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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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Arcana Coelestia # 9714

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9714. 'And you shall make the altar' means that which was representative of the Lord and of the worship of Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'the altar' - the one to be used for burnt offerings and sacrifices - as that which was representative of the Lord; and since the burnt offerings and sacrifices were the signs of all that constituted worship of the Lord, the altar was also representative of the worship of Him. Not that the Lord is worshipped with burnt offerings and sacrifices but with what they represented, namely the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith, 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8680, 8936.

[2] There were two objects which served to represent the Lord's Divine Human - the temple and the altar. That the temple did so He Himself teaches in John,

Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19-21.

That the altar did so is likewise made clear by the Lord's own words, where He speaks in Matthew about the temple and at the same time the altar,

Fools and blind! For you say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is guilty. Which of the two is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? In the same way, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. Fools and blind! Which of the two is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? He who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. Matthew 23:16-22.

From this it is evident that just as the temple was representative of the Lord's Divine Human, so too was the altar; for something similar is stated regarding the altar as is stated regarding the temple, namely that the altar is what makes the gift on it holy. This shows that the altar was a channel through which other things were rendered holy, and for this reason was also representative of the Lord's Divine Human, the Source of all holiness. But the altar was representative of the Lord in respect of His Divine Good, whereas the temple was representative of Him in respect of His Divine Truth, thus in respect of heaven since Divine Truth emanating from the Lord makes heaven. This explains why the Lord says in regard to the temple that he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it, and goes on to say that he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. 'God's throne' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and so is heaven, while 'He who sits on it' is the Lord, 5313. Much the same as was represented by the temple was represented also by the dwelling-place; the Lord in respect of Divine Truth there is the Testimony which was within the ark, 9503.

[3] Since the altar represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good it was the real holy of holies, making everything that touched it holy, as is made clear later on in this Book of Exodus, where it says,

Seven days you shall make expiation on the altar and sanctify it, that the altar may be most holy, 1 and all that touches it may be made holy. Exodus 29:37.

This was the reason why fire burned unceasingly on the altar and was never put out, Leviticus 6:12-13; and from this fire and no other source the incense-fire was taken, Leviticus 10:1-6. For the fire on the altar was a sign of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849.

[4] As regards the altar and its being representative of the Lord, this is evident from the following words in David,

Let Your light and truth lead me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwellings, that I may go in to the altar of God, to God ... Psalms 43:3-4.

And in the same author,

I wash my hands in innocence, and I go around Your altar, O Jehovah. Psalms 26:6-7.

[5] But as regards the altar and its being representative of worship of the Lord, this may be seen in Isaiah,

All the cattle of Arabia will be gathered to You, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to You; they will come up with acceptance on My altar. Isaiah 60:7.

In Jeremiah,

The Lord has abandoned His altar, He has abominated His sanctuary. Lamentations 2:7.

'Abandoning the altar' stands for doing away with what was representative of worshipping the Lord from the good of love, 'abominating the sanctuary' stands for doing away with what was representative of worshipping the Lord from the truths of faith.

[6] In Ezekiel,

Your altars will be destroyed, I will scatter your bones around your altars. Your altars will be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols will be broken and cease to be. Ezekiel 6:4-6.

'Altars being destroyed, laid waste, and made desolate' stands for the ruination of that which belongs to representative worship. In Isaiah,

The iniquity of Jacob will be expiated, when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isaiah 27:9.

'The stones of the altar scattered about' stands for all the truths of worship.

[7] In the same prophet,

On that day a person will regard his Maker, and his eyes [will regard] the Holy One of Israel. But he will not regard the altars, the work of his hands, and what his fingers have made. Isaiah 17:7-8.

'Altars, the work of hands, and what fingers have made' stands for worship that is the product of self-intelligence.

[8] In Hosea,

Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning. Hosea 8:11.

'Multiplying altars for sinning' stands for devising meaningless forms of worship. In the same prophet,

Thistle and thorn will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.

This describes how evils and falsities will come in and compose worship.

[9] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of Egypt. Isaiah 19:19.

'An altar to Jehovah' stands for worship of the Lord.

[10] Because the altar that is the subject here was portable it was made from shittim wood and overlaid with bronze. But an altar that was to remain permanently in the same place was built either from soil or from unhewn stones. An altar of soil was the chief representative sign of worship of the Lord that springs from the good of love, whereas an altar of unhewn stones was the representative sign of worship springing from forms of the good and of the truth of faith, 8935, 8940. The portable altar however that is the subject here was representative of worship of the Lord that springs from the good of love; and this was why it was made from shittim wood and overlaid with bronze.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, holy of holies

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