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以西結書 14

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1 有幾個以色列長老到我這裡在我面前。

2 耶和華的就臨到我說:

3 人子啊,這些人已將他們的假接到裡,把陷於罪的絆腳石放在面前,我豈能絲毫被他們求問麼?

4 所以你要告訴他們:耶和華如此以色列家的中,凡將他的假接到裡,把陷於罪的絆腳石放在面前,又就了先知的,我─耶和華在他所求的事上,必按他眾多的假回答他(或譯:必按他拜許多假的罪報應他),

5 好在以色列家的事上捉住他們,因為他們都藉著假與我生疏。

6 所以你要告訴以色列耶和華如此:回頭罷!離開你們的偶像臉莫從你們一切可憎的事。

7 因為以色列家的,或在以色列中寄居的外,凡與我隔絕,將他的假接到裡,把陷於罪的絆腳石放在面前,又就了先知要為自己的事求問我的,我─耶和華必親自回答他。

8 我必向那變臉,使他作了警戒,笑談,令驚駭,並且我要將他從我民中剪除;你們就知道我是耶和華

9 先知若被迷惑一句預言,是我─耶和華任那先知受迷惑,我也必向他伸,將他從我民以色列中除滅。

10 他們必擔當自己的罪孽。先知的罪孽和求問之人的罪孽都是一樣,

11 好使以色列家不再走迷離開我,不再因各樣的罪過玷污自己,只要作我的子民,我作他們的。這是耶和華的。

12 耶和華的臨到我說:

13 人子啊,若有一國犯罪干犯我,我也向他伸折斷他們的杖,就是斷絕他們的糧,使饑荒臨到那,將人與牲畜從其中剪除;

14 其中雖有挪亞、但以理、約伯這人,他們只能因他們的救自己的性命。這是耶和華的。

15 我若使惡獸經過糟踐那,使荒涼,以致因這些獸,人都不得經過;

16 雖有這人在其中,耶和華:我指著我的永生起誓,他們連兒帶女都不能得救,只能自己得救,那仍然荒涼。

17 或者我使刀臨到那:刀哪,要經過那,以致我將人與牲畜從其中剪除;

18 雖有這人在其中,耶和華:我指著我的永生起誓,他們連兒帶女都不能得救,只能自己得救。

19 或者我叫瘟疫流行那,使我滅命(原文是帶血)的忿怒傾在其上,好將人與牲畜從其中剪除;

20 雖有挪亞、但以理、約伯在其中,耶和華:我指著我的永生起誓,他們連兒帶女都不能救,只能因他們的救自己的性命。

21 耶和華如此:我將這樣大災─就是刀、饑荒、惡瘟疫降在耶路撒冷,將人與牲畜從其中剪除,豈不更重麼?

22 然而其中必有下的人,他們連兒女必到你們這裡,你們見他們所行所為的,要因我降給耶路撒冷的一切災禍,便得了安慰

23 你們見他們所行所為的,得了安慰,就知道我在耶撒冷中所行的並非無故。這是耶和華的。

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #322

Studere hoc loco

  
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322. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill. This symbolizes the destruction of all good in the church.

Since death means the extinction of a person's spiritual life, and hell his damnation, it follows that to kill here means to destroy the life of a person's soul. The life of the soul is spiritual life.

A fourth of the earth means, symbolically, all good in the church. The earth is the church (no. 285).

That a fourth means all good can be known only by someone who knows what numbers in the Word symbolize. The numbers two and four are said in application to goods, and they symbolize those goods. And the numbers three and six are said in application to truths, and they symbolize those truths. Thus a fourth part, or simply a fourth, symbolizes all good, while a third part, or simply a third, symbolizes all truth. Therefore to kill a fourth of the earth here means, symbolically, to destroy all good in the church.

Clearly he who sat on the pale horse was not given the power to kill a fourth part of the habitable earth.

[2] In addition, the number four in the Word symbolizes the union of goodness and truth.

That the number four has these symbolic meanings can, indeed, be confirmed from the Word, as by the four living creatures or cherubim in Ezekiel 1,3, 10; by the four chariots between two mountains in Zechariah 6:1; by the four horns in Zechariah 1:18ff.; by the four horns of the altar in Exodus 27:1-8, and Revelation 9:13; and by the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, in Revelation 7:1 (cf. Matthew 24:31). It can be confirmed, too, by the "visiting the iniquity to the third and fourth generation" in Numbers 14:18, and by the third and fourth generation mentioned elsewhere. By these passages in the Word and more, I say, one can confirm that the number four is said in application to goods, and that they symbolize those goods, and also the conjunction of goodness and truth. But because it would take a lengthy explanation of these passages to make this apparent, it is enough to briefly state that this is the meaning that the number four and a fourth part have in heaven.

  
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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.

Bibliorum

 

Isaiah 8:19-22

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19 When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

20 Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

21 They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,

22 and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.