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Jeremiah 25

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1 The word that hath been unto Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, -- it [is] the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, --

2 Which Jeremiah the prophet hath spoken concerning all the people of Judah, even unto all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

3 `From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and unto this day -- this three and twentieth year -- hath the word of Jehovah been unto me, and I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened;

4 And Jehovah hath sent unto you all His servants, the prophets, rising early and sending, and ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear, saying:

5 `Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell on the ground that Jehovah hath given to you and to your fathers from age unto age,

6 And ye do not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow yourselves to them, nor do ye provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I do no evil to you;

7 And ye have not hearkened unto Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- so as to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands for evil to you.

8 `Therefore thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Because that ye have not obeyed My words,

9 Lo, I am sending, and have taken all the families of the north -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- even unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and have brought them in against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and have devoted them, and appointed them for an astonishment, and for a hissing, and for wastes age-during.

10 And I have destroyed from them the voice of rejoicing, and the voice of joy, voice of bridegroom and voice of bride, noise of millstones, and the light of lamps.

11 And all this land hath been for a waste, for an astonishment, and these nations have served the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 `And it hath come to pass, at the fulness of seventy years, I charge against the king of Babylon, and against that nation -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- their iniquity, and against the land of the Chaldeans, and have appointed it for desolations age-during.

13 And I have brought in on that land all My words that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, that Jeremiah hath prophesied concerning all the nations.

14 For laid service on them -- also them -- have many nations and great kings, and I have given recompence to them according to their doing, and according to the work of their hands.

15 `For thus said Jehovah God of Israel unto me, Take the wine cup of this fury out of My hand, and thou hast caused all the nations to drink it unto whom I am sending thee;

16 And they have drunk, and shaken themselves and shewn themselves foolish, because of the sword that I am sending among them.

17 `And I take the cup out of the hand of Jehovah, and cause all the nations to drink unto whom Jehovah sent me:

18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, And its kings, its heads, To give them to waste, to astonishment, To hissing, and to reviling, as [at] this day.

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, And his heads, and all his people,

20 And all the mixed people, And all the kings of the land of Uz, And all the kings of the land of the Philistines, And Ashkelon, and Gazzah, and Ekron, And the remnant of Ashdod,

21 Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon,

22 And all the kings of Tyre, And all the kings of Zidon, And the kings of the isle that [is] beyond the sea,

23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, And all cutting the corners [of the beard],

24 And all the kings of Arabia, And all the kings of the mixed people, Who are dwelling in the wilderness,

25 And all the kings of Zimri, And all the kings of Elam, And all the kings of Media,

26 And all the kings of the north, The near and the far off, one unto another, And all the kingdoms of the earth, That [are] on the face of the ground, And king Sheshach drinketh after them.

27 And thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts God of Israel, Drink ye, yea Drink abundantly, And vomit, and fall, and rise not, Because of the sword that I am sending among you.

28 And it hath come to pass, When they refuse to receive the cup out of thy hand to drink, That thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Ye do certainly drink.

29 For lo, in the city over which My name is called, I am beginning to do evil, And ye -- ye are entirely acquitted! Ye are not acquitted, for a sword I am proclaiming, For all inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.

30 And thou, thou dost prophesy unto them all these words, and hast said unto them: Jehovah from the high place doth roar, And from His holy habitation giveth forth His voice, He surely roareth for His habitation, A shout as of treaders down, God answereth all the inhabitants of the land,

31 Wasting hath come unto the end of the earth, For a controversy hath Jehovah with nations, He hath executed judgment for all flesh, The wicked! He hath given them to the sword, An affirmation of Jehovah.

32 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, evil is going out from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind is stirred up from the sides of the earth.

33 And the pierced of Jehovah have been in that day, From the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth, They are not lamented, nor gathered, nor buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are.

34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, And roll yourselves, ye honourable of the flock, For full have been your days, For slaughtering, and [for] your scatterings, And ye have fallen as a desirable vessel.

35 And perished hath refuge from the shepherds, And escape from the honourable of the flock.

36 A voice [is] of the cry of the shepherds, And a howling of the honourable of the flock, For Jehovah is spoiling their pasture.

37 And the peaceable habitations have been cut down, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.

38 He hath forsaken, as a young lion, His covert, Surely their land hath become a desolation, Because of the oppressing fierceness, And because of the fierceness of His anger!

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 721

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721. "And the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her licentiousness." This symbolizes its insanity in spiritual matters owing to the adulteration of the Word among those immersed in that religion.

To be made drunk with the wine of her licentiousness means, symbolically, to be irrational in spiritual matters owing to a falsification of the Word's truths, in this case owing to an adulteration of them. Wine symbolizes the Divine truth in the Word (no. 316), and licentiousness symbolizes a falsification and adulteration of it (nos. 134, 620, 632, 635). To be made drunk with that wine, therefore, symbolically means to be irrational in spiritual matters. The inhabitants of the earth symbolize the people in a church, as in 11:10; 12:12; 13:13-14, and 14:6 above, but here the people in that religion, since the church does not exist there, because they do not turn to the Lord or read the Word, and because they invoke the dead, as said in no. 718 above.

That to be drunk on that wine means, symbolically, to be irrational in spiritual matters, can indeed be seen without confirmation from other passages in the Word; but since many people do not see this, because they think not spiritually but sensually, that is, materially about the particulars in the Word when they read it, I would like to present some passages from the Word which confirm that in the Word, to be drunk means, symbolically, to be irrational in spiritual matters, that is to say, in theological matters. Here are the passages:

They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. (Isaiah 29:9)

...hear..., O afflicted one..., drunk but not with wine... (Isaiah 51:21)

Babel was a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations are deranged. (Jeremiah 51:7)

Babel shall be... a hissing... When they are inflamed I will set out their feasts and make them drunk, that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake... (Jeremiah 51:37, 39)

Babylon is fallen, is fallen..., because she has made all nations drink of the wine... of her licentiousness. (Revelation 14:8, cf. 18:3)

Let every wineskin be filled with wine... Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land - the kings..., the priests, and the prophets... - with drunkenness! (Jeremiah 13:12-13)

You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation... (Ezekiel 23:32-33)

...O daughter of Edom..., the cup shall also pass over to you; you shall become drunk and make yourself naked. (Lamentations 4:21)

You also will be drunk. (Nahum 3:11)

Drink and become drunk, and vomit and fall, so that you rise no more... (Jeremiah 25:27)

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own sight! Woe to the mighty at drinking wine, and to men robust at mixing intoxicating drink... (Isaiah 5:21-22)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 19:11-12, 14; 24:20; 28:1, 3, 7-8; 56:12; Joel 1:5-7; Habakkuk 2:15; Psalms 75:8; 107:27.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.