from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #432

Studere hoc loco

  
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432. Verse 5. Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed.

5. "Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed," signifies love to the Lord, and that all who are in that love are in heaven, and come into heaven n. 433; "of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand sealed," signifies the light of truth from that good, and that all who are in that light are in heaven and come into heaven n. 434; "of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed," signifies the consequent good of life (n. 435, 436).

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

Bibliorum

 

Isaiah 2

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1 This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

3 Many peoples shall go and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

4 He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5 House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

6 For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

7 Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.

8 Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

9 Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don't forgive them.

10 Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty.

11 The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

12 For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low:

13 For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,

14 For all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up,

15 For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,

16 For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.

17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.

18 The idols shall utterly pass away.

19 Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

20 In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

21 To go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

22 Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #10445

Studere hoc loco

  
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10445. 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens' means forms of good and truths, and cognitions of them. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed', when it has reference to heaven and the Church, as the goodness and truth there, dealt with in 1940, 3038, 3310, 3373, 3671, 6158, 10249; and from the meaning of 'the stars' as cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, dealt with in 2495, 2849, 4697. In the sense of the letter 'multiplying the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel as the stars of the heavens' is used to mean multiplying the Israelite and Jewish nation in countless numbers; but since spiritual and celestial realities are meant by names in the Word, and heaven and the Church are meant by the names of those three, 'their seed' means the forms of good and the truths that exist in heaven and in the Church. The reason why it says 'as the stars of the heavens' is that where comparisons occur in the Word, these too have a spiritual meaning, 3579, 8989. Here a comparison is made with 'the stars of the heavens' because forms of good and truths - cognitions of them - are what is meant by 'stars'.

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