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Amos 6

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1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?

3 -ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

4 that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

5 that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

6 that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

7 Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away.

8 The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.

9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

10 And when a man's uncle shall take him up, even he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No; then shall he say, Hold thy peace; for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah.

11 For, behold, Jehovah commandeth, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow [there] with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;

13 ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

14 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of the Arabah.

   

Commento

 

Midst

  

The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation that drives everything else. In general this will be something we love or feel, because at the core of things we are what we love; our loves define us.

(Riferimenti: Apocalypse Revealed 44, 90, 268; Arcana Coelestia 2252, 2940, 10153, 10365, 10557, 10635, 10641)

Dalle opere di Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #10635

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10635. 'And all the people in whose midst you are will see the work of Jehovah' means that all who accept the Word will acknowledge the Divine within it. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word, dealt with in the places referred to in 9372, so that 'the people in whose midst he is' means the Church where the Word exists, thus all who accept the Word, for others do not acknowledge the Divine within it; and from the meaning of 'seeing the work of Jehovah' as acknowledging the Divine within it. It is self-evident that such things are meant, for all within the Church who lead a good life acknowledge the Divine within the Word. The reason why they do so is that a holy influence from heaven enters them when they read the Word, although they do not know that correspondences are the means through which it comes to them. Furthermore this influence which depends on correspondences is not detected except as a general feeling of holiness occupying the mind. The situation is different in the case of those who do not lead a good life; in their case the internal through which influences from heaven come is closed.

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