The Bible

 

Ezekijel 43

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1 Zatim me povede k vratima što gledaju na istok.

2 I gle, Slava Boga Izraelova dolazi od istoka; šum joj kao šum velikih voda: i zemlja se sjala od slave njegove.

3 To viđenje koje gledah bijaše kao viđenje što ga vidjeh kad dođoh da uništim grad i kao viđenje koje vidjeh na rijeci Kebaru. Padoh ničice.

4 A Slava Jahvina uđe u Dom na vrata koja gledaju na istok.

5 Tada me duh podiže i odvede u unutrašnje predvorje. I gle: Dom bijaše pun Slave Jahvine.

6 I čuh glas koji mi iz Doma govori, a kraj mene netko stajaše.

7 I reče mi: "Sine čovječji, ovo je mjesto mojega prijestolja, ovo je mjesto stopa mojih nogu: ovdje ću, posred sinova Izraelovih, prebivati zauvijek. Izraelov dom neće više oskvrnjivati moje sveto ime - ni oni ni njihovi kraljevi - svojim bludništvom i truplima svojih kraljeva:

8 stavili su svoj prag do moga, svoje dovratnike do mojih, tako da je bio samo zid između mene i njih, i oskvrnjivali su moje sveto ime gnusobama koje počiniše. I zato ih zatrijeh u svojem gnjevu.

9 Sada će oni ukloniti daleko od mene svoje bludništvo i trupla svojih kraljeva, a ja ću zauvijek prebivati posred njih.

10 Sine čovječji, pokaži domu Izraelovu ovaj Dom da se posrame sa svojih bezakonja. Neka mu izmjere razmjere.

11 Ako se posrame zbog svega što učiniše, opiši im Dom i njegove razmjere, njegove izlaze i ulaze, sve njegovo obličje, sve propise i sve zakone; upoznaj ih i nacrtaj im da vide i da čuvaju i provedu sve njegovo obličje i sve propise o njemu.

12 A ovo je zakon za Dom: navrh gore, sav prostor uokolo, bit će najsvetija svetinja.

13 Ovo su mjere žrtvenika, na laktove - a lakat je ovdje jedan lakat i pedalj: podnožje žrtvenika lakat dugo, lakat široko; obrub kojim je obrubljen uokolo - jedan pedalj. Visina žrtvenika:

14 od podnožja na zemlji do donjega pojasa žrtvenika - dva lakta, a u širinu jedan lakat; od manjeg pojasa do većega četiri lakta, a u širinu jedan lakat.

15 A samo žrtvište: četiri lakta visoko. A sa žrtvišta dižu se uvis četiri roga.

16 Žrtvište: dvanaest lakata dugo, dvanaest lakata široko, četvorina, na sve četiri strane.

17 A pojas: četrnaest lakata dug i četrnaest lakata širok, na četiri strane; njegov rub uokolo pol lakta, a podnožje oko njega uokolo jedan lakat; stepenice mu gledaju na istok."

18 I reče mi: "Sine čovječji, ovako govori Jahve Gospod: 'Ovo su propisi žrtveni po kojima se u svoje vrijeme mora podići žrtvenik da se na njemu prinose paljenice i da se po njemu škropi krvlju.

19 Svećenicima levitima, potomcima Sadokovim, koji pristupaju k meni da mi služe - riječ je Jahve Gospoda - dat ćeš june za žrtvu okajnicu.

20 Uzet ćeš njegove krvi i njome pomazati četiri roga žrtvišta i četiri ugla pojasa i obrub sve uokolo da okajnicom pomiriš žrtvenik.

21 Zatim uzmi june i spali ga na odijeljenom mjestu Doma, izvan Svetišta.

22 Sutradan prinesi jarca bez mane kao okajnicu, neka se njime okaje žrtvenik kao što je okajan junetom.

23 A kad ga okaješ, prinesi junca bez mane i ovna bez mane iz stada:

24 prikaži ih pred Jahvom, a svećenici neka ih pospu solju i neka ih prinesu kao paljenicu Jahvi.

25 Sedam dana svaki dan prinesi jednog jarca za grijeh; i neka se prinese june i ovan iz stada, oba bez mane.

26 Sedam dana neka se pomiruje žrtvenik i neka se čisti i posvećuje.

27 Pošto se navrše ti dani, od osmoga dana unapredak neka svećenici žrtvuju na žrtveniku vaše paljenice i pričesnice; i omiljet ćete mi' - riječ je Jahve Gospoda."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #904

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904. 21:15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. This symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

He who spoke with me symbolizes the Lord speaking from heaven, because it was an angel speaking, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls mentioned in verse 9, who means the Lord speaking from heaven (no. 895). A reed symbolizes a power or ability springing from the goodness of love - a reed symbolizing power or ability (no. 485), and gold the goodness of love (nos. 211, 726). To measure means, symbolically, to learn the character of a thing, thus to understand and know it (no. 486). The city, the holy Jerusalem, symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine (nos. 879, 880). Its gates symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word's literal sense, which are truths and goods owing to the spiritual life in them (no. 899). And the wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense from which the doctrine and concepts come (no. 898).

It is apparent from this that "he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall," symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

[2] These symbolic meanings cannot be seen at all in the literal sense, for one sees in it only that an angel speaking with John had a gold reed with which to measure the city and its gates and wall. But even so, that these words contain another meaning, a spiritual meaning, is clearly apparent from the fact that the city Jerusalem does not mean a real city, but the church. Consequently everything said about Jerusalem as a city symbolizes such things as have to do with the church, and everything having to do with the church is, in itself, spiritual.

Such a spiritual meaning is present also in what is said in chapter 11 above, where we are told the following:

I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." (Revelation 11:1)

A similar spiritual meaning is present, too, in everything that the angel measured with a reed in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48. Also in these verses in Zechariah:

I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what its width is and what its length." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

Indeed, such a spiritual meaning is present in everything connected with the Tabernacle and in everything connected with the Temple in Jerusalem, whose measurements we are told, and also in the measurements themselves. And yet nothing of this can be seen in the literal sense.

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Habakkuk 3

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1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.

6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.

8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?

9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.

12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.

13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.

14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.

15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.

16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

17 For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:

18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.