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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.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6693

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6693. 'Saying, Every son who is born you are to throw into the river' means that all truths that appeared should be drowned in falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'son' as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373; from the meaning of 'being born' as appearing; and from the meaning of 'the river' as those things that constitute intelligence, dealt with in 108, 109, 2702, 3051, here in the contrary sense as those things which are the opposite, namely falsities. The fact that 'throwing into' means drowning in is self-evident.

[2] The meaning of 'the river of Egypt' as the opposite of intelligence, which is falsity, is also clear in Isaiah,

The rivers will recede, the streams of Egypt will diminish and dry up. The papyrus plants next to the river, next to the mouth of the river, and everything sown in the river will wither, be driven away, and be no more. Therefore the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river will be sad, and those who spread nets over the face of the waters will anguish. Isaiah 19:6-8.

Here one should not understand a river by 'the river of Egypt' or fishermen by 'the fishermen' but other things which are not apparent unless one knows how 'Egypt', 'the river' there, and 'the fishermen' are to be understood. If one does know, then the meaning of these verses is apparent. The fact that 'the river of Egypt' means falsity is evident from every detail mentioned in them.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Who is this coming up like a river, whose waters are tossed about like the rivers? Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers his waters are tossed about. For he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 46:7-8.

Here also 'the river of Egypt' stands for falsities. 'Going up and covering the earth' stands for overwhelming the Church, 'destroying the city' stands for destroying the teachings of the Church, 'and those who dwell in it' for doing so to forms of good that come from those teachings. For the meaning of 'the earth' as the Church, see 6649; 'the city' as the teachings of the Church, 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493; and 'those who dwell in it' as forms of good there, 2268, 2451, 2712.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies 1 in the midst of his rivers, who has said, The river is mine and I have made myself. Therefore I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales, and I will cause you to come up out of the midst of your rivers, in order that 2 all the fish of your rivers may stick in your scales. I will leave in the wilderness you and all the fish of your rivers. Ezekiel 29:3-5, 9-10.

Without the internal sense no one can know what this passage means either. Thus, though it is evident that it is not the country Egypt which is meant, the meaning of the passage remains unknown unless one knows what 'Pharaoh', 'river', 'monster', 'fish', and 'scales', all mean. 'Pharaoh' is the natural where factual knowledge resides, see 5160, 5799, 6015; 'monsters' are general bodies of facts that reside in the natural, 42; 'fish' are the facts subordinate to a general body of them, 40, 991; 'scales' are ideas of a thoroughly external nature, thus sensory impressions, to which factual knowledge that is false clings. When one knows all these meanings one can see what 'the river of Egypt' is used to mean in this passage, namely, falsity.

[5] In the same prophet,

On the day on which Pharaoh goes down into hell I will make him mourn, I will cover the deep over him, and I will restrain its streams, and the great waters will be stayed. Ezekiel 31:15.

In Amos,

Is not the land to be shaken on account of this, and everyone to mourn that inhabits it? Yes, the whole of it comes up like a river, and is cast out, and is drowned as if in the river of Egypt. On that day I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the land in broad daylight. Amos 8:8-9; 9:5.

'The land which will be shaken' stands for the Church, 6649, while 'being drowned as if in the river of Egypt' stands for being destroyed by falsities. And since falsities are meant it says that the sun will go down at noon, and the earth will be darkened in broad daylight. 'The going down of the sun at noon' means that the good of heavenly love will depart, and 'the darkening of the land in broad daylight' that falsities will take possession of the Church. For the meaning of 'the sun' as the good of heavenly love, see 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696; for 'darkness' as falsities, 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531; and for 'the earth' as the Church, 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577. Anyone can see that things other than those which appear in the literal sense here - such as that the land will be shaken and every inhabitant will mourn, or that the sun will go down at noon and the land will be darkened in broad daylight - are really meant. Unless one takes 'the land' to mean the Church, 'the river' to mean falsity, and 'the sun' to mean heavenly love, one does not find any other explicable meaning there.

[6] It is because 'the river of Egypt' means falsity that Moses was commanded to strike the waters of that river with his rod, after which they were turned into blood, all fish in the river died, and the river stank, Exodus 7:17-18, 20-21. For the same reason Aaron had to stretch out his hand and rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the pools, from which frogs rose up over the land of Egypt, Exodus 8:5-6. 3 For the meaning of 'the waters' in the contrary sense as falsities, see 790; and since the waters make up the river, 'the river' in relation to them means falsity in general.

Footnotes:

1. Reading cubat (he lies) for cubas (you lie)

2. Reading ut (in order that) for et (and)

3. Exodus 8:1-2, in this translation of the Arcana Caelestia

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

The Bible

 

Exodus 8

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1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, "This is what Yahweh says, 'Let my people Go, that they may serve me.

2 If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs:

3 and the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the house of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs:

4 and the frogs shall come up both on you, and on your people, and on all your servants.'"

5 Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch forth your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.'"

6 Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, "Entreat Yahweh, that he take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Yahweh."

9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only."

10 He said, "Tomorrow." He said, "Be it according to your word, that you may know that there is none like Yahweh our God.

11 The frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only."

12 Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to Yahweh concerning the frogs which he had brought on Pharaoh.

13 Yahweh did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields.

14 They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and didn't listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

16 Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.'"

17 They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were lice on man, and on animal; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

18 The magicians tried with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they couldn't. There were lice on man, and on animal.

19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God:" and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

20 Yahweh said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; behold, he comes forth to the water; and tell him, 'This is what Yahweh says, "Let my people go, that they may serve me.

21 Else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and into your houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.

22 I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the earth.

23 I will put a division between my people and your people: by tomorrow shall this sign be."'"

24 Yahweh did so; and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses: and in all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies.

25 Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land!"

26 Moses said, "It isn't appropriate to do so; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Yahweh our God. Behold, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and won't they stone us?

27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he shall command us."

28 Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me."

29 Moses said, "Behold, I go out from you, and I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only don't let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh."

30 Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh.

31 Yahweh did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained not one.

32 Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he didn't let the people go.

   

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