The Bible

 

Hosea 9

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1 Have no joy, O Israel, and do not be glad like the nations; for you have been untrue to your God; your desire has been for the loose woman's reward on every grain-floor.

2 The grain-floor and the place where the grapes are crushed will not give them food; there will be no new wine for them.

3 They will have no resting-place in the Lord's land, but Ephraim will go back to Egypt, and they will take unclean food in Assyria.

4 They will give no wine offering to the Lord, they will not make offerings ready for him; their bread will be like the bread of those in sorrow; all who take it will be unclean, because their bread will be only for their desire, it will not come into the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do on the day of worship, and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For see, they are going away into Assyria; Egypt will get them together, Memphis will be their last resting-place; their fair silver vessels will be covered over with field plants, and thorns will come up in their tents.

7 The days of punishment, the days of reward are come; Israel will be put to shame; the prophet is foolish, the man who has the spirit is off his head, because of your great sin.

8 There is great hate against the watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God; as for the prophet, there is a net in all his ways, and hate in the house of his God.

9 They have gone deep in evil as in the days of Gibeah; he will keep in mind their wrongdoing, he will give them punishment for their sins.

10 I made discovery of Israel as of grapes in the waste land; I saw your fathers as the first-fruits of the fig-tree in her early fruit time; but they came to Baal-peor, and made themselves holy to the thing of shame, and became disgusting like that to which they gave their love.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory will go in flight like a bird: there will be no birth and no one with child and no giving of life.

12 Even though their children have come to growth I will take them away, so that not a man will be there; for their evil-doing will be complete and they will be put to shame because of it.

13 As I have seen a beast whose young have been taken from her, so Ephraim will give birth to children only for them to be put to death.

14 O Lord, what will you give them? give them bodies which may not give birth and breasts without milk.

15 All their evil-doing is in Gilgal; there I had hate for them; because of their evil-doing I will send them out of my house; they will no longer be dear to me; all their rulers are uncontrolled.

16 The rod has come on Ephraim, their root is dry, let them have no fruit; even though they give birth, I will put to death the dearest fruit of their bodies.

17 My God will give them up because they did not give ear to him; they will be wandering among the nations.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8905

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8905. Verse 15 You shall not steal means that no one's spiritual goods or possessions must be taken away from him, and that things which are the Lord's must not be attributed to self.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5248

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5248. 'And changed his clothes' means the change made so far as coverings of the interior natural were concerned, by the putting on of what was rightly suited to this. This is clear from the meaning of 'changing as removing and casting aside, and from the meaning of 'clothes' as the coverings of the interior natural, dealt with below. The putting on of what was rightly suited, meant by 'new clothes', follows on from this. Frequent reference is made in the Word to clothes, by which are meant lower or outward things which, being such, serve to cover higher or inward ones. 'Clothes' consequently means the external part of man and therefore what is natural, since this covers the internal and the spiritual part of him. In particular 'clothes' means truths that are matters of faith since these cover forms of good that are embodiments of charity. This meaning of 'clothes' has its origin in the clothes that spirits and angels are seen to be wearing. Spirits are seen dressed in clothes that have no brightness, whereas angels are seen dressed in clothes full of brightness and so to speak made of brightness. For the actual brightness that surrounds them looks like a robe, much like the Lord's garments when He was transfigured, which were 'as the light', Matthew 17:2, and 'glistening white', Luke 9:29. From the clothes they wear one can also tell what kinds of spirits and angels they are so far as truths of faith are concerned since these are represented by their clothes, though only truths of faith such as exist within the natural. The truths of faith such as exist within the rational are revealed in the face and in the beauty it possesses. The brightness of their garments has its origin in the good of love and charity, for that good shines through and is the producer of the brightness. From all this one may see what is represented in the spiritual world by clothes and as a consequence what is meant in the spiritual sense by 'clothes'.

[2] But the clothes which Joseph changed - that is, cast aside - were those of the pit or prison-clothing, which mean the delusions and false ideas that are stirred up by evil genii and spirits in a state involving temptations. Consequently the expression 'he changed his clothes' means a casting aside and a change made in the coverings of the interior natural. And the clothes which he put on were ones such as were properly suitable, so that the putting on of what was rightly suited is meant. See what has been stated and shown already regarding clothes,

Celestial things are unclothed, but not so spiritual and natural ones, 297.

'Clothes' are truths, which are of a lower nature when they are compared with what they cover, 1073, 2576.

'Changing one's garments' was representative of the need to put on holy truths, and therefore 'changes of garments' had the same meaning, 4545.

'Rending one's clothes' was representative of mourning on account of the loss of truth, 4763.

What is meant by someone entering who was not wearing a wedding garment, 2132.

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