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Exodus 19

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1 In the third month of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in this day they have come into the wilderness of Sinai,

2 and they journey from Rephidim, and enter the wilderness of Sinai, and encamp in the wilderness; and Israel encampeth there before the mount.

3 And Moses hath gone up unto God, and Jehovah calleth unto him out of the mount, saying, `Thus dost thou say to the house of Jacob, and declare to the sons of Israel,

4 Ye -- ye have seen that which I have done to the Egyptians, and I bear you on eagles' wings, and bring you in unto Myself.

5 `And now, if ye really hearken to My voice, then ye have kept My covenant, and been to Me a peculiar treasure more than all the peoples, for all the earth [is] Mine;

6 and ye -- ye are to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: these [are] the words which thou dost speak unto the sons of Israel.'

7 And Moses cometh, and calleth for the elders of the people, and setteth before them all these words which Jehovah hath commanded him;

8 and all the people answer together and say, `All that Jehovah hath spoken we do;' and Moses returneth the words of the people unto Jehovah.

9 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Lo, I am coming unto thee in the thickness of the cloud, so that the people hear in My speaking with thee, and also believe in thee to the age;' and Moses declareth the words of the people unto Jehovah.

10 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Go unto the people; and thou hast sanctified them to-day and to-morrow, and they have washed their garments,

11 and have been prepared for the third day; for on the third day doth Jehovah come down before the eyes of all the people, on mount Sinai.

12 `And thou hast made a border [for] the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, going up into the mount, or coming against its extremity; whoever is coming against the mount is certainly put to death;

13 a hand cometh not against him, for he is certainly stoned or shot through, whether beast or man it liveth not; in the drawing out of the jubilee cornet they go up into the mount.'

14 And Moses cometh down from the mount unto the people, and sanctifieth the people, and they wash their garments;

15 and he saith unto the people, `Be ye prepared for the third day, come not nigh unto a woman.'

16 And it cometh to pass, on the third day, while it is morning, that there are voices, and lightnings, and a heavy cloud, on the mount, and the sound of a trumpet very strong; and all the people who [are] in the camp do tremble.

17 And Moses bringeth out the people to meet God from the camp, and they station themselves at the lower part of the mount,

18 and mount Sinai [is] wholly a smoke from the presence of Jehovah, who hath come down on it in fire, and its smoke goeth up as smoke of the furnace, and the whole mount trembleth exceedingly;

19 and the sound of the trumpet is going on, and very strong; Moses speaketh, and God doth answer him with a voice.

20 And Jehovah cometh down on mount Sinai, unto the top of the mount, and Jehovah calleth for Moses unto the top of the mount, and Moses goeth up.

21 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Go down, protest to the people, lest they break through unto Jehovah to see, and many of them have fallen;

22 and also the priests who are coming nigh unto Jehovah do sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break forth on them.'

23 And Moses saith unto Jehovah, `The people [is] unable to come up unto mount Sinai, for Thou -- Thou hast protested to us, saying, Make a border [for] the mount, then thou hast sanctified it.'

24 And Jehovah saith unto him, `Go, descend, then thou hast come up, thou, and Aaron with thee; and the priests and the people do not break through, to come up unto Jehovah, lest He break forth upon them.'

25 And Moses goeth down unto the people, and saith unto them: --

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 978

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978. Verse 7 (Revelation 16:7). And I heard another out of the altar saying, signifies the preaching of the Lord's justice from His celestial kingdom. This is evident from the signification of "an angel out of the altar," as being the Lord's celestial kingdom; for the "altar" signifies the Lord as to the Divine good, thus also the heaven that is in the Divine good; that heaven or those heavens constitute the Lord's celestial kingdom. (That the "altar" signifies the Lord as to the Divine good may be seen in n. 391, 490, 915.) The angel speaking "out of the altar" signifies the Lord's celestial kingdom, because "the angel of the waters" speaking, described in the fifth verse, means the Lord's spiritual kingdom (See above, n. 971). As the Lord's justice is here preached from the heavens, and as the heavens consist of two kingdoms, namely, the spiritual and the celestial, therefore there is preaching from each kingdom; and one is meant by "the angel of the waters," and the other by "the angel of the altar."

(Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment)

[2] Take merchants as an example: All their works are evil works so long as they do not regard as sins, and thus shun as sins illegitimate gains and unlawful usury, also fraud and craft; for such works cannot be done from the Lord, but are done from man himself. And the more expert they are in skillfully and artfully contriving devices from within for overreaching their companions the more evil are their works. And the more expert they are in bringing such devices into effect under the pretense of sincerity, justice, and piety, the more evil still are their works. The more delight a merchant feels in such things the more do his works have their origin in hell. But if he acts sincerely and justly in order to acquire reputation, and wealth through reputation, even so as to seem to act from a love of sincerity and justice, and yet does not act sincerely and justly from affection for the Divine law or from obedience to it, he is still inwardly insincere and unjust, and his works are thefts, for through a pretense of sincerity and justice he seeks to steal.

[3] That this is so becomes evident after death, when man acts from his interior will and love, and not from the exterior; for then he thinks about and devises nothing but sharp practices and robberies, and withdraws himself from those who are sincere, and betakes himself either to forests or deserts, where he devotes himself to stratagems. In a word, all such become robbers. But it is otherwise with merchants who shun as sins thefts of every kind, especially the more interior and hidden, which are effected by craft and deceit. All their works are good, because they are from the Lord; for the influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, for accomplishing such works is not intercepted by the evils just mentioned. To these, riches do no harm, because to them riches are means for uses. Their tradings are the uses by which they serve their country and their fellow-citizens; and through their riches they are in a condition to perform those uses to which the affection of good leads them.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.