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Ezekiel 39

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1 And thou, son of man, prophesy concerning Gog, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, O Gog, Prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal,

2 And have turned thee back, and enticed thee, And caused thee to come up from the sides of the north, And brought thee in against mountains of Israel,

3 And have smitten thy bow out of thy left hand, Yea, thine arrows out of thy right I cause to fall.

4 On mountains of Israel thou fallest, Thou, and all thy bands, and the peoples who [are] with thee, To ravenous fowl -- a bird of every wing, And [to] a beast of the field, I have given thee for food.

5 On the face of the field thou fallest, for I have spoken, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

6 And I have sent a fire against Magog, And against the confident inhabitants of the isles, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah.

7 And My holy name I make known in the midst of My people Israel, And I pollute not My holy name any more, And known have the nations that I, Jehovah, the holy One, [am] in Israel.

8 Lo, it hath come, and it hath been done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, It [is] the day of which I spake.

9 And gone out have the inhabitants of cities of Israel, And they have burned and kindled [a fire], With armour, and shield, and buckler, With bow, and with arrows, And with hand-staves, and with javelins, And they have caused a fire to burn with them seven years,

10 And they do not take wood out of the field, Nor do they hew out of the forests, For with armour they cause the fire to burn, And they have spoiled their spoilers, And they have plundered their plunderers, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

11 And it hath come to pass, in that day, I give to Gog a place there -- a grave in Israel, the valley of those passing by, east of the sea, and it is stopping those passing by, and they have buried there Gog, and all his multitude, and have cried, O valley of the multitude of Gog!

12 And the house of Israel have buried them -- in order to cleanse the land -- seven months.

13 Yea, all the people of the land have buried them, and it hath been to them for a name -- the day of My being honoured -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

14 And men for continual employment they separate, passing on through the land, burying with those passing by those who are left on the face of the earth, to cleanse it: at the end of seven months they search.

15 And those passing by have passed through the land, and seen a bone of man, and one hath constructed near it a sign till those burying have buried it in the valley of the multitude of Gog.

16 And also the name of the city [is] The multitude; and they have cleansed the land.

17 And thou, son of man, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Say to the bird -- every wing, and to every beast of the field: Be assembled and come in, Be gathered from round about, For My sacrifice that I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrifice on mountains of Israel, And ye have eaten flesh, and drunk blood.

18 Flesh of the mighty ye do eat, And blood of princes of the earth ye drink, Of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, Of calves, fatlings of Bashan -- all of them.

19 And ye have eaten fat to satiety, And ye have drunk blood -- to drunkenness, Of My sacrifice that I sacrificed for you.

20 And ye have been satisfied at My table with horse and rider, Mighty man, and every man of war, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

21 And I have given My honour among nations, And seen have all the nations My Judgment that I have done, And My hand that I have laid on them.

22 And known have the house of Israel that I [am] Jehovah their God, From that day and henceforth.

23 And known have the nations that for their iniquity, Removed have the house of Israel, Because they have trespassed against Me, And I do hide My face from them, And give them into the hand of their adversaries, And they fall by sword -- all of them.

24 According to their uncleanness, And according to their transgressions, I have done with them, And I do hide My face from them.

25 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Now do I bring back the captivity of Jacob, And I have pitied all the house of Israel, And have been zealous for My holy name.

26 And they have forgotten their shame, And all their trespass that they trespassed against Me, In their dwelling on their land confidently and none troubling.

27 In My bringing them back from the peoples, I have assembled them from the lands of their enemies, And I have been sanctified in them before the eyes of the many nations,

28 And they have known that I [am] Jehovah their God, In My removing them unto the nations, And I have gathered them unto their land, And I leave none of them any more there.

29 And I hide not any more My face from them, In that I have poured out My spirit on the house of Israel, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

   

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Jeremiah 29:14

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14 And I have been found of you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; and I have turned back [to] your captivity, and have gathered you out of all the nations, and out of all the places whither I have driven you -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and I have brought you back unto the place whence I removed you.

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Arcana Coelestia # 2219

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2219. 'They looked towards the face of Sodom' means the state of the human race. This is clear from the meaning of 'looking towards the face', here 'towards the face of Sodom'. In the Word 'the face' means all man's interiors - evil as well as good - for the reason that these shine out of the face, as shown in Volume One, in 358. Here therefore, because 'the face' is used in reference to Sodom, it is interior evils, which are those of self-love, that are meant; for interior evils in general are meant by 'Sodom', as will be evident from what follows in the next paragraph. The reason the worst evils of all originate in self-love is that self-love is destructive of human society, as shown above in 2045, and destructive of heavenly society, 2057. And since the perversity of the human race is recognized from that love, here 'the face of Sodom' means the state of the human race.

[2] In addition to this, it has been shown in various places in Volume One what the nature of self-love is, namely a love completely contrary to the order into which man was created. Unlike beasts man was endowed with rationality, to the end that every individual person may will what is good and do what is good to any other, thus to everyone in particular as to all in general. Such is the order into which man was created, and therefore it is love to God and love towards the neighbour which were intended to constitute man's life, which life was to mark him off from animals. Such also is the order of heaven which, it was intended, would exist in man while he was living in the world. He would thus be in the Lord's kingdom, into which he would also pass when he had cast off the body that had served him on earth, and in that kingdom would rise up into a state constantly increasing in heavenly perfection.

[3] But self-love is the chief, indeed the one and only, thing that destroys these loves. Love of the world is not so destructive; for although this is indeed contrary to the spiritual things of faith, self-love is diametrically opposed to the celestial things of love. For someone who loves himself does not love any others but tries to destroy everyone who fails to pay respect to him. Nor does he will what is good and do what is good to anybody except to one who is an extension of himself or can be made to become such, like something into which his evil desires and false notions have been so to speak engrafted. From this it is evident that self-love is the source from which all forms of hatred, all forms of revenge and cruelty well up, and also all forms of disgraceful presence and of deceit - thus every abominable thing that is contrary to the order that belongs to human society and contrary to the order of heavenly society.

[4] Indeed self-love is so abominable that when the restraints placed upon it are lifted, that is, when it is given the opportunity to do whatever it pleases, then even with those who belong to the lowest sort, it rushes with such urgency that it desires not only to exercise dominion over those nearest to it and over those close by, but also over the universe and even over the Supreme Divine Being Himself. Man is not indeed aware of this because he is held back by restraints he knows little about. But to the extent these restraints, as has been stated, are removed he very rapidly does the same. This I have been given to know from much experience in the next life. Because these things lie concealed within self-love, people governed by self-love and not endowed with the restraints of conscience, more than all others hate the Lord, and thus hate all the truths of faith, since these are the very laws of order in the Lord's kingdom. Such people dislike these laws so much as to loathe them, and this also shows itself openly in the next life. This love is also the head of the serpent which the seed of the woman, that is, the Lord, treads down, regarding which see Volume One, in 257.

[5] But self-love does not always present itself outwardly in arrogance and pride, for sometimes such people are able to regard the neighbour with charity. Some people are born with this outwardly charitable disposition, while others acquire it during childhood years, but after this it is subdued, though the outward disposition does still remain. But those governed by self-love are such as despise others and regard them as nothing in comparison with themselves. Nor do they have any concern whatever for the common good unless this exists for their benefit, they themselves being so to speak the common good. This applies especially to those who hate and persecute everyone who does not show them favour or serve them, and as far as possible they rob such persons of possessions, honour, reputation, and even life. Let those who behave intentionally in these ways realize that with them pre-eminently self-love is present.

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