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Esekiel 7

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1 Og Herrens ord kom til mig, og det lød så:

2 Og du menneskesønn! Så sier Herren, Israels Gud, til Israels land: Ende! - Enden kommer over landets fire hjørner.

3 Nu kommer enden over dig, og jeg vil sende min vrede mot dig og dømme dig efter din ferd, og jeg vil la dig bøte for alle dine vederstyggeligheter.

4 Jeg vil ikke vise skånsel mot dig og ikke spare dig; men jeg vil la dig bøte for din ferd, og dine vederstyggeligheter skal komme over dig selv, og I skal kjenne at jeg er Herren.

5 sier Herren, Israels Gud: Ulykke, en ulykke uten like, se, den kommer.

6 Det kommer en ende, enden kommer, den våkner op og kommer til dig; se, det kommer.

7 Nu kommer turen til dig, du som bor i landet! Tiden kommer, dagen er nær, krigslarm er der og ikke fryderop på fjellene.

8 Nu, om en liten stund, vil jeg utøse min harme over dig og uttømme min vrede på dig og dømme dig efter din ferd, og jeg vil la dig bøte for alle dine vederstyggeligheter.

9 Jeg vil ikke vise skånsel og ikke spare dig; efter din ferd vil jeg gjengjelde dig, og dine vederstyggeligheter skal komme over dig selv, og I skal kjenne at jeg, Herren, slår.

10 Se, dagen er der! Se, det kommer! Nu begynner det, riset blomstrer, overmotet* grønnes; / {* d.e. de overmodige kaldeere; JE 50, 31 fg.}

11 voldsomheten* reiser sig til et ris over ugudeligheten. Intet av dem, intet av deres larmende hop, intet av deres buldrende mengde, intet herlig blir tilbake iblandt dem. / {* d.e. de voldsomme kaldeere; HAB 1, 6 fg.}

12 Tiden kommer, dagen er nær. Kjøperen glede sig ikke, og selgeren gremme sig ikke! For det kommer brennende vrede over hele deres hop.

13 Selgeren skal ikke få igjen det han har solgt, om han enn er i live; for spådommen mot hele deres hop skal ikke tas tilbake, og for sin misgjernings skyld skal ingen kunne trygge sig i sitt liv.

14 De støter i basun og gjør alt ferdig, men ingen drar ut til strid; for min harme er vendt mot hele deres hop.

15 Sverdet utenfor og pesten og hungeren innenfor; den som er ute på marken, skal ved Sverdet, og den som er inne i byen, ham skal hunger og pest fortære.

16 Og om nogen av dem undkommer, skal de alle være på fjellene som kurrende duer i dalene, hver for sin misgjernings skyld.

17 Alle hender skal synke, og alle knær skal bli som vann.

18 Og de skal binde sekk om sig, og redsel skal legge sig over dem, og alle ansikter skal dekkes av skam, og alle deres hoder skal være skallet.

19 Sitt sølv skal de kaste på gatene, og sitt gull skal de akte for urent; deres sølv og deres gull skal ikke kunne berge dem på Herrens vredes dag; de skal ikke kunne mette sig eller fylle sin buk med det. For det har vært et anstøt til misgjerning for dem,

20 og sine prektige smykker som er laget av det, har de brukt til storaktighet, og sine vederstyggelige billeder, sine avskyelige avguder har de gjort av det; derfor gjør jeg det til urenhet for dem.

21 Og jeg vil gi det i de fremmedes hånd som rov og til jordens ugudelige som hærfang, og de skal vanhellige det;

22 Og jeg vil vende mitt åsyn bort fra dem*, og de** skal vanhellige min skatt***; røvere skal komme inn over den og vanhellige den. / {* jødene.} / {** fiendene.} / {*** tempelskatten.}

23 Gjør lenken ferdig*! For landet er fullt av bloddommer, og byen er full av vold. / {* til tegn på folkets nær forestående fangenskap.}

24 Og jeg vil la de verste av hedningene komme, og de skal ta deres hus i eie, og jeg vil gjøre ende på de frekkes stolthet, og deres helligdommer skal vanhelliges.

25 Det skal komme redsel, og de skal søke frelse, men der er ingen.

26 Ulykke på ulykke skal komme, og rykte på rykte skal opstå, og de skal søke efter syn hos profeten, og lov skal ikke være å finne hos presten eller råd hos de gamle;

27 kongen skal sørge, og høvdingen skal klæ sig i forferdelse, og hendene på landets folk skal skjelve. Efter deres ferd vil jeg gjøre med dem, og med deres dommer vil jeg dømme dem, og de skal kjenne at jeg er Herren.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 20

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20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.

People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.

Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.

[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.

[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)

Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.

"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.

[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)

...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)

And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)

Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.

[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.

Likewise in the following:

You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:

Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)

To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?

As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.

  
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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.