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Jeremiah 46

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1 The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

2 Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

3 Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

4 Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

5 Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side, saith Jehovah.

6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

7 Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?

8 Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.

9 Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.

10 For that day is [a day] of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.

12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.

13 The word that Jehovah spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand forth, and prepare thee; for the sword hath devoured round about thee.

15 Why are thy strong ones swept away? they stood not, because Jehovah did drive them.

16 He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

17 They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the appointed time pass by.

18 As I live, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

19 O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.

20 Egypt is a very fair heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.

21 Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation.

22 The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

23 They shall cut down her forest, saith Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.

24 The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

25 Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and them that trust in him:

26 and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith Jehovah.

27 But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

28 Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished.

   

The Bible

 

Isaiah 30

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1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,

2 that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!

3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes.

5 They shall all be ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6 The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit [them].

7 For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still.

8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.

9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah;

10 that say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits,

11 get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely thereon;

13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant.

14 And he shall break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be found among the pieces thereof a sherd wherewith to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.

15 For thus said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And ye would not:

16 but ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17 One thousand [shall flee] at the threat of One; at the threat of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

18 And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him.

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; he will surely be gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear, he will answer thee.

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be hidden anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers;

21 and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

22 And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as an unclean thing; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23 And he will give the rain for thy seed, wherewith thou shalt sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures;

24 the oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.

25 And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, brooks [and] streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

27 Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire;

28 and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reacheth even unto the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causeth to err [shall be] in the jaws of the peoples.

29 Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come unto the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.

30 And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones.

31 For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he smite [him].

32 And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with [the sound of] tabrets and harps; and in battles with the brandishing [of his arm] will he fight with them.

33 For a Topheth is prepared of old; yea, for the king it is made ready; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #279

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279. And the second animal like a calf, signifies the appearance in ultimates of Divine good in respect to protection. This is evident from the signification of a "calf," or "bullock," as being the good of the natural man, and specifically his good of innocence and charity; and because it is the good of the natural man it also is the good of the lowest heaven, for this heaven is spiritual natural (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 29-31); and as this good is there, there is a guard or protection that the higher heavens be not approached except through the good of love and charity; this is why one cherub was like a calf. That this appearance was in ultimates, see just above n. 278. A "calf" or "bullock" signifies the good of the natural man, because animals from the herd signified the affections of good and truth in the external or natural man; and those from the flock signified the affections of good and truth in the internal or spiritual man. Those from the flock were lambs, she-goats, sheep, rams, and he-goats; those from the herd were oxen, bullocks, and calves.

[2] That "bullocks" and "calves" signify the good of the natural man is evident from the passages of the Word where they are mentioned. First from the description of the feet of the cherubim in Ezekiel:

Their foot was straight and the sole of their feet like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of burnished brass (Ezekiel 1:7).

Their foot thus appeared "straight" because the cherubim represented the Divine guard of the Lord, and the feet and the soles of the feet represented the same in ultimates or in the spiritual natural heaven and the natural world; for "feet" in general signify the natural; a "straight foot" the natural in respect to good; "the sole of the foot" the ultimate of the natural; "burnished brass" also signifies good in the natural. From this it is clear that good in the natural is signified by a "calf," and that in this is the ultimate good that guards and protects lest the heavens be approached except through the good of love and charity. (That "feet" signify the natural, see Arcana Coelestia 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328; that that which is to the right signifies good from which is truth, n. 9604, 9736, 10061; therefore a "straight foot" signifies the natural in respect to good. That "palms," "soles," and "hoofs," signify the ultimates in the natural, see n. 4938, 7729; and that "burnished brass" signifies natural good, see above, n. 70)

[3] In Hosea:

Return ye to Jehovah; say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and accept good, and we will pay back the bullocks of our lips (Hosea 14:2).

What it is to "pay back the bullocks of the lips" no one can know unless he knows what "bullocks" and what "lips" signify; they mean evidently confession and thanksgiving from a good heart; but it is thus expressed because "bullocks" signify external good, and "lips" doctrine; therefore "paying back the bullocks of the lips" signifies to confess and give thanks from the goods of doctrine. (That "lips" signify doctrine, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 1286, 1288.)

[4] In Amos:

Ye cause the habitation of violence to draw near; they lie upon beds of ivory, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall (Amos 6:3, 4).

Here those who have an abundance of the knowledges of good and truth and yet lead an evil life are treated of; "to eat the lambs out of the flock" signifies to imbibe the knowledges of internal good or of the spiritual man; and "to eat the calves out of the midst of the stall" signifies to imbibe the knowledges of external good or of the natural man; and "to cause the habitation of violence to draw near" is to live a life contrary to charity.

[5] In Malachi:

Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise and healing in His wings; that ye may go forth, and grow up as fatted calves (Malachi 4:2).

The "Sun of righteousness that shall arise to them that fear the name of Jehovah" signifies the good of love; and "healing in His wings" signifies the truth of faith; therefore "to go forth, and grow up as fatted calves," signifies the increase of all good, "fatted" and "fat" also signifying good.

[6] In Luke:

The father said of the prodigal son who returned penitent in heart, Bring forth the first robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, that we may eat and be glad (Luke 15:22, 23).

He who is acquainted only with the sense of the letter believes that no deeper meaning is contained in this than appears in that sense, when yet every particular involves heavenly things; as that they should "put on him the first robe," that they should "put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet," that they should "bring forth the fatted calf, that they might eat and be merry." By "the prodigal son" those who are prodigal of spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of truth and good, are meant; "his returning to his father, and his confession that he was not worthy to be called his son," signifies penitence of heart and humiliation; "the first robe with which he was clothed," signifies general and primary truths; "the ring on the hand" signifies the conjunction of truth and good in the internal or spiritual man; "the shoes on the feet" signify the same in the external or natural man, and both signify regeneration; "the fatted calf" signifies the good of love and charity; and "to eat and be glad" signifies consociation and heavenly joy.

[7] In Jeremiah:

I will give the men that have transgressed My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they made before Me, that of the calf, which they cut in twain that they might pass between the parts thereof, the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the royal ministers and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf, I will even give them into the hands of their enemies, that their carcass may be for food to the bird of the heavens (Jeremiah 34:18-20).

What is meant by "the covenant of the calf," and by "passing between its parts," no one can know without knowing what a "covenant" signifies, and a "calf," and its being "cut in twain;" then what is meant by "the princes of Judah and Jerusalem," by "the royal ministers," "the priests," and "the people of the land." Some heavenly arcanum is evidently meant; and it can be understood when it is known that a "covenant" means conjunction; a "calf" good, a "calf cut in twain" good proceeding from the Lord on the one hand, and good received by man on the other, whence is conjunction; and that "the princes of Judah and of Jerusalem, the royal ministers, the priests, and the people of the land," mean the goods and truths of the church; and that "to pass between the parts" means to conjoin. When these things are known, the internal sense of these words can be seen, namely, that there was no conjunction by the goods and truths of the church with that nation, but disjunction.

[8] Like things are involved in the "covenant of the calf" with Abram, of which in Genesis:

Jehovah said to Abram, Take to thee an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each part over against the other; but the birds divided he not. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses; and Abram drove them away. And the sun was at its going down, and a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, a terror of great darkness fell upon him. And in that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram (Genesis 15:9-12, 18).

The "terror of great darkness" that fell upon Abram signified the state of the Jewish nation, which was in the greatest darkness in respect to the truths and goods of the church. This state of that nation is what is described in the prophet by "the covenant of the calf which they cut into two parts, between which they passed." Since a "calf" signifies the good of the natural man and its truth, which is knowledge [scientificum]; and since the natural man and its knowledge [scientificum] is signified by "Egypt," therefore in the Word Egypt is called a "she-calf," and a "he-calf;" moreover, when they applied the knowledges [scientifica] of the church to magical and idolatrous purposes they turned the calf into an idol; this was why the sons of Israel made to themselves a he-calf in the wilderness, and worshiped it, and also why they had a calf in Samaria.

[9] That Egypt was called a he-calf and a she-calf can be seen in Jeremiah:

A very fair she-calf is Egypt; destruction cometh out of the north, her hirelings in the midst of her are like he-calves of the stall (Jeremiah 46:20-21).

Respecting the calf that the sons of Israel made to themselves in the wilderness, see Exodus 32; and respecting the "calf of Samaria" (1 Kings 12:28-32), about which is the following in Hosea:

They have made a king, but not by Me; they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath forsaken thee. For it was from Israel; the workman made it, and it is not God; the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces (Hosea 8:4-6).

This treats of the corrupt explanation of the Word, when the sense of its letter is turned to favor self-love, and the principles of religion derived therefrom. "They have made a king, but not by Me, and they have made princes, and I knew it not," signifies doctrines from self-intelligence, which in themselves are falsities, but which they make to appear as truths; for "king" signifies truth, and in a contrary sense, falsity; "princes" signify primary truths, or falsities, which are called principles of religion. "To make idols of their silver and their gold" signifies to pervert the truths and goods of the church, and still to worship them as holy, although as they are from self-intelligence they are destitute of life; "silver" is the truth, and "gold" the good, which are from the Lord; "idols" signify worship from doctrine that is from self-intelligence; "the workman made it, and it is not God," signifies that is from the selfhood [ex proprio], and not from the Divine; "to be broken in pieces" signifies to be dispersed; which makes clear what is signified by the "calf of Samaria." Because "calves" signified the good of the natural man, calves were also sacrificed (See Exodus 29:11, 12 seq.; Leviticus 4:3, 13; 8:15 seq.; 9:2; 16:3; 23:18; Numbers 8:8 seq.; 15:24; 28:19, 20; Judges 6:25-29; 1 Samuel 1:25; 16:2; 1 Kings 18:23-26, 33); for all the animals that were sacrificed signified the goods of the church of various kinds.

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

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