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Exodus 23

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1 "You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

2 "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;

3 neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.

4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

5 If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don't leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

6 "You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

7 "Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.

8 "You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

9 "You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

10 "For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,

11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

12 "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.

13 "Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don't invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.

14 "You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

15 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.

16 And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.

17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.

18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.

19 The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

20 "Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

21 Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don't provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.

22 But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.

24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.

25 You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst.

26 No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

27 I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

28 I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.

29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.

30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.

31 I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9307

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9307. 'And hear his voice' means obedience to the commandments received from Him, that is to say, from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' as obedience, dealt with in 2542, 3869, 4652-4660, 7216, 8361; and from the meaning of 'voice', when it refers to the Lord, as God's truths, dealt with in 7573, 8813, thus commandments received from the Lord. God's truths and the commandments received from the Lord are those contained in the Word; therefore also the Word and teachings drawn from the Word are 'Jehovah's voice', 219, 220, 6971.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 7573

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7573. 'And Jehovah gave forth voices' means the departure and severance of communication with those governed by good and guided by truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'voices', which are claps of thunder, as God's truths which enlighten and perfect those in heaven, but frighten those in hell and subject them to vastation; and since they devastate the latter they mean the departure and severance of communication with those governed by good and guided by truth, this being the way in which they are devastated. The situation in all this is evident from what has been stated already in 7502, 7541, 7542, 7545, 7554. In these places it was shown that those who have belonged to the Church and consequently absorbed cognitions of truth and good from the Word, yet have led an evil life, have a line of communication with heaven through the truths and forms of good which they have brought with them from their time in the world, where they were in the Church. (A person brings with him into the next life whatever he knew in the world, indeed whatever he saw, heard, thought, spoke, willed, or did, see 2474, 2475, 2481-2486, 7398). This communication is what is taken away when they undergo vastation; and when communication has been taken away, so are truths and forms of good, and cognitions of them, removed. For whatever spirits, and indeed angels know flows in from the Lord by way of heaven, thus through communications that are made, see 6053-6058, 6180, 6215, 6307-6717, 6466-6495, 6613-6626. All this shows what is meant by a departure and severance of communication with those who are guided by truth and governed by good. The situation with God's truth in heaven and in hell - the truth that is meant by 'voices' - is like that with claps of thunder on earth. On high mountains claps of thunder are heard as no more than a gentle, quiet sound; but on the land lying below they are heard as a frightening crash. In the same way God's truth in heaven is gentle and mild, whereas in hell it is frightening.

[2] The meaning of 'voices', which are claps of thunder, as God's truths that enlighten and perfect those in heaven, and that frighten those in hell and subject them to vastation, is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

You will have joy of heart, as when one marches with a pipe to come to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. Then Jehovah will cause His glorious voice 1 to be heard, and will cause His arm to see repose, in the indignation of [His] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, [in] scattering, and deluging, and hailstones. For by the voice of Jehovah Asshur will be dismayed. Isaiah 30:29-31.

Here 'the voice of Jehovah' stands for God's truth which enlightens and perfects those who are governed by good but frightens those under the influence of evil and subjects them to vastation. In Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the sun and moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining; and Jehovah uttered His voice before His army, His camp is exceedingly great; for that which executes His word is uncountable. For great is the day of Jehovah, and extremely frightening. Joel 3:16.

Here the meaning is similar.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jehovah will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem will give forth His voice; and the heavens and the earth will be shaken. But Jehovah will be a shelter for His people, and a fortification for the children of Israel. Joel 3:16.

'The voice of Jehovah' likewise stands for God's truth. It is given forth 'from Jerusalem' because that city means the Lord's spiritual kingdom, inhabited by those who are moved by truth to be governed by good and moved by good to be guided by truth.

[4] In David,

Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave forth His voice, hail, and coals of fire, so that He sent His arrows and scattered them, and many thunder-bolts, and threw them into confusion. Psalms 18:13-14.

'Giving forth voice, hail, and coals of fire' stands for the devastation of truth and good by means of falsities and evil desires. In the same author,

The clouds dropped water, the skies gave voice, also Your arrows went out, the voice of Your thunder into the earth; the lightnings lit up the earth. Psalms 77:16-18.

'A voice' stands for God's truth which enlightens those who belong to the Church.

[5] In the same author,

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, the God of glory causes it to thunder, Jehovah is over great waters; the voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is majestic; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars, Jehovah breaks to pieces the cedars of Lebanon; the voice of Jehovah strikes as flames of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. Psalms 29:3-11.

Here 'the voice of Jehovah' stands for God's truth and the power it has. Thus it also stands for the Word since this is God's truth.

[6] In John,

A mighty angel coming down called out with a loud voice; and when he called out, seven thunders uttered their voices. I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them. Revelation 10:3-4.

'Voices' stands for God's truth, 'thunders' for those who convey it, bringing it from heaven to earth. No one can fail to see that 'thunders and 'voices' mean things that are Divine, not thunders and crashes. And since they mean Divine things and are called Jehovah's voices it is evident that they are Divine Truth. This was why, when Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai and proclaimed Divine Truth, there were voices, lightnings, and thunders, Exodus 19:16; 20:18, and why He spoke out of the midst of the fire, Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22-24.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, the voice of His glory

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