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Jeremiah 43

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1 And it was, that when Jeremiah had completed speaking unto all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, for which Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

2 and Azariah the son of Hoshaiah said, and Johanan the son of Kareaḥ, and all the presumptuous men, were saying to Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely; Jehovah our God has not sent thee to say, You shall not go·​·into Egypt to sojourn there:

3 but Baruch the son of Neriah incites thee against us, in·​·order·​·to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to put· us ·to·​·death, and exile us to Babylon.

4 So Johanan the son of Kareaḥ, and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah.

5 But Johanan the son of Kareaḥ, and all the commanders of the forces, took all who were left of Judah, who had returned from all the nations, whither they had been expelled, to sojourn in the land of Judah;

6 the men, and the women, and the infants, and the daughters of the king, and every soul that Nebuzaradan the major of the guards let·​·stay with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

7 So they came into the land of Egypt; for they hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah: thus came they even to Taḥpanḥes.

8 And the word of Jehovah was to Jeremiah in Taḥpanḥes, saying,

9 Take great stones in thy hand, and conceal them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entrance of the house of Pharaoh in Taḥpanḥes, before the eyes of the men of Judah;

10 and say unto them, Thus says Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have concealed; and he shall stretch his pavilion over them.

11 And when he comes, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.

12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn· them ·up, and take· them ·captive; and he shall cloak himself with the land of Egypt, as the shepherd cloaks himself with his garment; and he shall go·​·out from thence in peace.

13 He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

   


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

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Peace

  
Peace

In ordinary life, we tend to think of "peace" as essentially "a lack of conflict." As a nation, if we're not at war, it's a time of peace. On a spiritual level, though, peace is something much more powerful, and much more active. Rather than looking at it as the "lack of conflict," in fact, you could look at it as "the active effect of non-conflict," a force drawing things together and unifying them. Ultimately, of course, that force is the Lord Himself, and the unity formed by His perfect love and His perfect wisdom. We feel it when we allow ourselves to be drawn to Him, described in the works of Swedenborg this way: "peace in the heavens is the divine nature intimately affecting everything good there with blessedness." We also feel it when what we want in our hearts is aligned with what we know to be right -- a state we achieve ever more fully as we move toward the Lord and toward heaven. These things are meant when the Bible talks about peace: the one-ness of purpose in the Lord, and the harmony we experience when our desires align with His loves and our thoughts align with His wisdom.