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Jeremiah 33

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1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

2 Thus says Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it; Yahweh is his name:

3 Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don't know.

4 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down [to make a defense] against the mounds and against the sword;

5 while [men] come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city:

6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.

7 I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me.

9 [This city] shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it.

10 Thus says Yahweh: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, about which you say, It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,

11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever; [and of them] who bring [sacrifices of] thanksgiving into the house of Yahweh. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Yahweh.

12 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Yet again shall there be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Yahweh.

14 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.

15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is [the name] by which she shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.

17 For thus says Yahweh: David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

18 neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.

19 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

20 Thus says Yahweh: If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season;

21 then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

22 As the army of the sky can't be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me.

23 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

24 Don't consider what this people has spoken, saying, The two families which Yahweh did choose, he has cast them off? thus do they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

25 Thus says Yahweh: If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;

26 then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 7523

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7523. 'And there will be on man and on beast' means the products of interior and exterior evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'man' as the affection for good, and in the contrary sense as the desire for evil; and 'beast' is similar in meaning. But when 'man' and 'beast' are mentioned together, 'man means interior affection or desire and 'beast' exterior; regarding both, see 7424. Interior good or else interior evil, which is meant by 'man', is that connected with intentions or ends in view, for intentions or ends in view are at a person's core, whereas exterior good or else exterior evil, which is meant by 'beast', is that connected with thought and consequently, if nothing stands in the way, with action. Exterior good is meant by 'beast' because a person is in respect of his external or natural man no different from a beast; for he is endowed with similar desires and also cravings, as well as appetites and senses. And interior good is meant by 'man because it is in respect of his internal or spiritual man that a person is a human being, on which internal level he is endowed with affections for what is good and true such as exist with the angels in heaven, and because he controls his natural or animal man, which is 'a beast', by means of that internal man. Regarding the meaning of 'beast' as the affection for good and in the contrary sense the desire for evil, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 2179, 2180, 3218, 3519, 5198.

[2] These things are what are meant by 'man and beast' in the following places too: In Jeremiah,

My anger and My wrath have been poured out on this place, on man and on beast. Jeremiah 7:20

In the same prophet,

I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. Jeremiah 21:6.

In the same prophet,

It will make her land a desolation, so that none may dwell in it; both man and beast have scattered themselves, they have gone away. Jeremiah 50:3.

In Ezekiel,

When a land has sinned against Me by committing great transgression, I will cut off from it man and beast. Ezekiel 14:13, 19, 21.

In the same prophet,

I will stretch out My hand over Edom, and cut off from it man and beast, and make it a waste. Ezekiel 25:13.

In Zephaniah,

I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the surface of the earth. Zephaniah 1:3.

[3] 'Man and beast' stands for interior and exterior good in the following places: In Jeremiah,

I have made the earth, man and beast, by My great strength. Jeremiah 27:5.

In the same prophet,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Jeremiah 31:17.

In the same prophet,

A desolation will the earth be, so that man and beast are not there. Jeremiah 32:43.

In the same prophet,

In the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that have been devastated, there is no man and inhabitant, and there is no beast. Jeremiah 33:10; 51:62.

In David,

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgements a great deep; You preserve man and beast, O Jehovah. Psalms 36:6.

It was because 'man and beast' meant such things that the firstborn of the Egyptians died, not only of men but also of beasts, Exodus 12:29, and that the firstborn were consecrated [to Jehovah], not only of men but also of beasts, Numbers 18:15, and also that the king of Nineveh, following sacred religious practice, commanded that not only man but also beast should fast and also be clothed in sackcloth, Jonah 3:7-8.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1001

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1001. 'Blood' means charity, as becomes clear from many considerations, and so means the new will part which a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord. This new will part is identical with charity, for it is from charity that the new will takes form. Indeed charity, or love, is the essential element or the life of the will, for nobody can possibly say he wills something unless he takes delight in it or loves it. When people say they have something in mind this does not imply that they will it, unless will is implicit in thought. This new will which is one of charity is 'the blood' here. It is not the person's own but the Lord's residing with him. And because it is the Lord's it must never be mixed together with things that belong to the person's own will which, as stated, is so foul. This was the reason why in the representative Church people were commanded not to eat flesh with its soul, that is, not to eat the blood. That is to say, they were not to mix the one with the other. Because 'blood' meant charity it meant that which was holy, and because 'flesh' meant what belonged to the merely human will, it meant that which was unholy. And because these, being opposites, were quite separate, people were forbidden to eat blood. For in those times 'the eating of flesh together with the blood' was representative in heaven of profanation, or the mixing together of holy and unholy - which representation in heaven could do nothing else than strike the angels with horror. For at that period of time all things that took place among members of the Church were converted among angels - according to the meaning such things had in the internal sense - into corresponding spiritual representations.

[2] Since the nature of everything depends on that of the person to whom it refers, the same holds true with regard to the meaning of blood. When it refers to a regenerate spiritual person 'blood' means charity or love towards the neighbour. When it refers to a regenerate celestial person it means love to the Lord. But when it refers to the Lord it means the whole of His Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race. Consequently since 'blood' in general means love and what belongs to love, it means heavenly things that are the Lord's alone, and so in reference to man it means the heavenly things a person receives from the Lord. The heavenly things that a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord are celestial-spiritual. These in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere.

[3] That 'blood' means heavenly things, and in the highest sense meant the Lord's Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race, becomes clear from the sacredness that the Jewish representative Church was required to attach to blood. For this reason blood was called 'the blood of the covenant'. It was sprinkled over the people, and also, together with the anointing oil, over Aaron and his sons. And [the blood] of every burnt offering and sacrifice was sprinkled over and around the altar. For these details, see Exodus 12:7, 13, 22-23; 24:6, 8; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 4:6-7, 17-18, 25, 30, 34; 5:9; 16:12-15; 18, 19; Numbers 18:17; Deuteronomy 12:27.

[4] Because blood was held to be so holy, and what belonged to the merely human will was so unholy, they were strictly forbidden to eat blood because this represented the profanation of what is holy, as in Moses,

It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwelling-places, that you shall not eat any fat or any blood. Leviticus 3:17.

'Fat' stands for celestial life, and 'blood' in this instance for celestial-spiritual life. The celestial-spiritual is that which is spiritual having a celestial origin, as with the Most Ancient Church. With them love to the Lord was the celestial because this had been implanted in their will, while that which was celestial-spiritual with them was faith flowing from it, dealt with in 30-38, 337, 793, 398. But with a spiritual person the celestial does not exist, only the celestial-spiritual, because charity is implanted in the understanding part of his mind.

In the same author,

As for anyone from the house of Israel or from the sojourner sojourning among them who eats any blood, I will set My face 1 against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people, for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls, for the blood itself will make atonement by reason of the soul. The soul of all flesh is the blood of it; everyone eating it shall be cut off. Leviticus 17:10-11, 14.

Here it is plainly stated that the soul of the flesh is in the blood and that the soul of [all] flesh is the blood, or that which is celestial, that is, that which is holy and is the Lord's.

[5] In the same author,

Be sure that you do not eat blood, for the blood is the soul and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh. Deuteronomy 12:23-25.

From these words similarly it is clear that the blood is called the soul, that is, celestial life, or that which is celestial, and was represented by the burnt offerings and sacrifices of that Church. In a similar way, it was the requirement not to mingle that which was celestial - the Lord's Proprium, which alone is celestial and holy - with man's proprium, which is unholy, that was represented also by their being forbidden to make a sacrifice of, that is, to offer, the blood of the sacrifice with anything leavened, Exodus 23:18; 34:25. That which was 'leavened' meant that which was corrupt and filthy.

[6] The reason Why 'blood' is called the soul and means the holiness of charity, and why the holiness of love was represented in the Jewish Church by 'blood', is that the life of the body lies in the blood. And because the life of the body lies in the blood it is its ultimate soul, so that the blood therefore may be called the bodily soul, or the place where a person's bodily life resides. And because in representative Churches internal things were represented by external, the soul or celestial life was therefore represented by 'the blood'.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, faces

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