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耶利米書 44

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1 有臨到耶利米,論及一切埃及的猶大人,就是在密奪、答比匿、挪弗、巴忒羅境內的猶大人,說:

2 萬軍之耶和華以色列的如此:我所降與耶路撒冷猶大各城的一切災禍你們都見了。那些城邑今日荒涼,無人居住

3 這是因居民所行的惡,去燒香事奉別,就是他們和你們,並你們列祖所不認識的,惹我發怒。

4 我從起來差遣我的僕人先知去說,你們切不要行我所厭惡這可憎之事。

5 他們卻不從,不側耳而,不離惡事,仍向別燒香。

6 因此,我的怒氣和忿怒都倒出來,在猶大城邑中和耶路撒冷的街上,如火著起,以致都荒廢淒涼,正如今日一樣。

7 現在耶和華─萬軍之以色列的如此:你們為何作這惡自害己命,使你們的男人、婦女、嬰孩,和吃奶的都從猶大中剪除、不留一呢?

8 就是因你們所做的,在所去寄居的埃及向別燒香惹我發怒,使你們被剪除,在天下萬國中令人咒詛羞辱。

9 你們列祖的惡行,猶大和他們后妃的惡行,你們自己和你們妻子的惡行,就是在猶大耶路撒冷街上所行的,你們都忘了麼?

10 到如今還沒有懊悔,沒有懼,沒有遵行我在你們和你們列祖面前所設立的法度律例。

11 所以萬軍之耶和華以色列的如此:我必向你們變臉降災,以致剪除猶大眾人。

12 那定意進入埃及、在那裡寄居的,就是所剩下的猶大人,我必使他們盡都滅絕,必在埃及仆倒,必因刀饑荒滅絕;從最小的到至的都必遭刀饑荒而,以致令人辱罵、驚駭、咒詛、羞辱。

13 我怎樣用刀、饑荒、瘟疫刑罰耶路撒冷,也必照樣刑罰那些埃及的猶大人;

14 甚至那進入埃及寄居的,就是所剩下的猶大人,都不得逃脫,也不得存留歸回猶大。他們心中甚想歸回居住;除了逃脫的以外,一個都不能歸回。

15 那些埃及巴忒羅知道自己妻子向別燒香的,與旁邊站立的眾婦女,聚集成群,回答耶利米

16 論到你奉耶和華的名向我們我們必不從。

17 我們定要成就我們中所出的一切,向后燒香、澆奠祭,按著我們我們列祖、君、首領在猶大的城邑中和耶路撒冷的街上素常所行的一樣;因為那時我們吃飽飯、享福樂,並不見災禍。

18 自從我們停止向后燒香、澆奠祭,我們倒缺乏一切,又因刀饑荒滅絕。

19 婦女:我們向后燒香、澆奠祭,做后像的餅供奉他,向他澆奠祭,是外乎我們的丈夫麼?

20 耶利米對一切那樣回答他的男人婦女

21 你們與你們列祖、君、首領,並國內的百姓,在猶大城邑中和耶路撒冷上所燒的香,耶和華豈不記念,中豈不思想麼?

22 耶和華因你們所作的惡、所行可憎的事,不能再容忍,所以你們的荒涼,令人驚駭咒詛,無人居住,正如今日一樣。

23 你們燒香,得罪耶和華,沒有聽從他的話,沒有遵行他的律法、條例、法度,所以你們遭遇這災禍,正如今日一樣。

24 耶利米又對眾民和眾婦女:你們在埃及的一切猶大人當耶和華的

25 萬軍之耶和華以色列的如此:你們和你們的妻都裡做,我們定要償還所許的願,向后燒香、澆奠祭。現在你們只管堅定所許的願而償還罷!

26 所以你們埃及的一切猶大耶和華的耶和華:我指著我的名起誓,在埃及,我的名不再被猶大一個稱呼:我指著─永生的耶和華起誓。

27 我向他們留意降禍不降福;在埃及的一切猶大必因刀、饑荒所滅,直到滅盡。

28 脫離刀、從埃及歸回猶大的人數很少;那進入埃及要在那裡寄居的,就是所剩下的猶大人,必知道是誰的立得住,是我的呢?是他們的呢?

29 耶和華:我在這地方刑罰你們,必有預兆,使你們知道我降禍與你們的必要立得住。

30 耶和華如此:我必將埃及王法老合弗拉交在他仇敵和尋索其命的人中,像我將猶大王西底家交在他仇敵和尋索其命的巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒中一樣。

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #377

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377. Verses 7, 8. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the wild beasts of the earth.

"And when he had opened the fourth seal," signifies, prediction manifested still further: "I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying," signifies, out of the inmost heaven from the Lord: "Come and see," signifies attention and perception. "And I looked, and behold a pale horse," signifies not any understanding of the Word, from evils of life, and then from the falsities thence; "and he that sat upon him," signifies the Word; "his name was Death, and Hell followed with him," signifies eternal damnation; "and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill," signifies deprivation of all good, and thence of truth, from the Word, and thence in the doctrine of their church derived from the Word; "with the sword," signifies, by falsity; "and with hunger," signifies, by deprivation, lack, and ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good; "and with death," signifies the extinction thereby of spiritual life; "and with the wild beasts of the earth," signifies evils of life, or lusts and the falsities thence arising from the love of self and of the world, which devastate all things of the church with man.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3971

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3971. 'It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph' means acknowledgement of the spiritual represented by Joseph. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing' as acknowledging, dealt with in 3905, 3911, 3915, 3919; from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the spiritual kingdom and so the spiritual man, dealt with in 3969, and therefore as the spiritual; for having its origin in the Lord, the spiritual is that which makes the spiritual man and also the spiritual kingdom what they are. By means of Jacob's sons by the servant-girls and by Leah, the sections prior to this have dealt with the reception and acknowledgement of general truths, and eventually with the joining of those truths to the interior man, and so have dealt with man's regeneration up to and including his becoming spiritual. 'Joseph' is that spiritual man. The present sections coming directly after them deal with the fruitfulness and the multiplication of truth and good, which are meant by the flock which Jacob obtained for himself by means of Laban's flock.

[2] Indeed after the joining of the interior man to the external man has taken place, that is, of the spiritual and the natural, fruitfulness of good and multiplication of truth take place, for that joining together of the two is the heavenly marriage with man. It is from this marriage that such fruitfulness and multiplication spring. This also is why 'Joseph' in the external sense means fruitfulness and multiplication, 3965, 3969, the expressions 'fruitfulness' being used in reference to good, and 'multiplication' to truth, 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.

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