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Ezekiel 37

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1 The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and brought· me ·out in the spirit of Jehovah, and rested me in the midst of the vale and it was full of bones,

2 and caused me to pass by them all around; and, behold, there were very many on the face of the vale; and behold, they were very dry.

3 And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I said, O Lord Jehovih*, Thou knowest.

4 And He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah.

5 Thus says the Lord Jehovih unto these bones; Behold, I will cause spirit to come into you, and you shall live;

6 and I will put sinews on you, and will bring·​·up flesh upon you, and cover over you with skin, and put spirit in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

7 And I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a voice, and behold a quaking, and the bones came·​·near, a bone to its bone.

8 And I saw, and behold, sinews and flesh came·​·up on them, and skin covered over them above; but there was no spirit in them.

9 And He said unto me, Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the Lord Jehovih: Come from the four winds, O spirit*, and breathe into these that were killed, and they will live.

10 And I prophesied as He commanded me, and the spirit came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a very, very great host.

11 And He said to me, Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried·​·up, and our hope is·​·lost; for ourselves we are severed.

12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus says the Lord Jehovih: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come·​·up out·​·of your graves, and bring you onto the ground of Israel.

13 And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought· you ·up out·​·of your graves,

14 and shall put My spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you on your own ground; and you shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and done it, says Jehovah.

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

16 And thou, son of man, take for thyself one piece of wood, and write on it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his friends; then take one piece of wood, and write on it, For Joseph, the piece of wood of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his friends:

17 and bring· them ·near, one to the other* one to thee, into one piece of wood, and they shall be one in thy hand.

18 And when the sons of thy people shall say unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not tell us what these mean to thee?

19 speak to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovih: Behold, I will take the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his friends, and will put them upon him, with the wood of Judah, and make them one piece of wood, and they shall be one in My hand.

20 And the pieces of wood upon which thou writest shall be in thy hand before their eyes.

21 And speak to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovih: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations, whither they be gone, and will bring· them ·together all around, and bring them onto their own ground;

22 and I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be for a king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be halved any·​·more into two kingdoms any·​·more.

23 Neither shall they make· themselves ·unclean any·​·more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will save them out·​·of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for a God.

24 And My servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; and they shall walk in My judgments, and keep My statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell in it, even they, and their sons, and their sons’ sons to eternity; and My servant David shall be chief to them to eternity.

26 And I will cut a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an eternal covenant with them; and I will give them and multiply them, and will put My sanctuary in their midst to eternity.

27 And My habitation shall be over them; and I will be to them for a God and they shall be to Me for a people.

28 And the nations shall know that I, Jehovah, shall sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst to eternity.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 666

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666. 'A covenant' means nothing other than regeneration and the things that constitute regeneration. This becomes clear from many places in the Word where the Lord Himself is called 'the Covenant', for it is He alone who regenerates, to whom a regenerated person looks, and who is the All in all of love and faith. That the Lord is the Covenant itself is clear in Isaiah,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, taking You by the hand and keeping You, and I will give You for a Covenant of the people, a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.

Here 'a Covenant' stands for the Lord, and 'the light of the nations' is faith. Similarly in Isaiah 49:6, 8. In Malachi,

Behold, I am sending My angel, and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the Angel of the Covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Who will endure the day of His coming? Malachi 3:1-2.

Here the Lord is called 'the Angel of the Covenant'. In Exodus 31:16 the Sabbath is called an eternal covenant because it means the Lord Himself. It also means the celestial man who has been regenerated by Him.

[2] The Lord being the Covenant itself, it is clear that what constitutes the covenant is everything that joins a person to the Lord, that is to say, love and faith and the things that belong to love and faith. In fact these are the Lord's and the Lord is within them, and so the Covenant itself exists within these, where they are received. These things do not exist except with someone who has been regenerated, with whom anything at all that is the Regenerator's, or the Lord's, constitutes the covenant, or is the covenant. As in Isaiah,

My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed. Isaiah 54:10.

Here 'mercy and covenant of peace' means the Lord and things that are the Lord's. In the same prophet,

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

Here 'David' stands for the Lord. 'The eternal covenant' exists in and acts through those qualities that are the Lord's, which are meant by 'coming to Him' and 'hearing so that your soul may live'.

[3] In Jeremiah,

I will give them one heart and one way, to fear Me all their days, for their own good and that of their sons after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear into their heart. Jeremiah 31:39, 40.

This stands for those who are to be regenerated, and also for those things with someone regenerate which are 'one heart and one way', namely charity and faith, which belong to the Lord and so to the covenant. In the same prophet,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when 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 rendered 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.

This is an explicit statement of what constitutes the covenant - love and faith in the Lord, which will be present with him who is to be regenerated.

[4] In the same prophet love is called the covenant far the day, and faith the covenant for the night, Jeremiah 33:20. In Ezekiel,

I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David will be prince in the midst of them; and I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34:24-25.

This clearly refers to regeneration. 'David' stands for the Lord. In the same prophet,

David will be their prince for ever. I will make with them a covenant of peace, it will be an eternal covenant with them. I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. Ezekiel 37:25-26.

This similarly refers to regeneration. 'David' and 'the sanctuary' stand for the Lord. In the same prophet,

I entered into a covenant with you, and you were Mine. And I washed you with water and washed away your blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:8-9, 11.

This clearly stands for regeneration. In Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 1 and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

This stands for regeneration. 'Wild animals of the field' stands for things of the will, 'birds of the air' 1 for those of the understanding. In David,

He sent redemption to His people, He commanded His covenant for ever. Psalms 111:9.

This stands for regeneration. This is called 'a covenant' because it is something given and received.

[5] People however who have not been regenerated - or what amounts to the same, who focus worship on things that are external and who set up and worship as gods both themselves and everything they desire and think - are referred to, because they separate themselves from the Lord, as 'rendering the covenant invalid', as in Jeremiah,

They forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and bowed down to other gods and served them. Jeremiah 22:9.

In Moses,

He who transgressed the covenant by serving other gods, the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven, was to be stoned. Deuteronomy 17:2 and following verses.

'The sun' stands for self-love, 'the moon' for false assumptions, 'the host of heaven' for falsities themselves. From this it is now clear what 'the Ark of the covenant' is, containing the testimony or covenant, namely the Lord Himself; what 'the Book of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:4-7, 34:27; Deuteronomy 4:13, 23; what 'the Blood of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:6, 8; who alone is the Regenerator. Hence 'a covenant' is regeneration itself.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

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