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Ezekiel 22

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1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? then cause her to know all her abominations.

3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her!

4 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.

5 Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one [and] full of tumult.

6 Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

7 In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.

8 You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

9 Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness.

10 In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.

11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter.

12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh.

13 Behold, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.

14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.

15 I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you.

16 You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

17 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

19 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

20 As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

21 Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.

23 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

24 Son of man, tell her, You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.

25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in its midst.

26 Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27 Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

28 Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken.

29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

30 I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

31 Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 488

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488. As has been stated, 'days' means states in general, and 'years' states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezekiel 22:4.

This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so 'days' has reference in this case to such people's state in general, 'years' to that state in particular.

In David,

You will add days to the king's days; and his years as generation after generation! Psalms 61:6.

This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again 'days' and 'years' stand for the state of His kingdom.

In the same author,

I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.

Here 'days of old' is states of the Most Ancient Church, and 'years of long ago' states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

This stands for the final times, where 'the day of vengeance' stands for a state of condemnation, and 'the year of the redeemed' for a state of blessedness.

Similarly, in the same prophet,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.

Here again 'days' and also 'years' are mentioned and mean states.

In Jeremiah,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

Here 'days' plainly stands for state.

[2] In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1-2, 11.

Here 'day' stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom - a state of individuals in particular and of all in general.

In Zechariah,

I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:9-10.

And elsewhere in Zechariah,

There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zechariah 14:7.

State is clearly meant here, for it is said that 'it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light'.

The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15.

Here 'a prolonging of days' does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.

[3] In the sense of the letter 'day' cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezekiel 30:3.

And in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.

Here 'a day of cloud' stands for cloud or falsity, 'a day of the nations' for the nations or wickedness, and 'the day of Jehovah' for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.

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