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Zephaniah 3

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1 Wo [to] the rebellious and polluted, The oppressing city!

2 She hath not hearkened to the voice, She hath not accepted instruction, In Jehovah she hath not trusted, Unto her God she hath not drawn near.

3 Her heads in her midst [are] roaring lions, Her judges [are] evening wolves, They have not gnawn the bone in the morning.

4 Her prophets unstable -- men of treachery, Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have violated the law.

5 Jehovah [is] righteous in her midst, He doth not do perverseness, Morning by Morning His judgment he giveth to the light, It hath not been lacking, And the perverse doth not know shame.

6 I have cut off nations, Desolated have been their chief ones, I have laid waste their out-places without any passing by, Destroyed have been their cities, without man, without inhabitant.

7 I have said: Only, ye do fear Me, Ye do accept instruction, And her habitation is not cut off, All that I have appointed for her, But they have risen early, They have corrupted all their doings.

8 Therefore, wait for Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah, For the day of My rising for prey, For My judgment [is] to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them Mine indignation, All the heat of Mine anger, For by the fire of My jealousy consumed is all the earth.

9 For then do I turn unto peoples a pure lip, To call all of them by the name of Jehovah, To serve Him [with] one shoulder.

10 From beyond the rivers of Cush, my supplicants, The daughter of My scattered ones, Do bring My present.

11 In that day thou art not ashamed because of any of thine actions, Wherewith thou hast transgressed against Me, For then do I turn aside from thy midst The exulting ones of thine excellency, And thou dost add no more to be haughty, In My holy mountain.

12 And I have left in thy midst a people humble and poor, And they have trusted in the name of Jehovah.

13 The remnant of Israel do no perversity, nor speak lies, Nor found in their mouth is a deceitful tongue, For they have delight, and have lain down, And there is none troubling.

14 Cry aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, Rejoice and exult with the whole heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

15 Jehovah hath turned aside thy judgments, He hath faced thine enemy, The king of Israel, Jehovah, [is] in thy midst, Thou seest evil no more.

16 In that day it is said to Jerusalem, `Fear not, O Zion, let not thy hands be feeble.

17 Jehovah thy God [is] in thy midst, A mighty one doth save, He rejoiceth over thee with joy, He doth work in His love, He joyeth over thee with singing.'

18 Mine afflicted from the appointed place I have gathered, from thee they have been, Bearing for her sake reproach.

19 Lo, I am dealing with all afflicting thee at that time, And I have saved the halting one, And the driven out ones I do gather, And have set them for a praise and for a name, In all the land of their shame.

20 At that time I bring you in, Even at the time of My assembling you, For I give you for a name, and for a praise, Among all peoples of the land, In My turning back [to] your captivity before your eyes, said Jehovah!

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 812

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812. If anyone shall kill with the sword he must be killed with the sword, signifies that those who imbue others with falsities are imbued with falsities from hell. This is evident from the signification of a "sword" [gladius et machaera] as being truth fighting against falsity, and in the contrary sense falsity fighting against truth, here falsity fighting against truth; therefore "to kill with the sword" means to destroy truths by falsities, and also to imbue with falsities. Also from the signification of "he must be killed with the sword," as being to be imbued with falsities from hell. Such are imbued with falsities from hell because they have shut heaven against themselves by falsities; and when heaven is shut against anyone then hell is open to him. For man must be either in heaven or in hell; he cannot be between the two; consequently when anyone closes heaven to himself he opens hell to himself and from hell nothing but falsities of evil spring forth, and with these he becomes imbued. But no other falsities but the falsities of evil close heaven. For there are various kinds of falsities, for instance, falsities of ignorance, falsities of religion, and falsities from misunderstanding the Word; in a word, the falsities that lead to a life of evil, or that proceed from a life of evil, because they are from hell close heaven. From this it is clear that "if anyone shall kill with the sword he must be killed with the sword" signifies that those who imbue others with falsities will be imbued with falsities from hell.

[2] There is a like signification in what the Lord said to Peter:

All they that take the sword must perish by the sword (Matthew 26:52).

This was said to Peter because he represented the truth of faith, and also the falsity of faith; therefore "to take the sword and to perish by it" signified to receive the falsity of faith, and to perish by it. Those who are signified by this "beast," who are such as by reasonings confirm the separation of faith from life, "kill with the sword, and are killed with the sword," that is, imbue others with falsities, and are themselves imbued with falsities from hell, because the dogma of faith alone shuts out all truths and rejects all goods. Faith alone shuts out all truths because such insist that we are saved solely by this, "That the Lord endured the cross for our sins, and thereby took away the condemnation of the law, and that He thus redeemed us." And as they hold that this alone, which they call faith itself, saves, they make no effort to learn truths, although truths are what teach man how he must live, and these truths are manifold. That faith alone rejects goods follows from the dogma itself, which is that faith justifies without good works; thus the essential goods of love to God and the goods of charity towards the neighbor are made of no account.

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

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Isaiah 45:13

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13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward," says Yahweh of Armies.