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Ezekiel 39

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1 And thou, son of man, prophesy concerning Gog, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, O Gog, Prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal,

2 And have turned thee back, and enticed thee, And caused thee to come up from the sides of the north, And brought thee in against mountains of Israel,

3 And have smitten thy bow out of thy left hand, Yea, thine arrows out of thy right I cause to fall.

4 On mountains of Israel thou fallest, Thou, and all thy bands, and the peoples who [are] with thee, To ravenous fowl -- a bird of every wing, And [to] a beast of the field, I have given thee for food.

5 On the face of the field thou fallest, for I have spoken, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

6 And I have sent a fire against Magog, And against the confident inhabitants of the isles, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah.

7 And My holy name I make known in the midst of My people Israel, And I pollute not My holy name any more, And known have the nations that I, Jehovah, the holy One, [am] in Israel.

8 Lo, it hath come, and it hath been done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, It [is] the day of which I spake.

9 And gone out have the inhabitants of cities of Israel, And they have burned and kindled [a fire], With armour, and shield, and buckler, With bow, and with arrows, And with hand-staves, and with javelins, And they have caused a fire to burn with them seven years,

10 And they do not take wood out of the field, Nor do they hew out of the forests, For with armour they cause the fire to burn, And they have spoiled their spoilers, And they have plundered their plunderers, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

11 And it hath come to pass, in that day, I give to Gog a place there -- a grave in Israel, the valley of those passing by, east of the sea, and it is stopping those passing by, and they have buried there Gog, and all his multitude, and have cried, O valley of the multitude of Gog!

12 And the house of Israel have buried them -- in order to cleanse the land -- seven months.

13 Yea, all the people of the land have buried them, and it hath been to them for a name -- the day of My being honoured -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

14 And men for continual employment they separate, passing on through the land, burying with those passing by those who are left on the face of the earth, to cleanse it: at the end of seven months they search.

15 And those passing by have passed through the land, and seen a bone of man, and one hath constructed near it a sign till those burying have buried it in the valley of the multitude of Gog.

16 And also the name of the city [is] The multitude; and they have cleansed the land.

17 And thou, son of man, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Say to the bird -- every wing, and to every beast of the field: Be assembled and come in, Be gathered from round about, For My sacrifice that I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrifice on mountains of Israel, And ye have eaten flesh, and drunk blood.

18 Flesh of the mighty ye do eat, And blood of princes of the earth ye drink, Of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, Of calves, fatlings of Bashan -- all of them.

19 And ye have eaten fat to satiety, And ye have drunk blood -- to drunkenness, Of My sacrifice that I sacrificed for you.

20 And ye have been satisfied at My table with horse and rider, Mighty man, and every man of war, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

21 And I have given My honour among nations, And seen have all the nations My Judgment that I have done, And My hand that I have laid on them.

22 And known have the house of Israel that I [am] Jehovah their God, From that day and henceforth.

23 And known have the nations that for their iniquity, Removed have the house of Israel, Because they have trespassed against Me, And I do hide My face from them, And give them into the hand of their adversaries, And they fall by sword -- all of them.

24 According to their uncleanness, And according to their transgressions, I have done with them, And I do hide My face from them.

25 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Now do I bring back the captivity of Jacob, And I have pitied all the house of Israel, And have been zealous for My holy name.

26 And they have forgotten their shame, And all their trespass that they trespassed against Me, In their dwelling on their land confidently and none troubling.

27 In My bringing them back from the peoples, I have assembled them from the lands of their enemies, And I have been sanctified in them before the eyes of the many nations,

28 And they have known that I [am] Jehovah their God, In My removing them unto the nations, And I have gathered them unto their land, And I leave none of them any more there.

29 And I hide not any more My face from them, In that I have poured out My spirit on the house of Israel, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

   

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Jeremiah 29:14

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14 And I have been found of you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; and I have turned back [to] your captivity, and have gathered you out of all the nations, and out of all the places whither I have driven you -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and I have brought you back unto the place whence I removed you.

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Arcana Coelestia #8301

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8301. 'Who is like You among the gods, O Jehovah' means that every truth of good emanates from the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'gods' as truths, dealt with in 4402, 7268, 7873, at this point truths springing from good since comparison with Jehovah is made when it says, Who is like You among the gods, O Jehovah? 'Jehovah' in the Word means the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5041, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 6905, 6945, 6956; but at this point 'Jehovah' is used to mean the Divine Human because the theme of the song is the salvation of those belonging to the spiritual Church, accomplished through the Lord's Coming into the world, and by means of His Divine Human while He was in it, see 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834, 6372, 6854, 6914, 7035, 7091(end), 7828, 7932, 8018, 8054. The reason why the words used mean that every truth of good emanates from the Lord's Divine Human is that truths can emanate from anyone at all, but the truths of good can do so only from the Lord, consequently from those who are governed by good received from the Lord. Truths divorced from good are also contemplated and declared by those who possess faith that is mere persuasion and still lead a life of evil, as well as by many others within the Church. But those truths are not the truths of good, and so they do not emanate from the Lord but from such people themselves.

[2] The fact that truths springing from good emanate from the Lord may be recognized from the consideration that the Lord is Good itself because He is Love itself. Truth emanates from that Love just as light does from the flames of the sun. This truth is also like the light in springtime and summer, which holds warmth within itself and causes all things on the planet to come alive so to speak. But truth that does not flow from good is like the light in wintertime when all things on the planet die off. The reason why 'gods' are the truths of good is that 'gods' is used in the good sense to mean angels, who are called 'gods' because they are substances or forms receiving truth that has good from the Lord within it.

[3] Angels, and therefore the truths of good which emanate from the Lord, are also meant by 'gods' in the following places:

In David,

God places himself in the assembly of God in the midst of the gods will He judge. I said, You are gods and sons of the Most High, all of you. Psalms 82:1, 6.

Truths emanating from the Lord are what 'gods' is used to mean here. This is clear from the fact that the singular, 'in the assembly of God', is used first, and 'in the midst of the gods' afterwards. For 'God' is used in the Word where truth is referred to, see 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4287, 4402, 7010; and in the highest sense 'God' is the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 7268.

In the same author,

I will confess You with my whole heart; before the gods I will make melody to You. Psalms 138:1.

In the same author,

There is none like You among the gods O Lord. Psalms 86:8.

In the same author,

A great God is Jehovah, and a great King above all gods. Psalms 95:3.

In the same author,

You, O Jehovah, are [high] above all the earth; You are exceedingly exalted above all gods. Psalms 97:9.

In the same author,

I know that Jehovah is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Psalms 135:5.

So it is too that Jehovah is called Lord of lords and God of gods in Deuteronomy 10:17; Joshua 22:22; Psalms 136:2.

[4] The reason why it is said so many times that Jehovah is above all gods and is God of gods is that at that time a large number of gods were worshipped. Nations were distinguished from one another according to the gods they worshipped, each nation believing that its god was the highest of all. As a result of this the idea of a large number of gods was rooted in everyone's mind, though there was disagreement over which one of them was the greatest, as becomes quite clear from many places in the historical narratives of the Word. That idea was rooted in the minds of the Jews more than others, and this explains why it says so many times in the Word that Jehovah was greater than all gods and that He was King and God of gods. The fact that this idea of a large number of gods was rooted in the minds of the Jews more than other nations becomes quite clear from their frequent apostasy, when they turned to the worship of other gods, many instances of which are recorded in the historical books of the Word, such as Judges 2:10, 13, 17, 19; 3:5-7; 8:27, 33; 10:6, 10, 13; 18:14, 17-18, 20, 24, 31; I Sam. 7:3-4; 8:8; 1 Kings 14:23-24; 16:31-33; 18:20ff; 21:26; 22:53; 2 Kings 16:1, 10ff; 17:7, 15-17; 21:3-7, 21; 23:4-5, 7-8, 10-13; and elsewhere.

[5] The mind of that nation was so unsound that with their lips they declared belief in Jehovah alone, yet in their heart acknowledged other gods. This becomes perfectly clear from the consideration that they saw so many miracles in Egypt, and in addition so many after that - the division of the sea before them and the drowning of Pharaoh's army, the pillar of cloud and fire constantly appearing, the manna raining down from heaven every day, and the actual presence of Jehovah with such great majesty and awe on Mount Sinai. And having seen such miracles they declared openly that Jehovah alone was God. Yet only weeks later, merely because Moses delayed [coming down from the mountain], they asked for molded gods which they could adore. And also after Aaron had made them those people attended them with divine worship through a feast, burnt offerings and sacrifices, and dancing. From this it becomes clear that the worship of many gods remained fixed in their hearts. The fact that this nation was like this, more than any other nation on the entire earth, is also clear in Jeremiah,

Has a nation changed its gods, and My people changed their glory for what does not profit? Be astonished, O heavens, over this, and shudder, be in great trepidation. According to the number of your cities have your gods been, O Judah. Jeremiah 2:11-12, 28.

[6] The character of that nation is also such that they adore external things, and so idols, more than all other nations do; they have no desire whatever to know about internal things. For they are the most avaricious of all nations; and avarice, which with them is such that gold or silver is loved for its own sake and not for the sake of any useful purpose, is an extremely earthly desire. It drags the mind down completely to a physical level and submerges it in it; and it closes interior levels to such an extent that no faith or love whatever from heaven can enter them. This shows how greatly mistaken those people are who believe that that nation will be chosen again, or that the Lord's Church will pass to them again after all others have been cast aside, when in fact you will convert stones to faith in the Lord before you convert them. This belief that the Church will pass to them is again due to many places in the prophetical parts of the Word which speak of their future return. But such people do not know that in those places Judah, Jacob, or Israel is not used to mean that nation, but those among whom the Church resides.

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