The Bible

 

何西阿書 2

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1 你們要稱你們的弟兄為阿米(就是我民的意思),稱你們的姊妹為路哈瑪(就是蒙憐憫的意思)。

2 你們要與你們的母親大大爭辯;因為她不是我的妻子,我也不是她的丈夫。叫她除掉臉上的淫像和胸間的淫態,

3 免得我剝她的衣服,使她赤體,與才生的時候一樣,使她如曠野,如乾旱之,因渴而

4 我必不憐憫她的兒女,因為他們是從淫亂而生的。

5 他們的母親行了淫亂,懷他們的母做了可羞恥的事,因為她:我要隨從所的;我的餅、、羊毛、麻、、酒都是他們的。

6 因此,我必用荊棘堵塞她的道,築擋住她,使她不著

7 她必追隨所的,卻追不上;她必尋找他們,卻尋不見,便:我要歸回前夫,因我那時的光景比如今還好。

8 她不知道是我她五穀、新酒,和油,又加增她的;她卻以此供奉(或譯:製造)巴力。

9 因此到了收割的日子,出酒的時候,我必將我的五穀新酒收回,也必將她應當遮體的羊毛和麻奪回來

10 如今我必在她所的眼前顯露她的醜態;必無能救她脫離我的

11 我也必使她的宴樂、節期、朔、安息日,並她的一切大會都止息了。

12 我也必毀壞她的葡萄樹和無花果樹,就是她這是我所我為賞賜的。我必使這些樹變為荒林,為田野的走獸所

13 我必追討她素日給諸巴力燒香的罪;那時她佩帶耳環和別樣妝飾,隨從她所的,卻忘記我。這是耶和華的。

14 後來我必勸導她,領她到曠野,對她安慰的話。

15 她從那裡出來,我必賜她葡萄園,又賜她亞割作為指望的。她必在那裡應聲(或譯:歌唱),與幼年的日子一樣,與從埃及上來的時候相同。

16 耶和華:那日你必稱呼我伊施(就是我夫的意思),不再稱呼我巴力(就是我主的意思);

17 因為我必從我民的中除掉諸巴力的名號,這名號不再提起。

18 當那日,我必為我的民,與田野的走獸和空中的飛,並上的昆蟲立約;又必在國中折斷刀,止息爭戰,使他們安然躺臥。

19 我必聘你永遠歸我為妻,以仁、公平、慈愛、憐憫聘你歸我;

20 也以誠實聘你歸我,你就必認識我─耶和華

21 耶和華:那日我必應允,我必應允必應允

22 必應允五穀、新酒,和油,這些必應允耶斯列民。〔耶斯列就是神栽種的意思〕

23 我必將她種在這。素不蒙憐憫的,我必憐憫;本非我民的,我必對他:你是我的民;他必:你是我的

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #757

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757. "A prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird!" This symbolically means that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and in consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.

A prison symbolizes a hell, because these Roman Catholics were imprisoned there. A spirit symbolizes everything pertaining to their affection or will and of the consequent action, and a bird symbolizes everything pertaining to the thought or intellect and consequent intention. A foul spirit and an unclean bird accordingly symbolize all the evils willed and so done, and all the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention. Moreover, since the evils and falsities entertained by these people are found in the hells, therefore the symbolical meaning is that their evils and falsities are diabolical. In addition, because these people have turned away from the Lord to themselves, every unclean bird is also called loathsome.

Similar symbolism is used to describe Babylon in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:

Babylon... will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited..., so that Arabs will not tarry there... But ziyyim 1 will lie there, their houses will be full of 'ochim, 2 the offspring of owls will dwell there, and satyrs will caper there. 'Iyyim 3 also will reply in its palaces, and dragons in its pleasant palaces. (Isaiah 13:19-22)

I will... cut off from Babylon the name and remnant... I will make it a possession of the bittern... (Isaiah 14:22-23)

And in Jeremiah:

...in Babylon shall dwell ziyyim 1 and 'iyyim 3 and the offspring of owls... As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors..., no son of man shall dwell in it. (Jeremiah 50:39-40)

It is apparent from this that a prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird, means symbolically that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.

[2] It is apparent from the Word that birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and thought and consequent intention, and this in both senses, bad and good. They are found in a bad sense in the following passages there:

In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice... (At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation. Even until the consummation... there shall rain down devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The pelican and the bittern shall possess (the land). The screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:11)

Nothing else than hellish falsities are symbolized by 'ochim, 2 ziyyim, 1 the offspring of owls, and dragons in the passages cited above, as also by the birds that came down on the carcasses which Abram drove away (Genesis 15:11), by the birds which were given human corpses for food (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2).

[3] Birds are found in a good sense in the following passages:

Creeping thing and bird... shall praise the name of Jehovah. (Psalms 148:10, 13)

In that day I will make a covenant for them... with the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)

...ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you... Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah does this? (Job 12:7-9)

I looked, when behold, there was no man; all the birds of the sky had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:24-26)

Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled away..., (because) I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 9:10-11)

There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God... Therefore the land will mourn... as regards the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. (Hosea 4:1, 3)

I am God... calling a bird from the east, a man of My counsel from a far country. (Isaiah 46:9, 11)

Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon... In its branches all the birds of the sky made their nests..., and in its shade all great nations dwelled. (Ezekiel 31:3, 6)

[4] Similar statements to that made of Assyria as a cedar here are found elsewhere, as in Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19.

Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ."..come... to... a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel...." (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17, 21, cf. Revelation 19:17)

And so on regarding birds elsewhere, as in Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:10-11.

That birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and its consequent thought and intention is clearly apparent from birds in the spiritual world. There, too, one sees birds of every kind and every species - in heaven very beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtle doves, and doves - in hell dragons, screech owls, eagle owls, and others of that kind - all of which are objective representations of thoughts springing from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts springing from evil affections in hell.

Footnotes:

1. A Hebrew word (צִיִּים), appearing six times in the Old Testament (Psalms 72:9; 74:14). It seems to refer to desert dwellers, and in contexts suggesting animals, to desert creatures, but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.

2. Another Hebrew word (אֹחִים), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21:4 identifies them as birds of the night.

3. Another Hebrew word (אִיִּים), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.