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Daniel 8

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1 En el año tercero del reinado del rey Belsasar, me apareció una visión a mí, Daniel, después de aquella que me había aparecido antes.

2 Vi en visión, (y aconteció cuando la vi, que yo estaba en Susa, que es cabecera del reino en la provincia de Persia;) así que vi en aquella visión, estando junto al río Ulai,

3 y alcé mis ojos, y miré, y he aquí un carnero que estaba delante del río, el cual tenía dos cuernos: y aunque eran altos, el uno era más alto que el otro; y el más alto subía a la postre.

4 Vi que el carnero hería con los cuernos al poniente, al norte, y al mediodía, y que ninguna bestia podía parar delante de él, ni había quien escapase de su mano; y hacía conforme a su voluntad, y se engrandecía.

5 Y estando yo considerando, he aquí un macho cabrío venía de la parte del poniente sobre la faz de toda la tierra, el cual no tocaba la tierra; y tenía aquel macho cabrío un cuerno notable entre sus ojos.

6 Y vino hasta el carnero que tenía los dos cuernos, al cual había yo visto que estaba delante del río, y corrió contra él con la ira de su fortaleza.

7 Y lo vi que llegaba junto al carnero, y se levantó contra él, y lo hirió, y quebró sus dos cuernos, porque en el carnero no había fuerzas para parar delante de él; lo derribó por tanto en tierra, y lo holló; ni hubo quien librase al carnero de su mano.

8 Y se engrandeció en gran manera el macho cabrío; y estando en su mayor fuerza, aquel gran cuerno fue quebrado, y en su lugar subieron otros cuatro maravillosos hacia los cuatro vientos del cielo.

9 Y del primero de ellos salió un cuerno pequeño, el cual creció mucho al mediodía, y al oriente, y hacia la tierra deseable.

10 Y se engrandeció hasta el ejército del cielo; y parte del ejército y de las estrellas echó por tierra, y las holló.

11 Hasta contra el emperador del ejército se engrandeció, y por él fue quitado el continuo sacrificio , y el lugar de su santuario fue echado a tierra.

12 Y el ejército fue entregado a causa de la prevaricación sobre el continuo sacrificio ; y echó por tierra la Verdad, e hizo cuanto quiso , y le sucedió prósperamente.

13 Y oí un santo que hablaba; y otro de los santos dijo a aquél que hablaba: ¿Hasta cuándo durará la visión del continuo sacrificio , y la prevaricación asoladora que pone el santuario y el ejército para ser hollado?

14 Y él me dijo: Hasta dos mil trescientos días de tarde y mañana; y el santuario será justificado.

15 Y acaeció que estando yo Daniel considerando la visión, y buscando su entendimiento, he aquí, como una semejanza de hombre se puso delante de mí.

16 Y oí una voz de hombre entre las riberas del Ulai, que gritó y dijo: Gabriel, enseña la visión a éste.

17 Vino luego cerca de donde yo estaba; y con su venida me asombré, y caí sobre mi rostro; y él me dijo: Entiende, hijo de hombre, porque al tiempo señalado se cumplirá la visión.

18 Y estando él hablando conmigo, caí dormido en tierra sobre mi rostro; y él me tocó, y me tornó en mi estado.

19 Y dijo: He aquí yo te enseñaré lo que ha de venir en el fin de la ira, porque al tiempo señalado se cumplirá.

20 Aquel carnero que viste, que tenía cuernos, son los reyes de Media y de Persia.

21 Y el macho cabrío es el rey de Grecia; y el cuerno grande que tenía entre sus ojos es el rey primero.

22 Y que fue quebrado y sucedieron cuatro en su lugar, significa que cuatro reinos sucederán de la misma nación, mas no en la fortaleza de él.

23 Y al cabo del imperio de éstos, cuando los prevaricadores estan en su colmo, se levantará un rey altivo de rostro, y entendido en dudas.

24 Y su fortaleza se fortalecerá, mas no con fuerza suya, y destruirá maravillosamente, y prosperará; y hará a su voluntad , y destruirá fuertes y al pueblo de los santos.

25 Y con su entendimiento hará prosperar el engaño en su mano; y en su corazón se engrandecerá, y con paz destruirá a muchos; y contra el Príncipe de los príncipes se levantará; y sin mano será quebrantado.

26 Y la visión de la tarde y la mañana que está dicha, es verdadera; y tú guarda la visión, porque es para muchos días.

27 Y yo Daniel fui quebrantado, y estuve enfermo algunos días; y cuando convalecí, hice el negocio del rey; mas estaba espantado acerca de la visión, y no había quien la entendiese.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #5

  
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5. II. THERE HAVE BEEN FOUR SUCCESSIVE STATES, OR PERIODS, OF EACH CHURCH, WHICH IN THE WORD ARE MEANT BY "MORNING, "DAY," "EVENING," AND "NIGHT." That there have been four successive states, or periods, of every one of these Churches above-named, will be illustrated in the following pages, wherein each will be dealt with in its turn. They are described by those alternations of time, because every man who is born in the Church, or in whom the Church has commenced, first comes into its light such as that is in the dawn and morning; afterwards, he advances to its day, and, he who loves its truths, right on to its mid-day; if he then stops in the way, and does not advance into the heat of spring and summer, his day declines towards evening, till at length, like the light at night-time, it grows dark; and then his intelligence in the spiritual things of the Church becomes a cold light, like the light of the days in winter, when he indeed sees the trees standing beside his house, or in his gardens, but stripped of leaves and destitute of fruits-thus, like bare trunks. For, the man of the Church advances from morning to day, to the end that he may be reformed and regenerated by means of the light of reason, which only takes place by a life according to the Commandments of the Lord in the Word. If this does not take place, his light becomes darkness, and the darkness, thick darkness; that is, the truths of light with him are turned into falsities, and the falsities into unseen evils. It is otherwise with the man who suffers himself to be regenerated: night does not overtake him, for he walks in God, and hence is continually in the day; into which, also, he fully enters after death, when he is associated with angels in heaven. This is understood by the following words in the Apocalypse, concerning the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church, truly Christian:

That city shall have no need of the sun and of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof. And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and there shall be no night there (Rev. 21:23-24, 25; Ezek. 32:8; Amos 5:20; 8:9).

That the successive states of the Church are understood by "morning," "day," "evening," and "night," in the Word, is evident from the following passages therein:

Watch, for ye know not when the Lord of the house will come, at even, or at mid-night, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning (Mark 13:35; Matt. 25:13).

The subject there treated of is the Consummation of the Age, and the coming of the Lord at that time.

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me: He is as the morning light, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3-4).

I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star (Rev. 22:16).

God shall help her, when the morning appeareth (Psalm 46:5).

He is calling to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night (Isa. 21:11-12).

An evil, one evil, behold, is come. The end is come [The morning is come] upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near. Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning hath gone forth (Ezek. 7:5, 6, 7, 10).

There shall be a day... which shall be known to Jehovah; not day nor night; for about the time of evening there shall be light (Zech. 14:7).

About the time of evening, behold, terror; before the morning, he is not (Isa. 17:14).

In the evening; weeping will endure all night, but singing in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Even to the evening and the morning, 1 two thousand three hundred; then shall the holy place be justified:... the vision of the evening and the morning is true (Dan. 8:14, 26).

Jehovah in the morning will bring His judgment to light; He will not fail (Zeph. 3:5).

Thus said Jehovah, If ye have made void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, so that there be not day and night in their season, My covenant also shall be made void with David My servant (Jer. 33:20-21, 25).

Jesus said, I must work the works of God while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work (John 9:4).

In this night there shall be two men on one bed; one shall be taken, but the other shall be left (Luke 17:34).

In these passages, the Consummation of the Age and the Coming of the Lord are treated of. Hence it may be evident what is meant by there being

Time no longer (Rev. 10:6),

namely, that there would be no morning, day, or evening in the Church, but night; likewise what is meant by

Time, times, and half a time (Rev. 12:14; Dan. 12:7); as also what is meant by the

Fulness of time (Ephes. 1:10; Gal. 4:4).

V:

1. For the occurrence of the terms "evening and morning" in this verse, see R.V.; also margin of A.V.

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

Bibliorum

 

2 Samuel 24

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1 Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah."

2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

3 Joab said to the king, "Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"

4 Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5 They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer:

6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon,

7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.

8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

11 When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

12 "Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

14 David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough. Now stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father's house."

18 Gad came that day to David, and said to him, "Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded.

20 Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people."

22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:

23 all this, king, does Araunah give to the king." Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God accept you."

24 The king said to Araunah, "No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.