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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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Turn

  

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.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 1736

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1736. The fact that the Lord is Jehovah, who is here called 'God Most High', is quite clear from the Word: in Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He is called. Isaiah 54:5.

Here it is explicitly stated that 'the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel', who is the Lord alone, is 'Jehovah Zebaoth' and 'the God of the whole earth'. In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God. Isaiah 48:17.

In the same prophet,

I am helping you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:14.

The expressions 'the Holy One of Israel' and 'the God of Israel' occur many times. That the Lord is the Holy One of Israel and the God of Israel is quite clear from where it is said that they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for purity, Exodus 24:10.

[2] None other was acknowledged and called Jehovah by the Jewish Church because that Church worshipped the one God Jehovah, and more importantly, because all the religious observances of that Church represented Him -- though the majority did not know this - and because all things in the internal sense of the Word had Him as their meaning. In Isaiah,

He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from all faces. And it will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will save us. This is Jehovah, whom we have waited for; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. Isaiah 25:8-9.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord.

[3] In the same prophet,

Behold, the Lord Jehovih will come with might, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd, He will gather into His arm, He will carry the tiny lambs in His bosom, 1 and will lead those that give suck. Isaiah 40:10-11.

This refers explicitly to the Lord who is 'the Lord Jehovih'. 'He will come with might, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him' stands for the fact that He would by His own power overcome the hells. 'Pasturing the flock', 'gathering into His arm', 'carrying the tiny lambs in His bosom', and 'leading those that give suck' have reference to His love, or mercy.

[4] In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, God Himself who created the heavens, who formed the earth and made it, who Himself established it and created it not an emptiness, and formed it to dwell in: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. Am not I Jehovah and there is no God else besides Me? A just God, and a Saviour, there is none besides Me. Look to Me and be saved, all ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18, 21-22.

Here it is explicitly stated that the Lord alone is Jehovah and God. 'To create the heavens and form the earth' is to regenerate, and so 'the Creator of heaven and earth' is the Regenerator, see 16, 88, 472, and elsewhere. This is why the Lord is in various places called Creator, One who forms, and Maker.

[5] In the same prophet,

You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our rather, our Redeemer; from of old is Your name. Isaiah 63:15-16.

This refers explicitly to the Lord who alone is the Redeemer. In Moses,

Take notice of His face, 2 and hearken to His voice, lest you provoke Him, for He will not endure your transgression, for My name is in the midst of Him. Exodus 23:21.

'Name' is the essential nature, see 144, 145, while 'in the midst' is the inmost, 1074.

[6] In Isaiah,

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6-7.

This plainly refers to the Lord. In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming and I will raise up for David a righteous branch and He will reign as King, and act with understanding, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell with confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5-6.

This plainly refers to the Lord. In Zechariah,

Jehovah will be King over all the earth; in that day there will be one Jehovah, and His name one. Zechariah 14:9.

This is plainly a reference to the Lord. 'Name' stands for Essential Nature.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. In other places where he quotes these verses Swedenborg punctuates them, in keeping with the Hebrew, as follows - He will gather the (tiny) lambs, He will carry them in His bosom.

2. literally, faces

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