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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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Arcana Coelestia # 7273

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7273. 'And multiply My signs and My wonders' means forewarnings of every kind, and that not a thing will be wanting. This is clear from the meaning of 'signs and wonders' as proofs of the truth, dealt with in 3900, 6870, 7012, and also as the means used by Divine power, 6910, here as forewarnings, for those signs and wonders let them see that they were immersed in falsities and also let them behold Divine power, as a result of which they were forewarned. The reason for saying that forewarnings of every kind are being presented to those steeped in falsities, and that not a thing will be wanting, is that the damnation of those governed by evils does not take place in a single moment when they enter the next life, only after they have first been visited, that is, been examined. Examinations are made to the end that those people may see for themselves that they are inescapably damned because they have led no other kind of life, and to the end also that spirits and angels may know what those people have been like. Thus they can no longer exonerate themselves or be exonerated by others.

[2] The order that governs the manner in which they are examined is the order involving God's truth; and the nature of this is such that nothing whatever is wanting. When this order involving God's truth is applied to the evil who are damned it is different from what it is when applied to the good who are saved. The difference is that when that order is applied to the evil who are damned God's truth is separated from Divine Good, that is, from mercy because those people have not accepted Divine Good, and so have refused mercy. But when that order is applied to the good who are saved God's truth is coupled with Divine Good, and so with mercy because they have accepted Divine Good, and so the Lord's mercy. Step by step as the evil undergo orderly examination they are also judged and condemned. From this one may see that forewarnings of every kind are presented, in order that not a thing may be wanting before they are condemned to hell. These are what is also meant by the signs and miracles performed in Egypt, before the firstborn were annihilated and the Egyptians were destroyed in the Sea Suph, the Sea Suph being hell.

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