Bibliorum

 

BaMidbar 15:33

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33 ויקריבו אתו המצאים אתו מקשש עצים אל־משה ואל־אהרן ואל כל־העדה׃

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Life #80

Studere hoc loco

  
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80. To the Extent That We Turn Our Backs on All Kinds of Theft Because They Are Sins, We Love Honesty

IN earthly terms, "theft" means not only theft and robbery but also cheating and taking other people's assets by some pretext. Spiritually understood, though, "theft" means depriving others of the truths of their faith and good actions motivated by their caring, while in the highest sense it means taking from the Lord what is properly his and claiming it for ourselves - that is, claiming righteousness and worth for ourselves. These are "all kinds of theft, " and like "all kinds of adultery" and "all kinds of killing, " as just described [74-79 and 67-73], they too are united. They are united because one is within the other.

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

Bibliorum

 

Matthew 12:39

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39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.