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Ezekiel 22

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1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? then cause her to know all her abominations.

3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her!

4 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.

5 Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one [and] full of tumult.

6 Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

7 In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.

8 You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

9 Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness.

10 In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.

11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter.

12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh.

13 Behold, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.

14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.

15 I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you.

16 You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

17 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

19 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

20 As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

21 Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.

23 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

24 Son of man, tell her, You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.

25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in its midst.

26 Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27 Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

28 Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken.

29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

30 I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

31 Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

   

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Ezekiel 15:1

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1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

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Arcana Coelestia #4110

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4110. 'Laban had gone to shear his flock' means a state of use and an end in view involving the good meant by 'Laban's flock'. This is clear from the meaning of 'shearing' as use, and so the end in view, for the use that is served is the end in view, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'flock' as good, dealt with in 343, 2566. From this it is evident that the state of use and an end in view is meant by 'going to shear'. The subject now is the separation of intermediate good meant by 'Laban' from the good meant by 'Jacob' which was acquired from that intermediate good. But the nature of this separation cannot be known except from those communities of spirits who are governed by that good and from whom it comes to man. But let some facts be given on this matter which I have learned from my experiences.

[2] There are good spirits, there are spirits of an intermediate kind, and there are evil spirits. These are linked to a person when he is being regenerated, to the end that through them he may be introduced into genuine goods and truths - which the Lord effects by means of angels. But they are the kinds of spirits or communities of spirits who do not accord, except for a time, with the one to be regenerated, and therefore when they have performed their use they are separated. The separation of them is effected in differing ways - the separation of the good spirits in one way, that of the spirits of the intermediate kind in another, and that of the evil spirits in yet another. The separation of the good spirits is effected without their being directly conscious of it, for they know from the Lord's good pleasure that all is well with them wherever they are or to wherever the Lord takes them. But the separation of the spirits of the intermediate kind is effected by many means until they depart in freedom. They are returned to the state of their own good, and consequently to the state of the use they serve and of the end they therefore have in view, so that in that state they may experience the delight and blessing that are their own. But because they have derived pleasure out of their previous connection with the one who is being regenerated they are several times returned to and then released from that connection until they no longer take any delight in staying with him and so depart in freedom. Evil spirits too are indeed removed in freedom, but in a kind of freedom which appears to them to be freedom. They are linked to the person who is being regenerated so that they may introduce negative ideas which have to be dispelled, the intention being that this person may be strengthened all the more in truths and goods. And when he starts to be strengthened in these, those spirits take no delight in staying with him, only in separation from him. In this way they are separated by a feeling of freedom that accompanies their delight. This is how the separation takes place of spirits present with a person when he is being regenerated, and how as a consequence changes of his state as regards good and truth are brought about.

[3] As regards 'sheering a flock' meaning performing a use, this is evident from the consideration that the shearing of a flock in the internal sense means nothing else than a use that is served, for wool is obtained in this way. That the shearing of a flock means a use that is served is also evident from the following in Moses,

Every firstborn that is born among your herds and among your flocks you shall sanctify to Jehovah your God; you shall do no work by means of the firstborn of your oxen, and you shall not shear the first born of your flock. But before Jehovah your God you shall eat it year by year in the place which Jehovah will choose. Deuteronomy 15:19, 10.

Here 'not shearing the firstborn of the flock' is a command not to put it to a domestic use. Because 'the shearing of a flock' meant a use that is served, 'shearing the flock' and 'being present at shearings' are included among important duties and functions, as becomes clear from the reference in Genesis 38:12-13, to Judah shearing his flock, and from that to the sons of David in 2 Samuel,

So it was after two full years, that Absalom had shearers in Baalhazor, which is in Ephraim; and Absalom called all the king's sons. And Absalom came to the king and said, Behold, I beg you, your servant has shearers; let the king go, I beg you, and his servants, with your servant. 2 Samuel 13:23-24.

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