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Exodus 7

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1 Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.

2 You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

3 I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

5 The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them."

6 Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.

7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'"

10 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.

12 For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

13 Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

14 Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he goes out to the water; and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

16 You shall tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness:" and behold, until now you haven't listened.

17 Thus says Yahweh, "In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

18 The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river."'"

19 Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

21 The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

22 The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart.

24 All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn't drink of the water of the river.

25 Seven days were fulfilled, after Yahweh had struck the river.

   

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Before

  
Photo by Jenny Stein

In most cases, the meaning of "before" is pretty straightforward, both as a way of assessing relative time, and in its use meaning "in someone's presence." It takes on a deeper significance, though, when used in connection with the Lord. To be "before" the Lord means not just in His presence, but also receiving the desire for good and the understanding of truth from Him, and living according to them. And when used as an assessment of time in connection with the Lord, "before" means "from eternity," and refers to a spiritual state rather than time as we experience it.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 366, 617; Arcana Coelestia 6983, 8439, 9888)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 4321

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4321. Though these are apparent contradictions and unbelievable to man, they must not for all that be rejected as untrue, because experience itself declares that they are true. If everything for which the cause is not known were so rejected, countless things that reveal themselves in the natural order, for which scarcely one ten-thousandth of their causes is known, would be rejected. For the arcana belonging to the natural order are so many and so great that those which man knows are scarcely any in comparison with those he does not know. What must the situation be with the arcana that reveal themselves in the sphere above the natural order, that is, in the spiritual world, such as the following?

There is one life alone, and from this all receive their life, each individual in a different way from another. Even the evil receive their life from that one life alone, and so too do the hells. Inflowing life acts according to the way it is received.

Heaven is ordered by the Lord in such a way that it is like a Human Being, on account of which it is called the Grand Man. Consequently everything in the human being corresponds to it.

Without influx from heaven into everything with him the human being cannot remain in being even for an instant. All in the Grand Man occupy an unchanging position determined by the nature and the state of the truth and good which governs them. Position there is not position but state, and therefore those on the left are seen constantly on the left, those on the right constantly on the right, those in front constantly in front, and those behind constantly behind. They are seen to be on a level horizontal with the head, chest, back, loins, or feet, overhead or underfoot, straight ahead or obliquely, closer in or further away. They occupy these positions, no matter how or in which direction a spirit turns.

The Lord as the Sun is seen constantly on the right, in the middle of the sky there, a little above a line horizontal with the right eye; and everything exists in relation to the Lord as the Sun and to the Centre there, and so in relation to its one and only source from which it is brought into being and kept in being. And since all appear before the Lord occupying their own unchanging positions, which are determined by states of good and truth, they are therefore seen in the same way by everyone, for the reason that the Lord's life, and therefore the Lord Himself, is present in everyone in heaven.

And there are countless other arcana besides these.

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