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Hosea 4

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1 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye sons of Israel; for Jehovah has strife with those who dwell in the land, for there is no truth, and no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land.

2 By making·​·oaths, and deceiving, and murdering, and stealing, and committing·​·adultery, they break·​·through*, and blood touches blood.

3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and all dwelling in it shall languish, with the animal of the field, and with the fowls of the heavens; and even the fish of the sea shall be gathered·​·in.

4 Only let no man strive, nor reprove another man; for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

5 And thou shalt stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night, and I will cut·​·off thy mother.

6 My people are cut·​·off for being without the knowledge; for thou hast rejected the knowledge, and I will reject thee from being·​·a·​·priest to Me; and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God; I also will forget thy sons.

7 As they multiplied, so they sinned against Me; therefore will I exchange their glory with disgrace.

8 They eat·​·up the sin of My people, and they lift·​·up their soul to their iniquity.

9 And it shall be, as the people, so the priest; and I will visit upon him his ways, and cause his actions to return to him.

10 And they shall eat, and not be satisfied; they shall commit·​·harlotry, and shall not break·​·forth*: because they have forsaken to take·​·heed to Jehovah.

11 Harlotry and wine and must* grip the heart.

12 My people ask their tree, and their stick tells them; for the spirit of harlotries has caused them to stray, and they have committed·​·harlotry beneath their God.

13 They sacrifice upon the heads of the mountains, and burn·​·incense upon the hills, under the holly·​·oak, and poplar and strong·​·oak, for its shade is good; therefore your daughters shall commit·​·harlotry, and your daughters-in-law shall commit·​·adultery.

14 Shall I not visit upon your daughters when they commit·​·harlotry, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit·​·adultery? For they separate themselves with the harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes; and the people who does not understand shall fall.

15 Though thou, Israel, commit·​·harlotry, yet let not Judah be·​·guilty; and come· you not ·to Gilgal, neither go· ye ·up to Beth-aven, nor promise, saying, As Jehovah lives.

16 For Israel defies as a defiant cow; now Jehovah will pasture them as a lamb in a broad·​·place.

17 Ephraim is coupled to idols; leave· him ·alone.

18 Their inebriating·​·drink is removed; committing·​·harlotry they have committed·​·harlotry, they have loved, they have given disgrace to her shields.

19 The wind has bundled her in her wings, and they shall be·​·ashamed of their sacrifices.

   


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

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Doctrine of Life # 79

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79. That to commit adultery in the spiritual sense means to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths is clear from the following:

Babylon...has made all nations drink of the wine...of her licentiousness. (Revelation 14:8)

(The angel said, ) “...I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom....” (Revelation 17:1-2)

(Babylon made) all nations (drink) of the wine of the wrath of her licentiousness, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her.... (Revelation 18:3)

(God) has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her licentiousness.... (Revelation 19:2) Licentiousness is attributed to Babylon because Babylon means people who arrogate the Lord’s Divine power to themselves and profane the Word by adulterating and falsifying it. Consequently Babylon is also called “the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:5).

[2] Licentiousness also has the same symbolic meaning in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah:

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a shocking obstinacy in committing adultery and walking in lies. (Jeremiah 23:14) In Ezekiel:

...two women, the daughters of one mother, ...committed harlotry in Egypt; they committed harlotry in their youth.... (One) played the harlot under Me, and she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians.... She committed her harlotries with them.... (Yet) she has never given up her harlotries in Egypt....

(The other) corrupted her love more than she, and her harlotries more than her sister’s harlotries.... She increased her harlotries..., she loved (Chaldeans).... Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their licentiousness. (Ezekiel 23:2-17) The reference here is to the Israelite and Jewish churches, which in this passage are the daughters of one mother. Their harlotries mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word. And because Egypt in the Word symbolizes knowledge, Assyria reasoning, Chaldea the profanation of truth, and Babylon the profanation of good, therefore we are told that they committed harlotry with them.

[3] The same is said in Ezekiel of Jerusalem, which symbolizes the church in respect to doctrine:

(O Jerusalem, ) you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your fame, so that you poured out your harlotries on everyone passing by.... You committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your neighbors, enormously fat, and increased your harlotry.... You played the harlot with the Assyrians.... When you were not satisfied by those with whom you played the harlot, you increased your harlotry as far as the land of the Chaldean trader.... Adulterous woman, who takes strangers instead of her husband! All men make payment to their harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, ...to come to you from all around for your harlotries.... Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah! (Ezekiel 16:15, 26, 28-29, 32-33, 35ff.) That Jerusalem means the church may be seen in The Doctrine Regarding the Lord 62-63.

References to licentiousness have the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 23:17-18, 57:3; in Jeremiah 3:2, 6, 8-9, 5:1, 7, 13:27, 29:23; in Micah 1:7; in Nahum 3:3-4; in Hosea 4:2, 10-11; also in Leviticus 20:5; Numbers 14:33, 15:39; and elsewhere.

For this reason, too, the Lord called the Jewish nation “an adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39, 16:4, Mark 8:38).

  
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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.