The Bible

 

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.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #557

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557. And they had breast-plates, as it were breast-plates of iron.- That this signifies the persuasions with which they gird themselves for combats, against which the truths of the spiritual rational man do not prevail, is evident from the signification of breast-plates, or coats of mail, which denote defences against evils and falsities in combats, but here defences of evils and falsities against goods and truths, because the subject treated of has reference to those who are in falsities of evil against truths. Persuasions are here signified by breast-plates, because sensual men, who are in the falsities of evil, and who are here described, do not fight from reason against truths, for they do not see truths but only falsities, and therefore they are in the persuasion that falsities are truths, consequently they fight solely from the persuasion of falsity, and this persuasion with them is of such a nature, that the truths which the spiritual-rational man brings forth are of no avail, for they are repelled as a sword from a breast-plate or coat of mail. Hence by breast-plates as it were breast-plates of iron, are signified persuasions against which truths do not prevail. That the persuasive influence with sensual men is of such an infatuating and suffocating nature, that the spiritual Rational cannot prevail against it, may be seen above (n. 544, 549, 556). Moreover, breast-plates, or coats of mail, cover that part of the body which is called the breast, or thorax, which signifies the spiritual affection for truth. All affection also is indicated in the tone of the voice, which together with the speech goes forth from the breast. But those signified by locusts, and who are sensual men that are in falsities, have no other affection than the affection of the love of self. This affection is full of self-confidence and of the persuasion that their falsity is the truth, and because this is indicated in the tone of the voice which together with the speech goes forth from the breast, therefore the locusts appeared in breast-plates which were as breast-plates of iron. Iron also signifies truth in ultimates, and also what is false there, and at the same time hard; and the persuasive power therein, causes the falsity to be so hard that the truths opposed to it rebound, as though they were of no account or avail. Because the persuasion of sensual men, who are in falsities from self-confidence, is of such a nature, and with spirits is so powerful, as to suffocate and extinguish the Rational of other spirits with whom they converse, therefore in the world of spirits it is severely prohibited, and those who make use of it are sent amongst spirits where they are harassed even to swooning by persuasions still stronger from other spirits, and this until they desist.

[2] Since breast-plates, or coats of mail, were used in wars, and to put them on signified to gird themselves for war and thus to fight, therefore, in the Word, they who were girt for battle are said to put on coats of mail.

Thus in Jeremiah:

"Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen; and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on coats of mail" (46:4).

By these words is not meant the combat of one army against another, but the combat of the spiritual-rational man against the natural man, who, from scientifics falsely applied, fights against truths and goods. For the subject here treated of is the army of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, whom the king of Babylon smote, and by Pharaoh king of Egypt is meant the natural man, and by the king of Babylon near Euphrates is meant the spiritual-rational man, wherefore, Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the coats of mail, signifies such things as relate to the combat of the spiritual-rational man against the natural man who is in falsities. Horses denote those things that pertain to the understanding, the chariots to which they are harnessed, those things that pertain to doctrine. Horsemen denote the intelligent, helmets things pertaining to reason, spears truths combating, and the coats of mail the might and strength of combating and resisting; these are denoted by the coats of mail, because they gird the breast, and all the strength to combat and resist is from the breast by means of the arms.

[3] Again, in the same prophet:

"Against Babel let him bend, let the archer bend his bow, against [her] he will lift himself up in his coat of mail" (51:3).

Here also the coat of mail is used for the power of combating and resisting.

So in Isaiah:

"He put on justice as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon his head" (59:17).

These words treat of the Lord, and of the subjugation of the hells by Him. His putting on justice as a coat of mail, signifies His zeal to deliver the faithful from hell, and the Divine Love of saving the human race. And since it was from the zeal of Divine Love, and the power thence, that the Lord fought and conquered, therefore His justice is called a coat of mail. But the helmet of salvation signifies the Divine Truth from the Divine Good, by means of which there is salvation, for a helmet signifies the same as the head, because it is put on the head. That the head, when used in reference to the Lord, signifies the Divine Truth and the Divine Wisdom, will be seen in the following pages.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.