The Bible

 

約珥書 2

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1 你們要在錫安吹角,在我吹出大聲。國中的居民都要發顫;因為耶和華的日子將到,已經臨近。

2 那日是黑暗、幽冥、密、烏黑的日子,好像晨光鋪滿嶺。有一隊蝗蟲(原文是民)又大又強;從來沒有這樣的,以直到萬也必沒有。

3 他們前面如燒滅,面如燄燒盡。未到以前,伊甸園;過去以,成了荒涼的曠野;沒有一樣能躲避他們的。

4 他們的形狀如,奔跑如兵。

5 頂蹦跳的響聲,如車輛的響聲,又如燄燒碎秸的響聲,好像強盛的民擺陣預備打仗。

6 他們一來,眾民傷慟,臉都變色。

7 他們如勇士奔跑,像戰士爬城;各都步行,不亂隊伍。

8 彼此並不擁擠,向前各行其,直闖兵器,不偏左右。

9 他們蹦上城,躥上,爬上房屋進入窗戶如同盜賊。

10 他們一來,動,日月昏暗,宿無光。

11 耶和華在他軍旅前發聲,他的隊伍甚;成就他命的是強盛者。因為耶和華的日子而可畏,誰能當得起呢?

12 耶和華:雖然如此,你們應當禁食、哭泣、悲哀,一心歸向我。

13 你們要撕裂心腸,不撕裂衣服。歸向耶和華─你們的;因為他有恩典,有憐憫,不輕易發怒,有豐盛的慈愛,並且後悔不降所說的災。

14 或者他悔,留下餘福,就是留下獻給耶和華─你們的素祭和奠祭,也未可知。

15 你們要在錫安吹角,分定禁食的日子,宣告嚴肅會。

16 聚集眾民,使會眾自潔:招聚老者,聚集孩童和吃奶的;使新郎出離洞房,新婦出離內室。

17 事奉耶和華的祭司要在廊子和祭壇中間哭泣,耶和華啊,求你顧惜你的百姓,不要使你的產業受羞辱,列邦管轄他們。為何容列國的人:他們的在哪裡呢?

18 耶和華就為自己的發熱心,憐恤他的百姓。

19 耶和華應允他的百姓:我必賜給你們五穀、新酒,和油,使你們飽足;我也不再使你們受列國的羞辱;

20 卻要使北方來的軍隊遠離你們,將他們趕到乾旱荒廢之:前隊趕入東,後隊趕入西;因為他們所行的大惡(原文作事),臭氣上升,腥味騰空。

21 地土啊,不要懼;要歡喜快樂,因為耶和華行了大事。

22 田野的走啊,不要懼;因為,曠野的草發生,樹木結果,無花果樹、葡萄也都效

23 錫安的民哪,你們要快樂,為耶和華─你們的歡喜;因他賜你們合宜的秋雨,為你們降甘霖,就是秋雨、春雨,和先前一樣。

24 禾場必滿了麥子;酒醡與油醡必有新酒和油盈溢。

25 我打發到你們中間的軍隊,就是蝗蟲、蝻子、螞蚱、剪,那些年所的,我要補還你們。

26 你們必多而得飽足就讚美為你們行奇妙事之耶和華─你們的名。我的百姓必永遠不至羞愧

27 你們必知道我是在以色列中間,又知道我是耶和華─你們的;在我以外並無別。我的百姓必永遠不致羞愧

28 ,我要將我的靈澆灌凡有血氣的。你們的兒女要預言;你們的老年人要做異夢,少年人要見異象。

29 在那些日子,我要將我的靈澆灌我的僕人和使女。

30 下,我要顯出奇事,有血,有,有煙柱。

31 日頭要變為黑暗月亮要變為血,這都在耶和華而可畏的日子未到以前。

32 到那時候,凡求告耶和華名的就必得;因為照耶和華的,在錫安耶路撒冷必有逃脫的人,在剩下的人中必有耶和華所召的。

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #397

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397. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (8:6) This symbolizes their being prepared and ready to examine the state of the church and consequent life in people for whom religion is faith alone.

The symbolism of trumpets follows from the statute governing their use among the children of Israel, which Moses describes in this way: Jehovah told Moses to make silver trumpets for summoning the assembly and for the setting out of the camps, and they were also to sound them on days of celebration, feasts, new moons, and over burnt offerings and sacrifices. Furthermore, when they went to war against enemies oppressing them, they were to sound an alarm with the trumpets, and then they would come into remembrance before Jehovah God and be saved from their enemies. (Numbers 10:1-10)

It can be seen from this what sounding with trumpets symbolizes. Here, that the seven angels sounding symbolizes an examination and exposure of the state of the church and its character among people for whom religion is faith alone, as is apparent from the particulars in this chapter and from the particulars in the following chapters up to chapter 16 inclusive, understood in their spiritual sense.

[2] From the ways trumpets were used among the children of Israel it can also be seen what trumpets and sounding them symbolize in the following places:

Sound a trumpet in Zion, and sound it in My holy mountain! ...For the day of Jehovah is coming... (Joel 2:1-2)

Jehovah will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord Jehovih will sound the ram's horn... (Zechariah 9:14)

Jehovah shall go forth like a lion... (and) sound an alarm... (Isaiah 42:13)

...on that day a great ram's horn will be sounded, and those who perish in the land of Assyria, and those who are exiled in the land of Egypt, will come and bow themselves to Jehovah on the holy mountain... (Isaiah 27:13)

He will send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

Blessed are the people who know the trumpet's sound! They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of Your countenance. (Psalms 89:15)

When the morning stars sing together, and... the sons of God sound the trumpet. (Job 38:7)

[3] Since the soundings of trumpets had these symbolic meanings, and in the Israelite Church everything was presented concretely in accordance with correspondences and the consequent symbolism, therefore it also came to pass, when Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai, that there were voices and lightnings and a thick cloud, and the sound of a ram's horn, loud, with the sound of the ram's horn growing and becoming louder and louder, so that the people in the camp trembled greatly. (Exodus 19:16-25)

Therefore it also came to pass that when the three hundred men with Gideon sounded their ram's horns in the campaign against Midian, then every Midianite man's sword was set against his companion and they fled (Judges 7:16-22). Likewise that twelve thousand of the children of Israel with holy vessels and trumpets in their hands overcame Midian (Numbers 31:1-8). Also that the wall of Jericho fell after seven priests with seven ram's horns went around the city seven times (Joshua 6:1-20).

Therefore we read in Jeremiah:

Sound against (Babylon) all around..., her walls are thrown down. (Jeremiah 50:15)

And in Zephaniah:

...a day of darkness and blackness..., a day of ram's horn and its sounding against the fortified cities... (Zephaniah 1:15-16)

  
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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.