The Bible

 

Hošea 2

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1 "A djece Izraelove bit će brojem k'o pijeska u moru što se izmjerit' ne može ni izbrojit'. Umjesto da im govore: 'Vi niste moj narod,' zvat će ih: 'Sinovi Boga živoga.'

2 Ujedinit će se sinovi Judini i sinovi Izraelovi, postavit će sebi jednoga glavara i otići će iz zemlje; jer velik će biti dan jizreelski.

3 Recite braći svojoj: 'Narode moj,' sestrama svojim: 'Mila.'

4 Podignite tužbu, podignite, protiv majke svoje, jer ona mi nije više žena, a ja joj muž više nisam. Nek' odbaci od sebe bludničenja i preljube izmeđ' svojih dojki,

5 da je golu ne svučem te učinim da bude k'o na dan rođenja; da je ne obratim u pustinju, da je u zemlju suhu ne obratim i žeđu ne umorim.

6 Ja joj djece neću milovati, jer djeca su to bludnička.

7 Da, bludu se odala mati njihova, sramotila se ona koja ih zače. Da, rekla je: 'Trčat ću za svojim milosnicima, za njima koji mi daju kruh moj i vodu, vunu moju i lan, ulje i piće moje.'

8 Stoga ću put joj trnjem zagraditi, zidom opkoliti, da ne nađe više svojih staza.

9 I trčat će za milosnicima, ali ih stići neće, tražit će ih, al' ih neće pronaći. Tada će reći: 'Idem se vratiti prvome mužu, jer sretnija bijah prije nego sada.'

10 I ona nije razumjela da joj ja davah i žito i mošt i ulje, da je ja obasipah srebrom i zlatom od kojega načiniše baale.

11 Stoga ću uzeti natrag svoje žito u svoje vrijeme i svoj mošt u pravi čas; oduzet ću svoju vunu i svoj lan kojima je imala pokriti golotinju svoju;

12 sad ću joj otkriti sramotu na oči njenih milosnika, i nitko je iz moje neće izbaviti ruke.

13 Učinit ću kraj svim njenim veseljima, svetkovinama, mlađacima, subotama i svim blagdanima njezinim.

14 Opustošit ću joj čokote i smokve za koje je govorila: 'To je plaća što mi je dadoše moji milosnici.' Obratit ću ih u šikarje, i životinje će ih poljske obrstiti.

15 Kaznit ću je za dane Baalove kojima je kad palila, kitila se grivnom i kolajnom i trčala za svojim milosnicima; a mene je zaboravljala - riječ je Jahvina.

16 Stoga ću je, evo, primamiti, odvesti je u pustinju i njenu progovorit' srcu.

17 I vratit ću joj ondje njene vinograde, i od Doline ću akorske učiniti vrata nade. Ondje će mi odgovarat' ona kao u dane svoje mladosti, kao u vrijeme kada je izišla iz Egipta.

18 U onaj dan - riječ je Jahvina - ti ćeš me zvati: 'Mužu moj', a nećeš me više zvati: 'Moj Baale.'

19 Uklonit ću joj iz usta imena baalska i neće im više ime spominjati.

20 U onaj dan, učinit ću za njih savez sa životinjama u polju, sa pticama nebeskim i gmazovima zemskim; luk, mač i boj istrijebit ću iz zemlje da mirno u njoj počiva.

21 Zaručit ću te sebi dovijeka; zaručit ću te u pravdi i u pravu, u nježnosti i u ljubavi;

22 zaručit ću te sebi u vjernosti i ti ćeš spoznati Jahvu.

23 U onaj dan - riječ je Jahvina - odazvat ću se nebesima, a ona će se zemlji odazvati;

24 zemlja će se odazvati žitu, moštu i ulju, a oni će se odazvati Jizreelu.

25 I posijat ću ga u zemlji, zamilovat ću Nemilu, Ne-narodu mom reći ću: 'Ti si narod moj!' a on će reći: 'Bože moj!'"

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #757

Study this Passage

  
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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.