Isaiah 33
1
Wo, spoiler! and thou not spoiled, And treacherous! and they dealt not treacherously with thee, When thou dost finish, O spoiler, thou art spoiled, When thou dost finish dealing treacherously, They deal treacherously with thee.
2
O Jehovah, favour us, for thee we have waited, Be their arm, in the mornings, Yea, our salvation in time of adversity.
3
From the voice of a multitude fled have peoples, From thine exaltation scattered have been nations.
4
And gathered hath been your spoil, A gathering of the caterpillar, As a running to and fro of locusts is he running on it.
5
Set on high is Jehovah, for He is dwelling on high, He filled Zion [with] judgment and righteousness,
6
And hath been the stedfastness of thy times, The strength of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, Fear of Jehovah -- it [is] His treasure.
7
Lo, `Their Ariel,' they have cried without, Messengers of peace do weep bitterly.
8
Desolated have been highways, Ceased hath he who passeth along the path, He hath broken covenant, He hath despised enemies, He hath not esteemed a man.
9
Mourned, languished hath the land, Confounded hath been Lebanon, Withered hath been Sharon as a wilderness, And shaking are Bashan and Carmel.
10
Now, do I arise, saith Jehovah, Now I am exalted, now I am lifted up.
11
Ye conceive chaff, ye bear stubble, Your spirit! -- fire devoureth you.
12
And peoples have been [as] burnings of lime, Thorns, as sweepings, with fire they burn.
13
Hear, ye far off, that which I have done, And know, ye near ones, My might.
14
Afraid in Zion have been sinners, Seized hath trembling the profane: Who doth dwell for us -- consuming fire, Who doth dwell for us -- burnings of the age?
15
Whoso is walking righteously, And is speaking uprightly, Kicking against gain of oppressions, Shaking his hands from taking hold on a bribe, Stopping his ear from hearing of blood, And shutting his eyes from looking on evil,
16
He high places doth inhabit, Strongholds of rock [are] his high tower, His bread hath been given, his waters stedfast.
17
A king in his beauty, see do thine eyes, They see a land afar off.
18
Thy heart doth meditate terror, Where [is] he who is counting? Where [is] he who is weighing? Where [is] he who is counting the towers?
19
The strong people thou seest not, A people deeper of lip than to be understood, Of a scorned tongue, there is no understanding.
20
See Zion, the city of our meetings, Thine eyes See Jerusalem a quiet habitation, A tent not taken down, Not removed are its pins for ever, And none of its cords are broken.
21
But there mighty [is] Jehovah for us, A place of rivers -- streams broad of sides, No ship with oars doth go into it, And a mighty ship doth not pass over it.
22
For Jehovah our judge, Jehovah our lawgiver, Jehovah our king -- He doth save us.
23
Left have been thy ropes, They strengthen not rightly their mast, They have not spread out a sail, Then apportioned hath been a prey of much spoil, The lame have taken spoil.
24
Nor doth an inhabitant say, `I was sick,' The people that is dwelling in it, is forgiven of iniquity!
Arcana Coelestia # 4190
4190. 'And Jacob took a stone and erected it as a pillar' means a like truth and worship based on this. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stone' as truth, dealt with in 643, 1298, 3720, and from the meaning of 'a pillar' as worship based on it, that is, on truth, dealt with in 3727, from which paragraphs it is evident that these words mean a like truth and worship based on this. The expression 'a like truth' is used, that is, truth as it exists among gentiles, because although gentiles do not know anything about the Word or as a consequence about the Lord, they still have the same external truths as Christians, such as these: One should worship God with due reverence, keep religious festivals, and honour one's parents; one should not steal, commit adultery, or kill; also, one should not covet what belongs to another. Thus gentiles have the same kind of truths as are included in the Ten Commandments and are also the standards of behaviour set within the Church. The wise among them act in conformity not only with the external but also with the internal form which those same commandments take, for they think that the kinds of things which are forbidden are not only contrary to their religion but also contrary to the common good and so to the internal obligation which they owe to other people, and that as a consequence such actions are contrary to charity. And they think in this way even though they have little knowledge of what faith is. In their obscurity they possess a kind of conscience against which they are unwilling to act, indeed against which some are incapable of acting. From this it becomes clear that the Lord governs their interiors which are in obscurity, and in so doing imparts to them an ability to receive interior truths, which they also do receive in the next life - see what has been shown concerning gentiles in 2589-2604.
[2] I have been allowed to talk on several occasions to Christians in the next life about the state and fortune of gentiles outside the Church - that they accept the truths and goods of faith more easily than do Christians who have not lived according to the Lord's commandments, and that Christians think of gentiles in a heartless fashion. That is to say, they think that all outside the Church stand condemned, a way of thinking based on the established rule that outside the Lord there is no salvation. I have told the Christians to whom I have been speaking that this rule is true, but that gentiles who have led charitable lives with one another and who, moved by some kind of conscience, have done what is just and fair, receive faith and acknowledge the Lord more easily in the next life than those who are inside the Church and have not led charitable lives. I have gone on to say that Christians are subject to falsity when they believe that heaven is theirs alone because they have the Book of the Word, written down on paper but not in their hearts, and also when they know the Lord but do not believe that He is Divine as to His Human, indeed when they do not acknowledge Him, as to His second Essence which they term the human nature, as any more than an ordinary human being. Therefore, left to themselves and their own ideas they do not even adore Him. So it is they themselves who are outside the Lord, and for whom there is no salvation.
