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Jeremiah 33

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1 And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah a second time -- and he [is] yet detained in the court of the prison -- saying:

2 Thus said Jehovah its maker, Jehovah its former, at establishing it, Jehovah [is] His name:

3 Call unto Me, and I do answer thee, yea, I declare to thee great and fenced things -- thou hast not known them.

4 For thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that are broken down for the mounts, and for the tool;

5 they are coming in to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the carcases of men, whom I have smitten in Mine anger, and in My fury, and [for] whom I have hidden My face from this city, because of all their evil:

6 Lo, I am increasing to it health and cure, And have healed them, and revealed to them The abundance of peace and truth.

7 And I have turned back the captivity of Judah, And the captivity of Israel, And I have built them as at the first,

8 And cleansed them from all their iniquity, That they have sinned against Me, And I have pardoned all their iniquities, That they have sinned against Me, And that they transgressed against Me.

9 And it hath been to Me for a name of joy, For praise, and for beauty, to all nations of the earth, Who hear of all the good that I am doing them, And they have feared, And they have trembled for all the good, And for all the peace, that I am doing to it.

10 Thus said Jehovah: Again heard in this place of which ye are saying, Waste it [is], without man and without beast, In cities of Judah, and in streets of Jerusalem, That are desolated, without man, And without inhabitant, and without beast,

11 Is a voice of joy and a voice of gladness, voice of bridegroom, and voice of bride, The voice of those saying, Thank Jehovah of Hosts, for Jehovah [is] good, For His kindness [is] to the age, Who are bringing in thanksgiving to the house of Jehovah, For I turn back the captivity of the land, As at the first, said Jehovah.

12 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Again there is in this place -- that is waste, Without man and beast, And in all its cities -- a habitation of shepherds, Causing the flock to lie down.

13 In the cities of the hill-country, In the cities of the low country, And in the cities of the south, And in the land of Benjamin, And in the suburbs of Jerusalem, And in the cities of Judah, Again doth the flock pass by under the hands of the numberer, said Jehovah.

14 Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have established the good word That I spake unto the house of Israel, And concerning the house of Judah.

15 In those days, and at that time, I cause to shoot up to David a shoot of righteousness, And he hath done judgment and righteousness in the earth.

16 In those days is Judah saved, And Jerusalem doth dwell confidently, And this [is] he whom Jehovah proclaimeth to her: `Our Righteousness.'

17 For thus said Jehovah: `Not cut off to David is one sitting on the throne of the house of Israel,

18 And to the priests -- the Levites, Not cut off from before Me is one, Causing a burnt-offering to ascend, And perfuming a present, and making sacrifice -- all the days.'

19 And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,

20 `Thus said Jehovah: If ye do break My covenant of the day, And My covenant of the night, So that they are not daily and nightly in their season,

21 Also My covenant is broken with David My servant, So that he hath not a son reigning on his throne, And with the Levites the priests, My ministers.

22 As the host of the heavens is not numbered, Nor the sand of the sea measured, So I multiply the seed of David My servant, And the Levites My ministers.'

23 And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying:

24 `Hast thou not considered what this people have spoken, saying: The two families on which Jehovah fixed, He doth reject them, And my people they despise -- So that they are no more a people before them!

25 Thus said Jehovah: If My covenant [is] not daily and nightly, The statutes of heaven and earth I have not appointed --

26 Also the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, I reject, Against taking from his seed rulers For the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, For I turn back [to] their captivity, and have pitied them.'

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9031

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9031. 'And thoroughly cure him' means restoration, that is to say, through explanation; for if statements in the literal sense of the Word are looked at on a more internal level, all are in agreement. The situation here is as it is with statements in the Word which speak of the sun's rising or setting, though in reality it neither rises nor sets. However, it presents the appearance of doing so to inhabitants on earth, because of the earth's daily rotation on its axis. This natural truth lies hidden within the former, which accords with the appearance presented to the eyes. If the truth had been stated in the Word contrary to that appearance, the common people would not have understood it; and what the common people do not understand they do not believe either. It is similar with the Sun of heaven, which is the Lord; this too is said to rise. But it is said to rise in the heart when a person is being regenerated, and also when he is governed by the good of love and faith; and it is said to set when a person is immersed in evil and in falsity arising from it. But in reality the Lord is always where the sun is rising, for which reason also He is called the Sunrise or the East, and never where it is setting. Nor does He turn away from anyone; rather a person turns away from Him, which is the reason for the appearance that the Lord turns His face away, and even brings about what is ill. Therefore also such a thing is said of Him in the Word; and that too is a truth, though it is an apparent truth, and so does not conflict with the former. From all this one may now see what 'thoroughly curing' means in the internal sense, namely the restoration of spiritual truth, which is brought about by correct explanation of factual truth, or truth belonging to the literal sense of the Word.

[2] The situation is just the same with every truth that belongs to the literal sense. In natural light, which a person who perceives things on a sensory level possesses, that truth is seen as it is actually stated in the Word. For the literal sense is natural and is for those who perceive things on a sensory level. But when the same truth is presented in the light of heaven it is seen according to the internal sense; for this sense is spiritual and is for those whose perception lies on a heavenly level, because the things that belong to natural light vanish in the light of heaven. Natural light is like gloom or like a cloud, but heavenly light is like the glory and brightness after the cloud has been removed. Therefore also the literal sense of the Word is called 'a cloud' and the internal sense 'the glory', see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4391, 5922, 6343, 8106, 8443, 8781.

[3] The reason why 'thoroughly curing' means restoring in the spiritual sense is that 'sickness' and 'illness' mean poor health of the internal man. The internal man is in poor health when its life, which is spiritual life, is sick, that is, when the person turns aside from truth to falsity and from good to evil. When this happens that life is sick; and when the person turns away completely from truth and good that life dies. But its death is called spiritual death, which is damnation. This being the situation with the life of the internal man, such things as constitute sicknesses and death in the natural world refer, when spoken of in the Word, to sicknesses of spiritual life and to the death of that life. So too with curings or healings from sickness, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah strikes Egypt striking and curing, as a consequence of which they turn themselves towards Jehovah; and He will be entreated by them, and He will cure them. Isaiah 19:22.

In the same prophet,

But He was pierced because of our transgressions, bruised because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are cured. 1 Isaiah 53:5.

These words refer to the Lord.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Return, O perverse children, I will cure you of backsliding. 2 Jeremiah 3:22.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I will bring curing and remedy to it; 3 and I will cure them and reveal to them the abundance of peace, and truth. Jeremiah 33:6.

In the same prophet,

Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have multiplied medicaments; there is no curing for you. Jeremiah 46:11.

And in Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, [every] tree for food, whose leaf does not fall, and whose fruit does not fail it is reborn monthly, for its waters flow out from the sanctuary, wherefore its fruit is for food, and its leaf for medicaments. Ezekiel 47:12.

'Fruit for food' stands for the good of love and charity, which serves to nourish spiritual life, and 'leaf for medicaments' for the truths of faith which serve to refresh and restore that life. For the meaning of 'fruit' as the good of love and charity, see 3146, 7690; and for the meaning of 'leaf' as the truth of faith, 885.

[5] Since sicknesses and illnesses, also curings and medicaments, mentioned in the Word do not refer to natural life but to another kind of life distinct and separate from natural life, it is evident to anyone who ponders on the matter for a while that a person possesses another kind of life, which belongs to his internal man. Those who think materialistically of the life a person has do not believe that he has any life other than that of the body which is the life of the external or natural man. They wonder what the life of the internal man may be, indeed what the internal man may be. If they are told that this life is the life of faith and charity, and that the internal man is the person's spirit which lives after death, and which in essence is the real person, they wonder all the more. And those of them who live solely for the body and not for the soul, thus who are altogether natural people, understand nothing of what they are told about the life of faith and charity or about the internal man. For when they think, they see things altogether in natural light and not at all in spiritual light, on account of which also after death their thought remains materialistic. They live then 'in the shadow of death', that is, steeped in falsities arising from evil; they are in utter darkness and are blind to the light of heaven.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, and in His wound curing has been given to us

2. literally, cure your turnings away

3. literally, I will cause curing and remedy to go up to it

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