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Lamentations 2

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1 א How has the Lord thickly·​·clouded the daughter of Zion in His anger, and cast from the heavens to the earth the splendor of Israel, and remembered not the stool of His feet in the day of His anger!

2 ב The Lord has swallowed·​·up all the homes of Jacob, and has not pitied; He has broken·​·down in His wrath the fortresses of the daughter of Judah; He has thrown* them to the earth; He has profaned the kingdom and the princes of it.

3 ג He has hewn·​·off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He has turned·​·back His right·​·hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob as a flaming fire, which devours all around.

4 ד He has bent His bow as an enemy; He stood·​·up with His right·​·hand as an adversary, and killed all who were desirable to the eye; in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion He spilled·​·out His fury as fire.

5 ה The Lord was as an enemy; He has swallowed·​·up Israel, He has swallowed·​·up all her palaces; He has destroyed His fortresses, and has multiplied in the daughter of Judah sighing and sighs.

6 ו And He has done·​·violence to His shelter as if it were a garden; He has destroyed His solemn·​·occasion. Jehovah has caused the solemn·​·occasion and the Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and has disdained in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.

7 ז The Lord has cast·​·off His altar, He has spurned His sanctuary; He has shut up in the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have given forth a voice in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of a solemn·​·occasion.

8 ח Jehovah has reckoned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched·​·out a line, He has not turned·​·back His hand from swallowing·​·up: and He made the rampart and the wall to mourn; they languished together.

9 ט Her gates are sunk into the earth; He has made her bars perish and broken them; her king and her princes are among the nations. There is no law; even her prophets find not a vision from Jehovah.

10 י The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the earth, and are still; they have made the dust come·​·up upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem let·​·down their heads to the earth.

11 כ My eyes are all·​·consumed by tears, my bowels churn, my liver is spilled·​·out to the earth, for the breaking of the daughter of my people; because the babe and the nursing infant are·​·overwhelmed in the avenues of the city.

12 ל They say to their mothers, when they are·​·overwhelmed as the slain in the avenues of the city, when their soul was spilled·​·out into the bosom of their mothers: Where is grain and wine?

13 מ What shall I testify for thee? To what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I make·​·equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breaking is as great as the sea; who can heal thee?

14 נ Thy prophets have beheld for thee what is vain and unfit; and they have not revealed thine iniquity, to turn·​·back thy captivity; but they have beheld for thee vain burdens and expulsions.

15 ס All that pass·​·by the way slap the palms of their hands on thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men say is the all of beauty, the joy of all the earth?

16 פ All thine enemies have gaped with their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed· her ·up; surely this is the day that we waited·​·for; we have·​·found it, we have seen it.

17 ע Jehovah has done that which He had purposed; He has gained His saying that He had commanded from ancient days; He has broken·​·down, and has not pitied; and He has caused the enemy to be·​·glad over thee, He has exalted the horn of thine adversaries.

18 צ Their heart cried to the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears go·​·down as a brook day and night; give not failing for thyself; let not the daughter of thine eye be·​·still.

19 ק Arise, shout·​·aloud in the night; in the beginning of the night watches spill·​·out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift the palms of thy hands to Him over the souls of thy babes, who are·​·overwhelmed by hunger at the head of all the streets.

20 ר See, O Jehovah, and look to whom Thou hast acted thus. Shall the women eat their fruit, babes who were cherished; shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 ש A lad and an elder lie on the earth in the streets; my virgins and my young·​·men are fallen by the sword; Thou hast killed them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast butchered, and not pitied.

22 ת Thou hast called as a solemn day my fears all around, and there will not be in the day of the anger of Jehovah one who escaped or a survivor; those that I have cherished and nurtured* has my enemy completely·​·consumed.

   


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

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Apocalypse Revealed # 166

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166. "'Who have not defiled their garments.'" This symbolically means, who possess truths, and have not soiled their worship by evil practices and the falsities attendant on these.

Garments in the Word symbolize truths that clothe good, and in an opposite sense, falsities that clothe evil. For a person embodies either his goodness or his evilness. Truths or falsities are therefore his garments.

Angels and spirits all appear dressed in clothing that reflects the truths of their goodness or the falsities of their evilness - on which subject, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, nos. 177-182. It is apparent from this that not defiling their garments symbolizes their possessing truths and not soiling their worship by evil practices and the falsities attendant on these.

[2] It is apparent from the following passages that garments in the Word symbolize truths, and in an opposite sense, falsities:

Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem... (Isaiah 52:1)

(Jerusalem), I clothed you in embroidered cloth, gave you sandals of badger skin, clothed you with fine linen..., and adorned you with ornaments... You were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth..., (so that) you became exceedingly beautiful... But you took some of your garments and made for yourself multicolored high places, so as to play the harlot on them... You took your embroidered garments... and made for yourself male images with which you played the harlot. 1 (Ezekiel 16:10-18)

The Jewish Church is described here, as having been given truths, because they had the Word, but that they falsified them. To play the harlot means to falsify (no. 134).

[3] The king's daughter is all glorious within, (and) her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in embroidered garments. (Psalms 45:13-14)

The king's daughter is the church in relation to its affection for truth.

O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet elegantly, and put ornamentation of gold on your apparel. (2 Samuel 1:24)

This is said of Saul because as a king he symbolized Divine truth (no. 20).

...I will visit judgment on the princes and the king's children, and on all clothed with foreign apparel. (Zephaniah 1:8)

(Your enemies) shall also strip you of your garments, and take away your adornments. (Ezekiel 23:26)

Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing (thus) before the Angel, (who said) "Take away the filthy garments from him (and clothe him with other garments). (Zechariah 3:3-5)

...the king came in and saw the guests, and he saw a man... who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" (Matthew 22:11-13)

A wedding garment is Divine truth from the Word.

[4] Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing... (Matthew 7:15)

No one puts a piece of cloth from a new garment on an old garment; otherwise the new one tears (the old), and the piece from the new one does not match the old. (Luke 5:36-37)

Because a garment symbolizes truth, therefore the Lord compares the truths of the previous church, which were external and representative of spiritual ones, to a piece of cloth belonging to an old garment, while comparing the truths of the new church, which were internal and spiritual, to a piece of cloth from a new garment.

...on the thrones... twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments. (Revelation 4:4)

(Those who stood) before the throne... in the presence of the Lamb (were) clothed with white robes..., and they washed their robes and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9, 13-14)

...white robes were given to each (of those who were under the altar). (Revelation 6:11)

...the armies (of Him who sat on the white horse) followed Him..., clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)

[5] Because angels symbolize Divine truths, therefore angels seen in the Lord's sepulchre appeared in white and shining garments (Matthew 28:3, Luke 24:4).

Because the Lord is Divine good and Divine truth, and truths are meant by garments, therefore when He was transfigured "His face shone like the sun, and His garments became [as white] as the light" (Matthew 17:2), or "blazing white (Luke 9:29), or "shining white, like snow, such that no launderer on earth can whiten them" (Mark 9:3).

Of the Ancient of Days, which also is the Lord, it is said that "His garment was as white as snow" (Daniel 7:9).

Moreover we find the following, too, said of the Lord:

He has anointed... all your garments with myrrh, aloes and cassia. (Psalms 45:7-8)

...He washed his clothing in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes. (Genesis 49:11)

Who is this who comes from Edom, having sprinkled his garments from Bozrah? This One honorable in His apparel...? ...Why are You red in Your apparel? Your garments as though of one who treads in the winepress...? Their victory is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have polluted all My vesture. (Isaiah 63:1-3)

This also is said of the Lord. His garments there are the Word's truths.

...He who sat on (the white horse)...was clothed with a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:11, 13)

[6] From the symbolic meaning of garments it can be seen why the Lord's disciples put their garments upon the donkey and its colt when the Lord was ready to enter Jerusalem, and why the people spread their garments on the road (Matthew 21:7-9, Mark 11:7-8), thus what is symbolically meant by this verse in the Psalms,

They divided My garments..., and over My vesture they cast lots. (Psalms 22:18)

[7] The symbolism of garments makes it apparent moreover why the people rent their garments whenever someone spoke against the Divine truth of the Word (Isaiah 37:1 and elsewhere). Also why they washed their garments in order to purify themselves (Exodus 19:14, Leviticus 11:25, 40; 14:8-9).

Someone who knows what garments symbolize in general and in particular can know what the vestments of Aaron and his sons symbolized - the ephod, the robe, the lace tunic, the girdle, the breeches, and the turban.

Since light symbolizes Divine truth, and a garment likewise, therefore we find it said in the Psalms that Jehovah covers Himself "with light as a with garment" (Psalms 104:2).

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The last two clauses are reversed from the order in which they appear in the original Hebrew.

  
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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.