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Joel 1

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1 Herrens ord som kom til Joel, Petuels sønn:

2 Hør dette, I gamle! Gi akt, alle som bor i landet! Er sådant skjedd i eders dager eller i eders fedres dager?

3 I skal fortelle om det til eders barn, og eders barn til sine barn, og deres barn til en kommende slekt.

4 Hvad gnageren* har levnet, har vrimleren* ett, og hvad vrimleren har levnet, har slikkeren* ett, og hvad slikkeren har levnet, har skaveren* ett. / {* forskjellige navn på gresshopper.}

5 Våkn op, I drukne, og gråt, og jamre, alle vindrikkere, fordi mosten er revet bort fra eders munn.

6 For et folk har draget op over mitt land sterkt og talløst; dets tenner er som en løves tenner, og det har jeksler som en løvinne.

7 Det har rent ødelagt mine vintrær og knekket mine fikentrær; det har gjort dem aldeles bare og kastet dem bort; deres grener er blitt hvite.

8 Klag som en jomfru som bærer sørgedrakt for sin ungdoms brudgom!

9 Matoffer og drikkoffer er revet bort fra Herrens hus; prestene, Herrens tjenere, sørger.

10 Marken er ødelagt, jorden sørger; for kornet er ødelagt, mosten er tørket bort, oljen er svunnet inn.

11 Akerdyrkerne er skuffet, vingårdsmennene jamrer sig; for hveten og bygget, markens grøde, er gått tapt.

12 Vintreet er tørket bort, og fikentreet er visnet; granatepletreet og palmen og epletreet, alle markens trær er tørket bort; ja, all fryd er svunnet bort fra menneskenes barn.

13 Klæ eder i sørgedrakt og klag, I prester! Jamre eder, I som gjør tjeneste ved alteret! Gå inn og sitt hele natten i sørgedrakt, I min Guds tjenere! For eders Guds hus må savne matoffer og drikkoffer.

14 Tillys en hellig faste, utrop en festforsamling, samle de eldste, ja alle som bor i landet, til Herrens, eders Guds hus og rop til Herren!

15 Ve oss, for en dag! For Herrens dag er nær og kommer som en ødeleggelse fra den Allmektige.

16 Er ikke maten blitt borte for våre øine, glede og fryd fra vår Guds hus?

17 Sædekornene er tørket inn under mulden som dekker dem; forrådshusene er ødelagt, ladene nedbrutt, for kornet er fordervet.

18 Hvor buskapen stønner! Oksehjordene farer redde omkring, for det finnes intet beite for dem; også fårehjordene må lide.

19 Til dig, Herre, roper jeg; for ild har fortært ørkenens beitemarker, og luer har forbrent alle markens trær.

20 Endog markens dyr skriker op til dig; for bekkene er uttørket, og ild har fortært ørkenens beitemarker.

Dalle opere di Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #316

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316. "And do not harm the oil and the wine." This symbolizes the Lord's provision that they not violate and profane the goods and truths concealed inwardly in the Word.

Oil symbolizes the goodness of love, and wine the truth springing from that goodness. Thus the oil here symbolizes sacred goodness, and the wine sacred truth. The Lord's provision that these not be violated and profaned is symbolized by the people's being told not to harm them. For this instruction came from the midst of the four living creatures, thus from the Lord (no. 314). Whatever the Lord says He also provides. That this is something He provides may be seen in nos. 314 and 255 above.

That oil symbolizes the goodness of love - this we will see in nos. 778, 779 below.

That wine symbolizes the truth springing from that goodness is clear from the following passages:

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes..., buy wine and milk without money... (Isaiah 55:1)

It shall come to pass in that day that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills flow with milk... (Joel 3:18, cf. Amos 9:13-14)

Joy is taken away... from Carmel, and in the vineyards there will be no singing... No treaders will tread out wine in the presses; I have made their shouting cease. (Isaiah 16:10, cf. Jeremiah 48:32-33)

Carmel symbolizes the spiritual church, because it had vineyards there.

[2] ...wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth... The vinedressers have wailed... (Joel 1:5, 10-11)

Almost the same images occur in Hosea 9:2-3.

He washes his clothing in wine, and His vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are red with wine... (Genesis 49:11-12)

The subject is the Lord, and the wine symbolizes Divine truth. That is why the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, in which the bread symbolizes the Lord in respect to Divine good, and the wine the Lord in respect to Divine truth; and in their recipients the bread symbolizes a sacred goodness, and the wine sacred truth, received from the Lord. Therefore He said,

I say to you, that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you... in My Father's kingdom. (Matthew 26:29, cf. Luke 22:18)

Because bread and wine have these symbolic meanings, so too Melchizedek, going to meet Abram, brought out bread and wine, he being a priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram (Genesis 14:18-19).

[3] The grain offering and drink offering used in sacrifices had similar symbolic meanings, as described in Exodus 29:40, Leviticus 23:12-13, 18-19ff. The grain offering was an offering of wheat flour, thus taking the place of bread, and the drink offering was an offering of wine.

It can be seen from this what these words of the Lord symbolize:

Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins... But they put the... wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. (Matthew 9:17, cf. Luke 5:37-38)

New wine is the Divine truth in the New Testament, thus in the New Church, and the old wine is the Divine truth in the Old Testament, thus in the old church.

A similar idea is symbolized by these words of the Lord at the wedding in Cana of Galilee:

Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now! (John 2:1-10)

[4] Something similar is symbolized by the wine in the Lord's parable concerning the man wounded by thieves, on whose wound the Samaritan poured oil and wine (Luke 10:33-34); for the man wounded by thieves means people whom the Jews wounded spiritually by evils and falsities, and to whom the Samaritan brought aid by pouring oil and wine on their wounds, that is, by teaching them goodness and truth, and as far as possible, healing them.

Sacred truth is symbolized by wine and new wine also elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah 1:21-22; 25:6; 36:17.

[5] Because of this, a vineyard in the Word symbolizes a church that possesses truths from the Lord.

That wine symbolizes sacred truth can be seen also from its opposite meaning, in which it symbolizes truth falsified and profaned, as in the following places:

Harlotry, wine, and new wine have taken hold of the heart... Their wine is gone, they commit harlotry continually. (Hosea 4:11, 18)

Harlotry symbolizes the falsification of truth, and so, too, do the wine and new wine here.

...in the hand of Jehovah a cup, and He mixed it with wine; He filled it with the mixture and poured it out, and its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth, sucking, drink. (Psalms 75:8)

Babylon was a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they are deranged. (Jeremiah 51:7)

Babylon has fallen..., because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication... If anyone worships the beast..., he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with undiluted wine in the cup of the wrath (of God). (Revelation 14:8-10)

(Babylon has made) all the nations (drink) of the wine... of her fornication. (Revelation 18:3)

...great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. (Revelation 16:19)

...the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. (Revelation 17:1-2)

[6] The wine that Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, and his lords and wives and concubines drank from the vessels of the Temple in Jerusalem, while they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone (Daniel 5:2-4) - that wine symbolized nothing else but the sacred truth of the Word and church profaned, which is why the writing then appeared on the wall, and the king that very night was slain (Daniel 5:25, 30)

Wine symbolizes truth falsified also in Isaiah 5:11-12, 21-22; 28:1, 3, 7; 29:9; 56:11-12.

The drink offering that they poured out as an offering to idols has the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 65:11; 57:6; Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19; Ezekiel 20:28; Deuteronomy 32:38.

It is owing to its correspondence that wine symbolizes sacred truth, and in an opposite sense, truth profaned. For when a person reads "wine" in the Word, angels - who apprehend everything spiritually - have just this interpretation of it. Such is the correspondence between the natural thoughts of people and the spiritual thoughts of angels. The case is the same with the wine in the Holy Supper. That is why the Holy Supper occasions an introduction into heaven (no. 224 at the end).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

La Bibbia

 

Revelation 16

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1 I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!"

2 The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

4 The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

5 I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things.

6 For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this."

7 I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments."

8 The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire.

9 People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory.

10 The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,

11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works.

12 The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.

13 I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;

14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.

15 "Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn't walk naked, and they see his shame."

16 He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.

17 The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"

18 There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.

19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

20 Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21 Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.

   

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