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Amos 6

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1 Wo [to] those secure in Zion, And those confident in the mount of Samaria, The marked of the chief of the nations, And come to them have the house of Israel.

2 Pass ye over [to] Calneh and see, And go thence [to] Hamath the great, And go down [to] Gath of the Philistines, Are [they] better than these kingdoms? Greater [is] their border than your border?

3 Who are putting away the day of evil, And ye bring nigh the seat of violence,

4 Who are lying down on beds of ivory, And are spread out on their couches, And are eating lambs from the flock, And calves from the midst of the stall,

5 Who are taking part according to the psaltery, Like David they invented for themselves instruments of music;

6 Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And [with] chief perfumes anoint [themselves], And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.

7 Therefore now they remove at the head of the captives, And turned aside is the mourning-feast of stretched-out ones.

8 Sworn hath the Lord Jehovah by Himself, An affirmation of Jehovah, God of Hosts: I am abominating the excellency of Jacob, And his high places I have hated, And I have delivered up the city and its fulness.

9 And if there are left ten persons in one house, It hath come to pass -- that they have died.

10 And lifted him up hath his loved one, even his burner, To bring forth the bones from the house, And he said to him who [is] in the sides of the house, `Is there yet with thee?' And he said, `None,' then he said, `Hush! Save to make mention of the name of Jehovah.'

11 For lo, Jehovah is commanding, And He hath smitten the great house [with] breaches, And the little house [with] clefts.

12 Do horses run on a rock? Doth one plough [it] with oxen? For ye have turned to gall judgment, And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.

13 O ye who are rejoicing at nothing, Who are saying, `Have we not by our strength taken to ourselves horns?'

14 Surely, lo, I am raising against you a nation, O house of Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, God of Hosts, And they have oppressed you from the coming in to Hamath, Unto the stream of the desert.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6297

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6297. 'And his seed will be the fullness of nations' means that truth - the truth of faith - will be predominant. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as faith and charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3187, 3310, 3373, 3671, in this case faith since it refers to Ephraim; and from the meaning of 'the fullness of nations' as an abundance, thus that it will be predominant. 'Fullness' in the Word means the entire whole or, where it does not mean the entire whole, an abundant part; and it is used with reference both to truth and to good. For 'a multitude' is used with reference to truth, but 'greatness' to good, thus 'fullness' with reference to both, as in Jeremiah,

Behold, waters rising out of the north which will become like a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and its fullness, the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 47:2.

'The land and its fullness' stands for the entire whole, both of truth and of good, constituting the Church. 'The city and those who dwell in it' is therefore added, for 'the city' means truths, and 'those who dwell in it' forms of good, 2268, 2451, 2712.

[2] In Ezekiel,

They will eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their waters with astonishment, so that her land may be devastated of its fullness. Ezekiel 12:19.

'Land' stands for the Church, and 'fullness' for the goodness and truth there. The fact that both are meant is evident from the words immediately before, which say that they will eat bread with anxiety and drink waters with astonishment. For 'bread' means the good of love, and 'waters' the truth of faith, which are referred to as 'the fullness' of the land.

[3] Similarly in Amos,

I hate the pride of Jacob and his palaces, therefore I will shut up the city and its fullness. Amos 6:8.

In David,

The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours. The world and the fullness of it You have founded. Psalms 89:11.

And elsewhere in the same author,

The earth is Jehovah's and the fullness of it, the world and those who dwell in it. He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Psalms 24:1-2.

Here also 'the fullness' stands for truth and goodness. 'The earth' stands for the Church in a specific sense, 'the world' for the Church in an overall sense. Jehovah's founding of the world upon the seas means basing it on things that contribute to knowledge, 28, and His establishing it upon the rivers means basing it on those that lead to intelligence, 3051. Is anyone unable to see that it is not Jehovah's founding of the world on the seas or His establishing of it upon the rivers that is meant? For the world is not founded or established on them, and therefore anyone who thinks the matter over can see that something other than 'the seas' or 'the rivers' is meant and that this something other is a spiritual or internal facet of the Word.

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