Bible

 

Jeremiah 52

Studie

   

1 A son of twenty and one years [is] Zedekiah in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

2 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim hath done,

3 for, because of the anger of Jehovah, it hath been in Jerusalem and Judah till He hath cast them from before His face, and Zedekiah doth rebel against the king of Babylon.

4 And it cometh to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, come hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon -- he and all his force -- against Jerusalem, and they encamp against it, and build against it a fortification round about;

5 and the city cometh into siege till the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

6 In the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, when the famine is severe in the city, and there hath been no bread for the people of the land,

7 then is the city broken up, and all the men of war flee, and go forth from the city by night, the way of the gate between the two walls, that [is] by the king's garden -- and the Chaldeans [are] by the city round about -- and they go the way of the plain.

8 And the forces of the Chaldeans pursue after the king, and overtake Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his forces have been scattered from him,

9 and they capture the king, and bring him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he speaketh with him -- judgments.

10 And the king of Babylon slaughtereth the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also all the princes of Judah hath he slaughtered in Riblah;

11 and the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and he bindeth him in brazen fetters, and the king of Babylon bringeth him to Babylon, and putteth him in the house of inspection unto the day of his death.

12 And in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month -- it [is] the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon -- come hath Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners; he hath stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem,

13 and he burneth the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he hath burned with fire,

14 and all the walls of Jerusalem round about broken down have all the forces of the Chaldeans that [are] with the chief of the executioners.

15 And of the poor of the people, and the remnant of the people who are left in the city, and those who are falling away, who have fallen unto the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the multitude, hath Nebuzar-Adan chief of the executioners, removed;

16 and of the poor of the land hath Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners, left for vine-dressers and for husbandmen.

17 And the pillars of brass that [are] to the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brasen sea that [is] in the house of Jehovah, have the Chaldeans broken, and they bear away all the brass of them to Babylon;

18 and the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they minister, they have taken away;

19 and the basins, and the fire-pans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups, the gold of that which [is] gold, and the silver of that which [is] silver, hath the chief of the executioners taken.

20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen oxen that [are] beneath the bases, that king Solomon made for the house of Jehovah, there was no weighing of the brass of all these vessels.

21 As to the pillars, eighteen cubits [is] the height of the one pillar, and a cord of twelve cubits doth compass it, and its thickness [is] four fingers hollow.

22 And the chapiter upon it [is] of brass, and the height of the one chapiter [is] five cubits, and net-work and pomegranates [are] on the chapiter round about, the whole [is] of brass; and like these have the second pillar, and pomegranates.

23 And the pomegranates are ninety and six on a side, all the pomegranates [are] a hundred on the net-work round about.

24 And the chief of the executioners taketh Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold,

25 and out of the city he hath taken a certain eunuch, who hath been inspector over the men of war, and seven men of those seeing the king's face, who have been found in the city, and the head scribe of the host, who mustereth the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land, who are found in the midst of the city;

26 and Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners, taketh them, and bringeth them unto the king of Babylon to Riblah,

27 and the king of Babylon smiteth them, and putteth them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he removeth Judah from off its own ground.

28 This [is] the people whom Nebuchadrezzar hath removed: in the seventh year, of Jews, three thousand and twenty and three;

29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar -- from Jerusalem, souls, eight hundred thirty and two;

30 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar, hath Nebuzar-Adan chief of the guard removed of Jewish souls, seven hundred forty and five; all the souls [are] four thousand and six hundred.

31 And it cometh to pass, in the thirty and seventh year of the removal of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty and fifth of the month, hath Evil-Merodach king of Babylon lifted up, in the year of his reign, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and bringeth him out from the house of restraint,

32 and speaketh with him good things, and setteth his throne above the throne of the kings who [are] with him in Babylon,

33 and he hath changed his prison garments, and he hath eaten bread before him continually, all the days of his life.

34 And his allowance -- a continual allowance -- hath been given to him by the king of Babylon, the matter of a day in its day, till the day of his death -- all days of his life.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Explained # 1006

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 1232  
  

1006. Happy is he that is awake, signifies the happy state of those who look to the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "happy," as being to be in a happy state; also from the signification of "being awake," as being to acquire for oneself spiritual life (See n. 187; and this is acquired by man's looking to the Lord, because the Lord is Life itself, and from Him alone is life eternal. When a man is in life from the Lord he is in wakefulness; but when he is in life from himself he is asleep; or what is the same, when a man is in spiritual life he is in wakefulness, but when he is in natural life separated from the spiritual he is asleep; and what a man then sees is like what he sees in a dream. To live this life is meant also by "sleeping and slumbering" in the Word (as in Matthew 13:25; 25:5, 6; Mark 4:26, 27; 13:36; Isaiah 5:27; Jeremiah 51:39, 57; Psalms 13:4; 76:7 elsewhere). This makes clear what is signified by "being awake."

(Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment)

[2] But it is to be known that adulteries are more and less infernal and abominable. The adulteries that spring from more grievous evils and their falsities are more grievous, and those from the milder evils and their falsities are milder; for adulteries correspond to adulterations of good and consequent falsifications of truth; adulterations of good are in themselves evils, and falsifications of truth are in themselves falsities. According to correspondences with these the hells are arranged into genera and species. There are cadaverous hells for those whose delights were the violations of wives; there are excrementitious hells for those whose delights were the debauching of virgins; there are direful, slimy hells for those whose delights were varieties and changes of harlots; for others there are filthy hells. There are sodomitic hells for those who were in evils from a love of ruling over others from mere delight in ruling, and who were in no delight of use.

[3] From those who have separated faith from good works both in doctrine and in life there exhale adulteries like that of a son with a mother or a mother-in-law; from those who have studied the Word only for the sake of glory, and not for the sake of spiritual uses, there exhale adulteries like that of a father with a daughter-in-law; from those who believe that sins are remitted by the Holy Supper, and not by repentance of life, there exhale adulteries like that of a brother with a sister; from those who altogether deny the Divine, there exhale heinous things with beasts; and so on. Such hells are for them because of the correspondence with the adulterations or defilements of good and truth.

  
/ 1232  
  

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

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Explained # 187

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 1232  
  

187. Verse 2. Be wakeful, signifies that they should acquire for themselves life. This is evident from the signification of "being wakeful," as meaning to be in spiritual life; but here, since those whose life is moral and not yet spiritual are treated of, "Be wakeful" is that they should acquire for themselves spiritual life. This life is meant by "wakefulness" and "being awake," because spiritual life is to moral life, apart from spiritual life, as wakefulness is to sleep, or as noonday light is to the evening, yea, to darkness. But that this is so is not known or perceived by those who are in natural life alone, neither by those who are in moral life apart from spiritual life, for this life also is natural life. They do not know or perceive this, because they are in natural lumen only, and this lumen in comparison with spiritual light is as the darkness of evening to the light of noonday. Moreover, to such the darkness of evening seems like light; for their interior sight, which is that of the thought, is adapted to that darkness, just as the sight of owls, bats, and other birds that fly by night, is adapted to the shade. Consequently they believe themselves to be in light because they are able to reason, when yet they are in darkness. That this is so is manifest from the state of such after death, when they become spirits. They then believe, when with their companions, that they are in light, because they not only see all things that are about them, but also are able to think and speak about any matter whatever; and yet their light, when the light of heaven flows in with them, is changed into darkness, and they become so blind in respect to the understanding as not to be able to think at all. Moreover, when angels who are in the heavens look down on those who are in such lumen, they see nothing there but mere darkness. That spiritual life compared with moral life apart from spiritual life is as wakefulness compared with sleep, can be further seen from this, that those who are in spiritual light are in angelic wisdom and intelligence, which is such as to be incomprehensible and ineffable to those who are in natural lumen alone, and this not only with men while living in the world, but also with the same when after death they become spirits; and when intelligence and wisdom constitute wakefulness. From this it can now be seen that "Be wakeful" here signifies that they should procure for themselves spiritual life.

[2] To "be awake" has a similar signification in the following passages. In Matthew:

Be awake, therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord cometh (Matthew 24:42).

In Mark:

Be ye awake, for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, at evening, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing; 1 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. What I say unto you I say unto all, Be awake (Mark 13:35-37).

He that is ignorant of the internal sense of the Word may believe that these words refer to the Last Judgment, and that everyone should be prepared for that; but man's state in respect to love and faith when he dies is what they refer to, for then is his judgment. "Evening," "night," and "cock-crowing" signify such states; "evening" signifying a state of waning faith and charity, which is man's state when he comes into the exercise of his own judgment, and is extinguishing in himself the things that he imbibed in childhood; "night" signifying a state of no faith and charity; "cock-crowing" or "daybreak" the state when faith and charity are beginning, which is, when man loves truths and wishes to be reformed by them.

In whatever state a man dies he remains, and according to that he is judged. From this it is evident what is meant by "Be ye awake, lest the Lord coming suddenly find you sleeping. What I say unto you I say unto all, Be awake," namely, that "to be awake" means to receive life from the Lord, which life is spiritual life, and that "sleeping" means living a natural life apart from a spiritual life. (That "evening" signifies a state of waning faith and charity, see Arcana Coelestia 3056, 3197, 3833, 8431, 10134, 10135; "night" a state of no faith or charity, n. 221, 709, 2353, 6000, 7870, 7947; and "daybreak" before morning, or "cock-crowing," the state when faith and charity are beginning, n. 10134.)

[3] In Luke:

Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find awake; verily I say unto you, He shall gird himself, and make them recline to eat, and drawing near will minister unto them. Be ye ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man will come (Luke 12:37, 40).

Here also, those that "are awake" mean those who are spiritually awake, that is, those who receive spiritual life from the Lord, for these come into the light of intelligence and wisdom respecting Divine truths; but those who do not receive spiritual life remain in obscurity and thick darkness respecting those truths; these, therefore, are asleep, while the former are awake. His "girding himself, making them recline to eat, and drawing near to minister unto them," signifies to communicate to them the goods of heaven, which are all from the Lord.

[4] In Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, five of them were prudent, and five were foolish. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept; but the bridegroom coming, they all arose and trimmed their lamps. And when the foolish came, who had no oil in their lamps, and said, Lord, Lord, open to us, the Lord answered, I say unto you, I know you not. Be awake, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh (Matthew 25:1-13).

By "the ten virgins" all who are of the church are meant; by "five" some of them are meant; this is what these numbers signify; by "lamps" the things of faith are signified; by "oil" the things of love. By "the five prudent virgins," therefore, those who are in love and in faith therefrom are meant; but by "the five foolish virgins" those who are in no love, but in faith alone. As such are in no spiritual life (for only those who are in love and charity have spiritual life, because they only are in faith), so because such as these are shut out of heaven, it is said unto them, "I say unto you, I know you not." From this it is most evident what is signified by "Be awake, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh," namely, that they should receive spiritual life, which those have who are in love and in faith therefrom. (But these things may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 4635-4638.)

[5] In Luke:

Be wakeful, therefore, praying at every season, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man (Luke 21:36).

Here, also, "to be wakeful" means to receive spiritual life; "to pray at every season" signifies to prepare oneself.

[6] In Revelation:

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that is awake, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked (Revelation 16:15).

Here "to be awake" signifies to receive spiritual life from the Lord, as is evident from its being said, "Blessed is he that is awake and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked;" "garments" signifying the knowledges of truth and good by means of which man has spiritual life; and "to walk naked" signifying life without such knowledges as means, thus life not spiritual but merely natural. (That "garments" signify the knowledges of truth and good, see below, n. 195, and that by "naked" is signified the deprivation of these, see Arcana Coelestia 1073, 5433, 5954, 9960)

[7] In Lamentations:

Arise, cry aloud in the night, at the beginning of the watches; lift up thy hands to the Lord respecting the soul of thy babes, who have fainted through hunger at the head of every street (Lamentations 2:19);

here, as above, "night" signifies a state of no faith; "the beginning of the watches" signifies the state when faith begins, thus a state of illustration, which is when man becomes spiritual. By "babes" are meant those who love truths, and long for them; "to faint through hunger at the head of every street" is to be deprived of spiritual life through a lack of the knowledges of truth and good. (That "hunger" means a lack of knowledges and a longing for them, see Arcana Coelestia 1460[1-4], 3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300, 5360, 5376, 5893; and that "streets" are the truths of doctrine, 2336)

[8] Because "to be awake" signifies to receive spiritual life, therefore "sleeping" signifies natural life apart from spiritual life, since natural life compared with spiritual life is as sleep compared with wakefulness, as has been said above. This is what "sleeping" signifies in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man that sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-25).

In Jeremiah:

When they have grown warm, I will set their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may sleep the sleep of an age, and not awake (Jeremiah 51:39, 57).

In David:

Look! answer me, Jehovah my God! lighten Thine eyes 2 lest I sleep death (Psalms 13:3).

In the same:

The strong in heart have become a spoil, they have slumbered their sleep; at Thy rebuke both the chariot and the horse have fallen into a deep sleep (Psalms 76:5-6).

"Chariot and horse" signify the doctrine of the church and the understanding of doctrine; these are said "to fall into a deep sleep" when they are without truths, and when consequently the man of the church is without spiritual life by means of truths. (That "chariots and horses" in the Word signify doctrine and the intellectual, see in the small work onThe White Horse 1-5.)

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. For "cock-crowing" the Latin has "belonging to chickens."

2. For "thine" the Hebrew has "mine," as found in Apocalypse Explained 152; Arcana Coelestia 212, 6119.

  
/ 1232  
  

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