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Amos 8

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1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shown to me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD to me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and even sell the refuse of the wheat?

7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellence of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth in it? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood: and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise again.

   

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If we turn ourselves toward the Lord, we can get the full inflowing of His wisdom and love; if we turn away from Him we cast ourselves into cold and shadow -- we turn ourselves toward hell. In the Bible, "turning" generally refers to a change in spiritual state, as people turn themselves toward the Lord or away from the Lord.

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Apocalypse Revealed # 956

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956. And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. This symbolically means that anyone who has any knowledge of the Lord's coming and of the New Heaven and New Church, thus of the Lord's kingdom, let him pray for the Lord's coming; and anyone who desires truths, let him pray for the Lord to come with light. And anyone who loves truths will then receive them from the Lord apart from any endeavors of his own.

"Let him who hears say, 'Come!'" symbolically means that anyone who hears about the Lord's coming and about the New Heaven and New Church, thus about the Lord's kingdom, and so has some knowledge of these, should pray for the Lord to come. "Let him who thirsts say, 'Come!'" symbolically means that anyone who longs for the Lord's kingdom and truths at that time should pray for the Lord to come with light. "Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" symbolically means that whoever is moved by love to learn truths and assimilate them into himself will receive them from the Lord apart from any endeavors of his own. To desire symbolizes love, because whatever a person desires from the heart is something he loves, and whatever he loves is something he desires from the heart. The water of life symbolizes Divine truths obtained from the Lord through the Word (no. 932), and to obtain them freely means, symbolically, apart from any endeavors of his own.

Something similar to the symbolic meaning in this verse is that of the wish contained in the Lord's Prayer, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, as in heaven, so upon the earth" (no. 839). The Lord's kingdom is the church that is united with heaven. So it is that we are now told, "Let him who hears say, 'Come!' And let him who thirsts come."

[2] That thirsting symbolizes a longing for truths is clear from the following:

...I will pour water on him who is thirsty...; I will pour My spirit on your offspring... (Isaiah 44:3)

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters... buy wine and milk without money... (Isaiah 55:1)

...Jesus... cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me..., out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)

My soul thirsts... for the living God. (Psalms 42:2)

O God, You are my God...; my soul thirsts for You; ...I am weary, without water. (Psalms 63:1)

Blessed are those who... thirst for righteousness... (Matthew 5:6)

To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)

The last symbolically means that to those who desire truths for some useful spiritual purpose, the Lord will give of Himself through the Word everything conducive to that useful purpose.

[3] Thirst and thirsting also symbolize perishing from a lack of truth, as is clear from the following:

...my people will go into exile, because they have no acknowledgment... their multitude dried up with thirst. (Isaiah 5:13)

...the foolish person speaks foolishness, and his heart works iniquity..., and he causes the soul... of the thirsty for drink to fail. (Isaiah 32:6)

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, their tongues fail for thirst. I, Jehovah, will hear them. (Isaiah 41:17)

Contend with your mother..., lest I strip her naked... and slay her with thirst. (Hosea 2:2-3)

The prophet's mother there is the church.

Behold, the days are coming... when I will send a hunger on the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah... In that day the fair virgins and young men shall faint from thirst. (Amos 8:11, 13)

On the other hand, not thirsting symbolically means to have no lack of truth, in the following:

Jesus... said..., "Whoever drinks... of the water that I shall give him will not thirst to eternity." (John 4:13-15)

Jesus said..., ."..he who believes in Me shall never thirst." (John 6:35)

Jehovah has redeemed... Jacob. Then they will not thirst... He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them. (Isaiah 48:20-21)

  
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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.