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Isaiah 1

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1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; [but] Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged [and gone] backward.

5 Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; [but] wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.

7 Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

9 Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

11 What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,- I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.

23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

24 Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies;

25 and I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin;

26 and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town.

27 Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.

28 But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.

29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

31 And the strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Kommentar

 

Seek

  

The meaning of "to seek" in the Bible is pretty straightforward, but there is a bit of nuance. In most cases "seek" or "look for" is connected with truth and knowledge, where "desire" is connected with love and affection. This makes sense; the idea of "seeking" is connected to sight, and sight corresponds to our intellect and capacity to understand truth.

(Verweise: Apocalypse Explained 550; Apocalypse Revealed 429; Arcana Coelestia 4719, 6770, 6771, 7021, 8298)

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #3768

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3768. 'For out of that well they watered the droves' means knowledge obtained from there, that is to say, from the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'a well' as the Word, dealt with just above in 3765, from the meaning of 'watering', or giving a drink, as receiving instruction, dealt with in 3069, and from the meaning of 'droves' as knowledge of matters of doctrine, also dealt with just above, in 3767. From these meanings it is evident that 'out of the well they watered the droves' means that from the Word knowledge of matters of doctrine concerning what is good and true was obtained. In all that appears below regarding Jacob the subject in the highest sense is the Lord - how He made Divine His Natural, this chapter dealing with the inception of this process. And in the internal representative sense the subject is those who are being regenerated - how the Lord renews their natural man, this chapter dealing with the inception of that process. Here therefore the subject is the Word and doctrine obtained from it, for it is by means of doctrine drawn from the Word that the process is begun and regeneration takes place. And it is because these are meant by 'a well' and by 'three droves of a flock' that these historical details are mentioned at all. Unless they had that meaning they would be too trivial to be mentioned in the Divine Word. What they embody is clear, namely that all knowledge and doctrine concerning what is good and true is derived from the Word.

[2] The natural man, it is true, can know and also perceive what good and truth are, but only the natural and social variety of good and truth. Spiritual good and truth he cannot know or perceive. Knowledge of these has to come from revelation, and so from the Word. For example, from the rational present in everyone a person may know that he ought to love his neighbour and to worship God; but how he ought to love his neighbour and worship God, and so what constitutes spiritual good and truth, he cannot know except from the Word. Except from the Word he cannot know that good itself is the neighbour, and that consequently those governed by good are the neighbour and in the measure that it governs them. Nor can he know that good is therefore the neighbour because the Lord is present in good, and that accordingly when good is loved the Lord is loved.

[3] In the same way those who do not possess the Word cannot know that all good comes from the Lord, and that it flows in with man and forms his affection for good, and that that affection is called charity. Those who do not possess the Word cannot know who is the God of the universe. The truth that He is the Lord is hidden from them, yet the inmost part of affection or charity, and therefore the inmost part of good must have Him in view. From this one may see what spiritual good is and that there can be no knowledge of it except from the Word. As regards gentiles, as long as they are in this world they do not indeed know that good. Yet when they lead charitable lives one with another they thereby have an ability to learn such things in the next life, and also do receive them and adopt them without difficulty, see 2589-2604.

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