Bible

 

Jeremiah 25

Studie

   

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.

4 Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear)

5 saying, Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forevermore;

6 and don't go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don't provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm.

7 Yet you have not listened to me, says Yahweh; that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.

8 Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies: Because you have not heard my words,

9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Yahweh, and [I will send] to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

11 This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 It shall happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.

13 I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

14 For many nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.

15 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

16 They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

17 Then took I the cup at Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me:

18 [to wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

20 and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;

22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;

23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners [of their hair] cut off;

24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness;

25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

28 It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: You shall surely drink.

29 For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.

30 Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and tell them, Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as those who tread [the grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31 A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Yahweh.

32 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

33 The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow [in ashes], you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.

35 The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! for Yahweh lays waste their pasture.

37 The peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

38 He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land is become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing [sword], and because of his fierce anger.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) # 57

  
/ 60  
  

57. IV. THE FOURTH STATE OF THE CHURCH WAS THE PROFANATION OF HOLY THINGS, AND THEN WAS ITS CONSUMMATION OR NIGHT. Vastation and consummation differ from each other, as do the shade of evening and the thick darkness of night; for vastation is a receding from the Church, but consummation a complete separation from it. Vastation, therefore, is as when any one descends from heaven but not as far as to hell, and tarries in the middle, standing near both; but consummation exists when any one, standing thus, turns his face and breast to hell, and his back and the hinder part of his head to. heaven; in like manner as happened with the Dragon and his angels when they were cast down out of heaven (concerning which see Rev. 12): while they were fighting with Michael, they were in the middle; but when vanquished, they were in hell. Vastation takes place when man looks upon the holy things of the Church from falsities and falsified truths; but consummation when he lives in evils or in adulterated goods.

[2] But, that the difference and distinction between the state of vastation and the state of consummation may be still more clearly grasped, it shall be illustrated by comparisons. The state of vastation may be compared with a certain garden, or grove, round a temple-which garden, by reason of the Divine worship performed in the temple, is regarded as holy-in which are places for drinking, feasting, dancing, and histrionics and farce, with spectators in the courts and windows of the temple; but the state of consummation may be compared to the same garden, or grove, in which are satyrs and libertines, with harlots and witches, who all together enter the temple dancing, and there celebrate profane revels, as the Pythons in their sabbaths.

[3] The state of vastation may also be compared with a hostile army, when it enters the suburbs of a besieged city and rules them; but the state of consummation may be compared with the same army, when it has demolished the wall, and rushes into the city and gives the inhabitants over to destruction. The state of vastation may further be compared with a ship upon sandbanks, or a sandy shore, when it is violently battered there, and tossed up and down, and the steersman, captain and sailors bewail on account of their danger; but the state is one of consummation when the ship's keel is fretted away by the gravel beneath, and the ship, being shattered and pierced with holes, sinks, and those on board, and the cargo, perish in the waves.

[4] The state of vastation may be compared with every disease which invades the members, viscera and organs of the body, by reason of which the patient apprehends death, consults a physician, takes medicines, and all the while lies in bed in hope of recovery; but the state of consummation may be compared with the same disease when it invades the breast, where the heart and lungs reside as in their tabernacle, into which when the disease penetrates, it makes an end of the life of the body.

  
/ 60  
  

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