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Hosea 8

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1 `Unto thy mouth -- a trumpet, As an eagle against the house of Jehovah, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.

2 To Me they cry, `My God, we -- Israel -- have known Thee.'

3 Cast off good hath Israel, an enemy pursueth him.

4 They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.

5 Cast off hath thy calf, O Samaria, Burned hath Mine anger against them, Till when are they not capable of purity?

6 For even it [is] of Israel; an artificer made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

7 For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none -- a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield -- strangers do swallow it up.

8 Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.

9 For they -- they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

10 Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim did multiply altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.

12 I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

13 The sacrifices of Mine offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin, They -- [to] Egypt they turn back.

14 And forget doth Israel his Maker, and buildeth temples, And Judah hath multiplied cities of defence, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it hath consumed their palaces!

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Apocalypse Explained #1154

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1154. Beasts of burden and sheep signifies profaned worship from truths and goods that are from a spiritual-natural origin. This is evident from the signification of "beasts of burden," as being the truths that look to charity (of which presently); also from the signification of "sheep," as being the goods of charity, as can be seen from all the passages in the Word where they are mentioned. (As in the following: Matthew 7:15; 9:36; 10:5, 6, 16; 12:10-12; 15:21-29; 18:12, 13; 25:31-41; 26:31; Mark 6:34; 14:27; John 10:1-18, 26-31; 21:15-17 and by passages in the prophets.) In these passages sheep signify those who are in the good of charity, therefore in an abstract sense, "sheep" signify the goods of charity. But "beasts of burden" signify the truths that look to the goods of charity, and as asses are especially meant, and these were used for riding and carrying burdens, things pertaining to use and to instruction were signified.

As in Isaiah:

They carry their wealth upon the shoulder of beasts of burden (Isaiah 30:6).

Wealth here signifies knowledges.

And in Luke:

The Samaritan set the man wounded by the robbers on his own beast of burden (Luke 10:34).

"To set him on his own beast of burden" signifies to instruct him according to his ability (See n. 375, 376, 444), where this is explained. What "beasts of burden" signify when asses are meant may be seen (n. 31, 140). It is said that "beasts of burden and sheep" signify truths and goods from a spiritual-natural origin, because such goods and truths are meant as are in those who are in the Lord's external church, and thus in the first or lowest heaven. These are natural, and yet they receive the spiritual, and are therefore called spiritual-natural. But here, as elsewhere, profaned worship from such truths and goods is meant.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] The operation of the Divine providence, man not knowing it, may be illustrated by two comparisons. It is like a gardener collecting the seeds of shrubs, fruit trees, and flowers of all kinds, and providing himself with spades, rakes, and other tools for working the land, and then fertilizing his garden, digging it, dividing it into beds, putting in the seeds, and smoothing the surface. All these things man must do as if of himself. But it is the Lord who causes the seeds to take root, to spring forth out of the earth, to shoot forth into leaves, and then into blossoms, and finally to yield new seeds for the benefit of the gardener. Again, it is like a man about to build a house, who provides himself with the necessary materials, as timber, rafters, stones, mortar, and other things. But afterwards the Lord builds the house from foundation to roof exactly adapted to the man, though the man does not know it. From this it follows, that unless a man provides the necessary things for a garden or a house, he will have no garden with the benefit of its fruits, and no house and thence no habitation.

[3] So it is with reformation. The things that man must provide himself with are the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, from the world, and by his own labor. The Lord does everything else while man is ignorant of it. But it is to be known, that all things necessary to planting a garden or building a house, which, as has been said, are the knowledges of truth and good, are nothing but the materials, and have no life in them until man does them or lives according to them as if of himself. When that is done the Lord enters and vivifies and builds, that is, reforms. Such a garden, or such a house is man's understanding, for therein is his wisdom, which derives from love all that it is.

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

Die Bibel

 

Numbers 18

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1 Yahweh said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

2 Your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the testimony.

3 They shall keep your commands, and the duty of all the Tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they, nor you.

4 They shall be joined to you, and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger shall not come near to you.

5 "You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary, and the duty of the altar; that there be wrath no more on the children of Israel.

6 I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are a gift, given to Yahweh, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

7 You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil; and you shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

8 Yahweh spoke to Aaron, "I, behold, I have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel; to you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

10 You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

11 "This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

12 "All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to Yahweh, to you have I given them.

13 The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

14 "Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

15 Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and animal shall be yours: nevertheless you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.

16 You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs).

17 "But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.

18 Their flesh shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

19 All the wave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to Yahweh, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you."

20 Yahweh said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

21 "To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

22 Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

23 But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

24 For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, 'Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.'"

25 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

26 "Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, 'When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.

27 Your wave offering shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

28 Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to Yahweh of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give Yahweh's wave offering to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts you shall offer every wave offering of Yahweh, of all its best, even the holy part of it out of it.'

30 "Therefore you shall tell them, 'When you heave its best from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 You shall eat it in every place, you and your households: for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

32 You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best: and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.'"