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Jeremiah 26

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1 In the beginning of the kingdom of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah was this word from Jehovah, saying,

2 Thus says Jehovah: Stand in the court of the house of Jehovah, and speak against all the cities of Judah, coming to worship in the house of Jehovah, all the words that I command thee to speak against them; diminish not a word.

3 Perhaps they will hearken, and turn·​·back each·​·man from his evil way, and I may repent of the evil, which I am reckoning to do to them on·​·account·​·of the evil of their actions.

4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus says Jehovah: If you will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have given before you,

5 to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both getting·​·up·​·early, and sending them, but you have not hearkened,

6 and I will put this house as Shiloh, and will put this city for a reviling to all the nations of the earth.

7 And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah.

8 And it was, when Jeremiah had completed speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people caught·​·hold of him, saying, Dying thou shalt die.

9 Wherefore hast thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be wasted with none dwelling in it? And all the people were assembled against Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.

10 And the princes of Judah heard these words, and they went·​·up from the house of the king to the house of Jehovah, and sat in the entrance of the new gate of Jehovah’s house.

11 And the priests and the prophets said to the princes and to all the people, saying, The judgment of death is for this man; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.

12 And Jeremiah said to all the princes and to all the people, saying, Jehovah sent me to prophesy to this house and to this city all the words that you have heard.

13 And now make· your ways and your actions ·better, and hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God; and Jehovah will repent of the evil that He has spoken against you.

14 And I, behold, I am in your hand; do to me as is good and upright in your eyes.

15 Surely knowing you shall know, that if you put· me ·to·​·death, then you shall be putting innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on those that dwell·​·in her; for in truth Jehovah has sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

16 And the princes and all the people said unto the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy to die; for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God.

17 And men from the elders of the land rose·​·up, and said to all the assembly of the people, saying,

18 Micaiah* the Morasthite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah of Armies: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high·​·places of a forest.

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah putting·​·to·​·death put· him ·to·​·death? Did he not fear Jehovah, and implore the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah repented of the evil which He had spoken against them? And we might do great evil against our souls.

20 And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according·​·to all the words of Jeremiah.

21 And Jehoiakim the king, and all his mighty·​·men, and all the princes, heard his words, and the king sought to·​·put· him ·to·​·death; but Uriah heard it, and he feared and ran·​·away, and went·​·into Egypt.

22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.

23 And they brought· Uriah ·out from Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; and he smote him with the sword, and cast his carcass into the graves of the sons of the people.

24 Surely the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put· him ·to·​·death.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 7051

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7051. People who know nothing at all about the internal sense of the Word cannot help thinking that the Israelite and Jewish nation was chosen in preference to every other nation and was therefore of superior quality to all the rest, as those who belonged to that nation also thought. And what is so astonishing, this is not only what that nation itself thinks but also what Christians think, no matter how well they know that this nation is eaten up by filthy kinds of love, by foul avarice, hatred, and pride, and in addition to this belittles and also loathes things of an internal nature that belong to charity and faith and are the Lord's. The reason why Christians also think that this nation was chosen in preference to others is that they think a person is chosen and saved as a result of mercy, irrespective of the life he leads, so that those who are criminal can be received into heaven just as well as the godly and upright. They give no consideration to the idea that choice or election is all-embracing, that is to say, that it includes all who lead a good life. Nor do they consider that the Lord's mercy is shown to every person who refrains from evil and wishes to lead a good life, and so who allows himself to be led by the Lord and to be regenerated, a process which is being effected throughout the course of his life.

[2] This goes to explain too why the majority of people in the Christian world also believe that that nation will again be chosen, and that when this happens they will be led back into the land of Canaan. And this belief is also in keeping with the sense of the letter, for example in the following places:

Isaiah 10:20-23; 11:11-12; Isaiah 29:14-end; 43:5, 6; 49:6-26; 56:8; 60:4; 61:3-10; 62;

Jeremiah 3:14-19; 15:4, 14; 16:13, 15; 23:7-8; 24:9-10; 31:31, 33; 25:29; 29:14, 18; 30:3, 8-11; 31:8-10, 17; 33:16, 20, 26;

Ezekiel 5:10, 12, 15; 16:60; 20:41; 22:15-16; 34:12-13; 37:21-22; 38:12; 39:23, 27-28;

Daniel 7:27; 12:7;

Hosea 3:4-5; Joel 2:32; 3; Amos 9:8-9 and following verses; Micah 5:7-8.

It is on the basis of these as well as other places that even Christians think that nation will again be chosen and led into the land of Canaan. They think this even though they know that nation is waiting for the Messiah who will then lead the nation in, and are at the same time aware that its waiting for Him is in vain, and that the Messiah's or Christ's kingdom is not of this world, which means that the land of Canaan into which the Messiah will lead them is heaven.

[3] Such people give no thought to the idea that the Word has a spiritual sense within it and that in that sense Israel is not meant by Israel, Jacob by Jacob, or Judah by Judah, but that the things which they represent are meant by them. Nor do they give any thought to what the historical sections record regarding that nation - what it was like in the wilderness and what it was like after that in the land of Canaan, namely that it was at heart idolatrous - or to what the Prophets say about it and about its spiritual whoredom and its abominations. What that nation is like is described in the following words contained in the Song in Moses,

I will conceal My face from them; I will see what their future will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom there is no faithfulness. I would have said, I will expel them to the remotest corners, I will make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that enemies might say, Our hand is high, and not Jehovah has done all this. For they are a nation from whom counsel has perished, nor is there intelligence in them. From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, they have clusters of bitterness. The poison of snakes (draco) is their wine, and the cruel poison of asps. Is this not hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; in time their foot will slip, for near is the day of their destruction, and the things to come upon them hasten on. Deuteronomy 32:20, 26-28, 32-35.

Jehovah gave Moses the words of this song, see Deuteronomy 31:19, 21. The Lord too spoke about what that nation was like, in John,

You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth. John 8:44.

And many other places besides these show what that nation was like.

[4] The reason why, although they know these things, Christians believe that that nation will at length be converted to the Lord and at that time led into the land where they lived before is, as has been stated, that they have no knowledge of the internal sense of the Word. Another reason is their supposition that it makes no difference what kind of life a person leads, and that even evil which has become deeply rooted through repeated actions in no way prevents a person - through faith, even if it has existed for only one part of an hour - from being made spiritual, being regenerated, and so being accepted by the Lord. They also suppose that admission into heaven is solely a matter of mercy, and that this is shown towards one particular nation, thus not towards all in the whole world who receive the Lord's mercy. Those who think in that way do not know that it is altogether contrary to the Divine that some should be chosen and born to salvation and heaven, and others should not be chosen but born to damnation and hell. To think about the Divine in that kind of way would be shocking, for making such choices would show a complete lack of mercy, when in fact the Divine is Mercy itself. From all this it may now be recognized that the Israelite and Jewish nation was not and never will be the chosen nation; also that not a trace of the Church existed or could exist with that nation, only a representative of the Church; and that it was preserved right up to the present day because of the Old Testament Word, regarding which see 3479.

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

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Ezekiel 5:15

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15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes; (I, Yahweh, have spoken it;)