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Exodus 19

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1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:

13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8772

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8772. 'These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel' means influx in order that truths may be received within good. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking', when done by the Divine, as influx, as in 2951, 5481, 5743, 5797, 6152, 6291, 8128, 8660. The reason why in order that truths may be received within good is meant is that what is said has regard to the children of Israel, by whom the spiritual Church is meant, and the spiritual Church exists among those governed by good that has truths within it. What is implied by good that has truths within it must be stated briefly. Anyone who knows the way in which good is formed from truths is acquainted with the greatest arcana of heaven; for he knows the arcana concerning the way in which a person is formed anew, that is, the way in which heaven or the Lord's kingdom is formed with him. All Christian good or spiritual good holds the truths of faith within it; for that good is given specific quality by the truths of faith. Good that does not receive its specific quality from the truths of faith is not Christian good; instead it is natural good which does not impart eternal life. The reason for this is that in itself natural good holds merely natural life, life that is not unlike that of animals, who are also governed by good when they are harmless ones. But animals cannot receive spiritual life.

[2] From this it is evident that spiritual life is acquired only through the truths of faith. This life - spiritual life - is acquired first by knowing the truths of faith, after that by acknowledging them, and at length by believing them. When they are merely known they are so to speak at the front door; when they are acknowledged they are in the hall; but when they are believed they are in the room. Thus they pass in stages from the outer to the inner parts of the mind. In a person interiorly there exists good which flows in constantly from the Lord; and there it joins itself to truths, turning them into faith, and then into charity. That good draws truths to itself; for it desires them so that through them it may obtain for itself a specific quality, and in this condition manifest itself.

[3] When therefore those truths have been joined to the good, the person has been regenerated; for the standpoint from which he sees what he ought to believe and what he ought to do is no longer truths but good. This is because he has absorbed truths, and these now reside within him; and he has no interest in truths from any source except those which he can see from his good. He is all the time seeing more truths, which are produced from that good like offspring from their parents. These offspring arise from such a marriage of goodness and truth, which is called the heavenly marriage. Truths which are products of the marriage hold good within themselves, because good gives birth to them. They enter into good in a continuous series, enlarging it and perfecting it; and they go on doing so for evermore. All this too goes to show the nature of the two states that a person who is being regenerated passes through, the states spoken of previously in 7992, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, and also in 8516, 8539, 8722.

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