure him in the garden of God; the firs were not likened to his limbs, and the plane·​·trees were not as his branches; not any tree in the garden of God was·​·likened to him in his beauty.

9 I have made him beautiful with the multitude of his offshoots; and all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God were·​·envious of him.

10 Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovih*, Because thou hast made· thyself ·tall in stature, and he has put his top·​·branch in between the intertwined·​·branches, and his heart is exalted in his loftiness;

11 And I have given him into the hand of the powerful one of the nations; dealing he shall deal with him; I have driven· him ·out according·​·to his wickedness.

12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut· him ·off, and have abandoned him; to the mountains and in all the ravines his offshoots are fallen, and his branches are broken in all the channels of the land; and all the people of the land are gone·​·down from his shadow, and have abandoned him.

13 Upon his fall shall all the fowls of the heavens abide, and all the animals of the field shall be in his branches:

14 in·​·order·​·that not any of the trees of the waters be·​·lofty in their stature, neither put their top·​·branch in between the intertwined·​·branches, neither their powerful ones stand in their loftiness, all that drink water; for they are all given to death, to the lower earth, in the midst of the sons of man, to those who go·​·down to the pit.

15 Thus says the Lord Jehovih; In the day of his going·​·down toward hell I caused a mourning; I covered the abyss over him, and I withheld its rivers, and the many waters were held·​·back: and I caused Lebanon to blacken over him, and all the trees of the field over him were fatigued.

16 I made the nations to quake at the voice of his fall, when I made him go·​·down to hell with those who go·​·down to the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the lower earth.

17 They also went·​·down unto hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt in his shadow in the midst of the nations.

18 to whom in·​·this·​·manner art thou likened in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? But thou shalt be brought·​·down with the trees of Eden to the lower earth; thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his crowd, 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 # 757

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757. "A prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird!" This symbolically means that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and in consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.

A prison symbolizes a hell, because these Roman Catholics were imprisoned there. A spirit symbolizes everything pertaining to their affection or will and of the consequent action, and a bird symbolizes everything pertaining to the thought or intellect and consequent intention. A foul spirit and an unclean bird accordingly symbolize all the evils willed and so done, and all the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention. Moreover, since the evils and falsities entertained by these people are found in the hells, therefore the symbolical meaning is that their evils and falsities are diabolical. In addition, because these people have turned away from the Lord to themselves, every unclean bird is also called loathsome.

Similar symbolism is used to describe Babylon in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:

Babylon... will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited..., so that Arabs will not tarry there... But ziyyim 1 will lie there, their houses will be full of 'ochim, 2 the offspring of owls will dwell there, and satyrs will caper there. 'Iyyim 3 also will reply in its palaces, and dragons in its pleasant palaces. (Isaiah 13:19-22)

I will... cut off from Babylon the name and remnant... I will make it a possession of the bittern... (Isaiah 14:22-23)

And in Jeremiah:

...in Babylon shall dwell ziyyim 1 and 'iyyim 3 and the offspring of owls... As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors..., no son of man shall dwell in it. (Jeremiah 50:39-40)

It is apparent from this that a prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird, means symbolically that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.

[2] It is apparent from the Word that birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and thought and consequent intention, and this in both senses, bad and good. They are found in a bad sense in the following passages there:

In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice... (At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation. Even until the consummation... there shall rain down devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The pelican and the bittern shall possess (the land). The screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:11)

Nothing else than hellish falsities are symbolized by 'ochim, 2 ziyyim, 1 the offspring of owls, and dragons in the passages cited above, as also by the birds that came down on the carcasses which Abram drove away (Genesis 15:11), by the birds which were given human corpses for food (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2).

[3] Birds are found in a good sense in the following passages:

Creeping thing and bird... shall praise the name of Jehovah. (Psalms 148:10, 13)

In that day I will make a covenant for them... with the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)

...ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you... Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah does this? (Job 12:7-9)

I looked, when behold, there was no man; all the birds of the sky had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:24-26)

Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled away..., (because) I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 9:10-11)

There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God... Therefore the land will mourn... as regards the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. (Hosea 4:1, 3)

I am God... calling a bird from the east, a man of My counsel from a far country. (Isaiah 46:9, 11)

Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon... In its branches all the birds of the sky made their nests..., and in its shade all great nations dwelled. (Ezekiel 31:3, 6)

[4] Similar statements to that made of Assyria as a cedar here are found elsewhere, as in Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19.

Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ."..come... to... a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel...." (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17, 21, cf. Revelation 19:17)

And so on regarding birds elsewhere, as in Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:10-11.

That birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and its consequent thought and intention is clearly apparent from birds in the spiritual world. There, too, one sees birds of every kind and every species - in heaven very beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtle doves, and doves - in hell dragons, screech owls, eagle owls, and others of that kind - all of which are objective representations of thoughts springing from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts springing from evil affections in hell.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. A Hebrew word (צִיִּים), appearing six times in the Old Testament (Psalms 72:9; 74:14). It seems to refer to desert dwellers, and in contexts suggesting animals, to desert creatures, but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.

2. Another Hebrew word (אֹחִים), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21:4 identifies them as birds of the night.

3. Another Hebrew word (אִיִּים), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14

  
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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.