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Jeremiah 48

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1 To Moab, thus says Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! For it is devastated, it is shamed; Kiriathaim is captured; Misgab is shamed and dismayed.

2 There shall no longer be the praise of Moab; in Heshbon they have thought evil against it; come, and let us cut· it ·off from being a nation. Also Madhmen, thou shalt be·​·still; the sword shall go after thee.

3 A voice of a cry shall be from Horonaim, devastation and great breaking.

4 Moab is broken; her little ones have caused crying to be heard.

5 For with* the going·​·up of Luhith with weeping weeping shall go·​·up; for in the going·​·down of Horonaim the adversaries have heard a cry of breaking.

6 Flee, cause· your souls ·to·​·escape and be like the naked shrub* in the wilderness.

7 For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken; and Chemosh shall go forth into exile with his priests and his princes together.

8 And the devastator shall come upon every city, and no city shall·​·escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plateau shall be blotted·​·out, as Jehovah has said.

9 Give wing to Moab, for flying·​·forth she will fly·​·forth; and her cities shall be for a desolation, without any to dwell in them.

10 Cursed be he who does the work* of Jehovah deceitfully, and cursed be he who withholds his sword from blood.

11 Moab has been·​·at·​·ease from his* youth, and he has been·​·quiet on his lees*, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and he has not gone into exile; therefore his taste remained* in him, and his smell is not altered.

12 Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, and I will send to him those who travel·​·forth, who shall cause him to travel·​·forth, and his vessels they shall empty, their jugs they shall shatter.

13 And Moab shall be·​·ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was·​·ashamed of Bethel their trust.

14 How do you say, We are mighty and strong men for the war?

15 Moab is devastated, and her cities have gone·​·up, and the choice of his chosen have gone·​·down to the butchering, says the King; Jehovah of Armies is His name.

16 The downfall of Moab is near to come, and his evil hastes exceedingly.

17 All ye who are around him, be·​·sorry for him; and all ye who know his name, say, How is the rod of strength broken, the stick of adornment!

18 Come·​·down from glory, and sit in thirst, thou who sittest, O daughter of Dibon; for the devastator of Moab shall go·​·up against thee, and he shall destroy thy fortifications.

19 Stand at the way, and watch; O thou who dwellest in Aroer, ask him who flees, and her who escapes, and say, What has come·​·to·​·pass?

20 Moab is shamed, for it is dismayed. Howl and cry; tell ye in Arnon that Moab is devastated,

21 and judgment has come to the land of the plateau; to Holon, and to Jahatsah, and on Mephaath,

22 and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim,

23 and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,

24 and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

25 The horn of Moab is hewn·​·off, and his arm is broken, says Jehovah.

26 Make· him ·drunken; for he magnified himself against Jehovah; and Moab shall clap his hands in his vomit, and he also shall be laughed·​·at.

27 For was not Israel laughed·​·at by thee, was· he not ·found among thieves? For after thy speaking against him, thou hast been·​·sorry for him.

28 O ye who dwell in Moab, forsake the cities, and inhabit the rock, and be as the dove that nests across the mouth of the chasm.

29 We have heard the pride of Moab, he is very proud, his haughtiness, and his pridefulness, and his pride, and the exalting of his own heart.

30 I know his wrath, says Jehovah; but it is not right; what he devises does not make it right.

31 Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall moan for the men of Kir-cheres.

32 From the weeping of Jazer I will weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah; thine extending tendrils have crossed·​·over the sea, they reach even·​·to the sea of Jazer; upon thy summer·​·fruit and upon thy vintage the devastator has fallen.

33 And gladness and rejoicing are gathered from Carmel, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses; none shall tread with hedad*; hedad shall not be hedad.

34 From the cry of Heshbon even·​·to Elealeh, even·​·to Jahaz, they have given forth their voice, from Zoar even·​·to Horonaim, as a heifer of the third year; for even the waters of Nimrim shall be for desolations.

35 And I will cause to cease in Moab, says Jehovah, him who offers·​·up in the high·​·place, and him who burns·​·incense to his gods.

36 Therefore my heart for Moab shall make·​·a·​·noise as pipes, and my heart for the men of Kir-cheres shall make·​·a·​·noise as pipes; therefore the remnant of what he has made has perished.

37 For every head shall be bald, and every beard diminished; upon all the hands shall be gashes, and upon the loins sackcloth.

38 On all the roofs of Moab, and in her avenues, there shall be all manner of wailing; for I have broken Moab as a vessel wherein there is no delight, says Jehovah.

39 They shall howl, How dismayed she is! How Moab has turned the back with shame! And Moab shall be laughed·​·at and a dismay to all who are around him.

40 For thus says Jehovah: Behold, he shall soar as an eagle, and shall spread his wings to Moab.

41 The walled·​·city is captured, and the forts are occupied, and the heart of the heroes of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in·​·adversity.

42 And Moab shall be blotted·​·out from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Jehovah.

43 Dread, and a chasm, and a trap, shall be upon thee, O dweller of Moab, says Jehovah.

44 He who flees from before the dread shall fall into the chasm; and he that comes·​·up from the chasm shall be captured in the trap; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says Jehovah.

45 They who fled from the power stood in the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire shall come·​·out from Heshbon, and a flame from between Sihon, and shall devour the quarter of Moab, and the top·​·of·​·the·​·head of the sons of Shaon*.

46 Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perishes; for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity.

47 Yet will I return the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2240

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2240. That 'cry' is falsity, and 'sin' evil, becomes clear from the meaning of 'cry' in the Word. The meaning of 'cry' as falsity is not seen by anyone unless he knows the internal sense of the Word. The expression occurs several times in the Prophets, and when vastation and desolation are the subject in those places it is said that men 'wail and cry out', meaning that goods and truths have been laid waste. In those places a word is used by which in the internal sense falsity is described, as in Jeremiah,

The voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the powerful ones of the flock, for Jehovah is laying waste their pasture. Jeremiah 25:36.

Here 'the cry of the shepherds' means that they are subject to falsity, which leads to vastation.

[2] In the same prophet,

Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it, and men will cry out and every inhabitant of the land will wail, on the day that is coming to lay waste. Jeremiah 47:2, 4.

This refers to the desolation of faith which is effected by falsities. 'A deluging stream' is falsity, as shown in Volume One, in 705, 790.

[3] In Zephaniah,

The voice of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. And their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for desolation. Zephaniah 1:10, 13.

Here also 'a cry' has reference to falsities that lay waste.

[4] In Isaiah,

On the road to Horonaim they will raise a cry of ruination, for the waters of Nimrim will be desolations, because the grass has withered, herbage is at an end, there are no plants. Isaiah 15:5-6; Jeremiah 48:3.

Here the desolation of faith is meant, and the climax is described by 'a cry'.

[5] In Jeremiah,

Judah mourned and her gates languished; the people were in black down to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem went up. And their illustrious ones sent their lesser ones to the waters; they came to the pits, they found no water, they returned with their vessels empty. Jeremiah 14:2-3.

Here 'the cry of Jerusalem' stands for falsities, for their finding no water means lack of cognitions of truth - 'water' meaning such cognitions, as has been shown in Volume One, in 28, 680, 739.

[6] In Isaiah,

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and no more will there be heard in it the voice of weeping nor the voice of a cry. Isaiah 65:19.

Here 'there will not be heard the voice of weeping' means that there will be no evil, 'nor the voice of a cry' that there will be no falsity. The majority of these details cannot be understood, nor thus what is meant by 'a cry', from the sense of the letter, but from the internal sense.

[7] In the same prophet,

Jehovah looked for judgement, but behold, rottenness; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Isaiah 5:7.

This also is referring to the vastation of good and truth. Here, as also in various places in the Prophets, a kind of reciprocity is expressed, which is such that one finds evil in place of truth, meant by 'rottenness' instead of 'judgement', and falsity in place of good, meant by 'a cry' instead of 'righteousness'; for by 'judgement' is meant truth and by 'righteousness' good, as shown above in 2235.

[8] A similar reciprocity is expressed in Moses when Sodom and Gomorrah are referred to,

From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness. Deuteronomy 32:32.

Here a similar manner of expression occurs, for 'the vine' is used in reference to truths and to falsities, 'fields and grapes' to goods and to evils, so that 'the vine of Sodom' means falsity derived from evil, and 'fields and grapes of Gomorrah' evils derived from falsities. For there are two kinds of falsity, dealt with in Volume One, in 1212, and so also there are two kinds of evil. Both kinds of falsity and evil are meant in this verse by 'the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin has become extremely grave', as is clear from the fact that 'cry' is mentioned first and 'sin' second, and 'Sodom', which is evil springing from self-love, is referred to first, and 'Gomorrah', which is falsity derived from that evil, is referred to second.

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